"Our fight was about the fact that the triumvirate of the director, music director and art director controlled the script," he says.
The result is a campaign that, rather than making news and controlling the script, often finds itself scrambling to catch up.
Although I have been engaged in a 60-year argument -- publicly and privately -- over who wrote "Citizen Kane" (Houseman's secretary, who controlled the script from beginning to end, has been quoted many times as saying that Orson Welles wrote "not one word" of what went on the screen), I do not think enough credit has been given to Houseman for pulling "Kane" together.
The budget was out-of-control, the script was basically rewritten mid-production, and no one seemed to want to be there (exclusive behind-the-scenes footage).
This was political theater, but with the Democrats in control, the Republican party had lost control of the script.
They envisioned the gathering as a diplomatic triumph — but they lost control of the script.
By noon, he seemed overwhelmed by torrent of need and expectation, and at one moment lost control of the script.
On "Spartacus," in contrast to all his other films, Kubrick had no legal control over the script or the final form of the movie.
But apparently Mr. Edwards is not ready to leave the stage; he just wanted to have more control over the script.
He sought control of the script, the editing, the lighting, the music, as well as the direction, as he had in his early shoestring movies.
Even when he loses control of the script, as he did with the collapse of Polly Peck, the results are spectacular.
