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Jack's thoughts on BELL BOOK AND CANDLE?

posted 13 years ago by metalman091
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Jack is quoted in Donald Dewey's book on James Stewart as saying;

"For me there were two problems. The first was that I was never comfortable with the part. At first reading I thought there were possibilities, but then it turned into another animal altogether. At that point you just do the best you can and hope the roof doesn't come down on your head."

The other problem, according to the book, was that the cast[aside from Jack and Ernie Kovacs], never had any real contact. Is that really true? Stewart and Kim Novak always got along, so what about Jack and those two?

[–] MissSugarKane 13 years ago

Jack initially turned it down but agreed to do it as he had grown close to the director Richard Quine, who was after big names in both main and supporting roles and was relatively at the beginning of his directing career. As Jack had just won an Oscar, he was already a big name. He wasn't entirely keen on the film. His character added nothing to the plot but he did provide comedy on the positive side. He was close to Ernie Kovacs, Kim Novak and James Stewart.

Marilyn Monroe: I don't want to be rich. I just want to be wonderful.

[–] metalman091 13 years ago

Thanks for the response.

I was wondering about his quote since the Donald Dewey bio on James Stewart is pretty inaccurate and Jack is quoted as saying that the cast wasn't especially close. Janice Rule is quoted as saying that Stewart was distracted a lot during filming.

Are their any quotes from Jack about Stewart in the books you have read?