Director's Comments
In 1967 I went to see Laurence Pollinger, who represented D.H.Lawrence at the end of his career. From behind an impressive pipe-rack, this doyen of literary agents looked rather unbelievingly at a young film maker, who wanted to make a film on the life of Lawrence. It was a good subject I felt, as I had read Harry T. Moore's book, (then entitled 'The Intelligent Heart')' and Freida Lawrence's' 'Not I but the Wind', but I soon realized at that meeting that these were not the only book-rights I had to obtain if I was also to quote from Lawrence's own works. The sum he requested soon became more Lawrence of Arabia, then Lawrence of Nottingham.
I had to wait another 10 years before his son, Gerald, telephoned me after his father's death, to suggest a more reasonable fee, and that Professor Harry Moore, who had renamed his biography, 'Priest of Love' wanted to meet me as he had much enjoyed 'The Virgin and the Gypsy'.
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The director with Stanley J. Seeger (Excecutive producer and composer)
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A complex rights agreement was worked out, and pre-production finance was pledged by Loti Irwin, after which I asked Alan Plater to write the screenplay, having worked successfully with him on 'The Virgin and the Gypsy', but he seemed rather daunted saying it was like asking him to re-write the Bible. However when I suggested that perhaps Lawrence's later years were the most dramatic, culminating in him not only writing and publishing his own novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' but also in trying to put his same artistic feelings onto canvas - a visual plus for a film maker - he became more confident, and work on the screenplay began.
How I then managed to drive through the Communist section of Germany to Berlin to see a film financier, who had promised that if I secured Liv Ullman to play Frieda, he would finance the film, and how Ms Ullman wanted only Alan Bates to play Lawrence; and why Ian McKellen (then unknown in films) took over the role from Tom Courtenay, is all explained in 'Carrying the Can'. As well as the miraculous evening when one of the composers came to my house to play us the theme in the film, who on hearing the casting fiasco decided I should proceed with the cast I wanted - starting with Janet Suzman as Frieda and Ian McKellen as Lawrence ... as he had decided to put up the finance himself.
