TWO FOR THE ROAD Commentary - British DVD

There have been reports a commentary track doesn't exist for the British DVD of TWO FOR THE ROAD. So for all those ROADies in the UK, here are some of the points covered by Stanley Donen (plus a few taken from both a Fredric Raphael interview and ROAD's published script) –



***In the years since TWO FOR THE ROAD's release, Stanley Donen has been approached by many people who've told him it was one of the most romantic films about marriage they'd ever seen; an equal number have told him it's one of the most painful. Donen feels both responses are correct, since the movie deals honestly with both the romantic and painful aspects of marriage.

***How it all began: Donen had seen a film written by Frederic Raphael called NOTHING BUT THE BEST, and he admired the script so much he wrote Raphael directly & told him he'd like to work with him. The two began exchanging ideas for a film project.

***The genesis for TWO FOR THE ROAD came from Raphael's own life. For years he and his wife vacationed in France & would travel down the same roads to the Mediterranean; on one trip as they were driving south (after he’d become a successful screenwriter and their fortunes had improved), he imagined an interesting scenario: "Wouldn’t it be funny if we passed ourselves as we were ten years ago?" Suddenly he realized he'd stumbled onto something - "That’s a movie," he thought. And this became the idea he and Donen would translate to the big screen.

***Frederic Raphael had a tendency to forget his passport whenever he traveled, so this trait was passed on to Mark Wallace.

***Stanley Donen never had anyone in mind for the role of Joanna but Audrey Hepburn; however, when he sent her a brief treatment, she initially said no. She had recently made a film with an unorthodox structure (PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES) which failed with both audiences and critics, and she didn't feel TWO FOR THE ROAD would fare any better. Undaunted, Donen sent her Raphael's script when it was completed, and she immediately agreed to do the film.

***Albert Finney didn't hesitate when he was offered the role of Mark. But Donen was never sure if Finney was attracted to the prospect of working with Audrey Hepburn, or to the film itself.

***TWO FOR THE ROAD was initially a Universal project, but the studio backed out at the last minute. Dick Zanuck and David Brown came to the rescue, and ROAD became a 20th Century-Fox film.

***Before shooting began Donen thought TWO FOR THE ROAD would be an easy film to make, but it turned out to be one of the most complicated and difficult of his career. The unit traveled through France like a small army, with all of the script's five automobiles in tow, plus a double for each in case of emergency; in addition, there were the usual support teams for hair, make-up, wardrobe and catering (not to mention toilet facilities). Donen had to read weather reports before sunrise and make snap decisions regarding which scenes would be shot.

***What's the time period? In most cases, the car registration stickers (visible in the windshields) provide clues. On the choir girls' minibus, it displays (19)54. Cathy Maxwell Manchester reads aloud from a 1956 Michelin Guide. Returning to registration stickers, the MG displays (19)60, the red Triumph (19)63, and the white Mercedes (19)66.

***Arrangements for the cross-channel ferry sequence turned into a nightmare because a proper vessel couldn't be found; port scenes that were supposed to take place in Dieppe were actually shot in Nice.

***Very little of TWO FOR THE ROAD was shot on a soundstage; for the most part filming took place in actual restaurants, hotels, villas and various French roads. Audrey Hepburn often served as "clapper girl" while Donen watched from a car ahead of them; he'd judge each take by listening to the dialogue they'd just recorded. But due to the hum of generators and ambient location noise, a considerable amount of dialogue had to be post-synched. Jacqueline Bissett was unavailable for looping because she was shooting THE DETECTIVE in Hollywood with Frank Sinatra, and Donen was forced to hire a voice-double for her scenes (he did this with some regret, because he loved Bissett's voice).

***When TWO FOR THE ROAD was dubbed into French, the line about chicken-pox lost its visual connection to the chickens in the road - the French word for chicken-pox contains no reference to chickens whatsoever.

***Donen admired the work of British actress Eleanor Bron and asked her if she'd be interested in playing Cathy Maxwell-Manchester. After she agreed to do the role, she asked Donen what kind of American lady he wanted her to play. "I can play a Boston lady, a New York lady, a Southern lady, a Western lady, an Arizona lady, a Chicago lady..." As an American, Donen was dazzled by her facility with stateside accents.

***In contrast to her very convincing portrait as Ruthie, the "monstrous" little girl who’s "absolutely running" her parent’s lives, Donen noted that Gabrielle Middleton was actually a "darling" child.

***In Raphael’s published script for TWO FOR THE ROAD, the restaurant scene involving Joanna, Mark, and the Maxwell-Manchesters plays a bit differently; when Ruthie yanks the tablecloth and spills wine on Joanna's dress, Joanna impulsively smacks Ruthie on the hand. Donen felt striking another couple's child was something Joanna wouldn't do, so this moment was excised from the film. But lines of dialogue (to Joanna) that follow – like Howard’s "I don’t want you to feel badly about what happened just now" and Cathy’s "I know you love Ruthie...but she's gotten the idea you're hostile to her" – contain subtle references to the "smack." Still, Donen's decision to cut the scene was correct, and the sequences that follow play perfectly well without it.

***The mechanical road sign with flapping arms and red lights that Joanna imitates had to be specially constructed; this type of sign doesn't exist in France. The tent that collapses with a touch of Hepburn's foot was also created especially for the film.

***The hotel where Mark & Joanna's MG meets a fiery end wasn't a hotel at all; it was actually a private chateau. The owners became a little nervous when they saw all the soap suds that were used to douse the fire, but fortunately no damage was done to their lawn.

***Likewise, the café on the ridge (where Mark confronts Joanna and David) wasn't actually a café; it was just a spectacular lookout point on which Donen assembled a number of tables, chairs and umbrellas. Because of events that had taken place in their own lives, this was a very difficult scene for Hepburn, Finney, and Donen to shoot.

***The first theme song Henry Mancini composed for the film was rejected by Donen. A week later Mancini composed the melody that was eventually used in the film, and he thanked Donen for rejecting the first one. Donen considers the theme for TWO FOR THE ROAD the finest ever written by the composer – an opinion shared by Mancini himself.

***A scene in which Mark throws Joanna into the pool was a trial for Audrey Hepburn, as the actress had a phobia about being in the water. Donen assured Hepburn she would be safe and even arranged for two members of the film crew to stand by & pull her out of the water once the sequence had been shot. However, the first take was ruined when one of the "lifeguards" jumped into the pool too quickly, forcing Hepburn to shoot the scene again.

***A nighttime sequence in which Mark & Joanna dance at what appears to be a village festival was one of the few actually shot on a soundstage.

***A scene in which Mark smokes a cigar was problematic for Donen, as the director can't tolerate cigars - their smoke OR their smell. Finney knew this and would mischievously blow cigar smoke directly into Donen's face.

***A simple scene in which a beautiful blonde on water-skis flirts with Mark became unexpectedly complicated when it turned out the actress in question had misrepresented her water-skiing abilities. Shooting had to be delayed while she received elementary training, and the action had to be simplified (she was originally supposed to mono-ski onto the beach & chat with Mark). Donen chalked this one up to "the perils of casting."

***A restaurant in St. Tropez had to be modified for a scene involving Joanna and David. The floor of the dining area was comparatively low, so the film crew constructed a false floor that was eighteen inches higher; as a result, the background view of St. Tropez (plus the harbor and coastline) was greatly improved. The restaurant owners were so delighted they kept the "elevated floor" after the scene was shot.

***The very first preview of TWO FOR THE ROAD was held in San Francisco, and before it began Stanley Donen joked with Dick Zanuck about things that might possibly go wrong – film being threaded upside down, reels getting mixed up, etc. – but Zanuck wasn’t amused. "I've been the head of this company for over two years, and nothing has ever gone wrong at a preview." Until that night, anyway. As fate would have it, the theater's entire sound system broke down just as the preview began. Nothing could be heard – not the Fox fanfare, or Henry Mancini's music, or the opening dialogue between Mark and Joanna; 2500 people in a huge San Francisco theater were watching a silent movie. The preview had to be rescheduled for the following night.



(Hope I haven't missed too many points!)