Where and when did the idea of “Shedding the Skin” come about?

"Shedding the Skin" came about owing to the fact that my former (business) partner and I were working extensively on a project to do with Lucio Fulci, and we had met so many people to do with his movies.  For me, LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN is Lucio Fulci's best film, and I love the whole genre of the giallo.  I have alawys enjoyed documentaries, and I wanted to do something informative and creative, having seen the Eurotika and Mondo Macabro documentaries on Britain's Channel 4, I though it would be cool to do something along those lines. 

I had seen the featurettes on the Anchor Bay and now Blue Underground discs, and though I appreciate the skill that goes into them, well, I always felt that the people didn't really talk enough about aspects of the film I wanted to hear. 

So I came up with the idea of doing a documentary.  At first, when I spoke to John [Sirabella] about the idea, I can remember his voice now "You wanna do a documentareeee?".  But luckily he gave the go-ahead, and I had lots of ideas about how I wanted to construct it.  The whole documentary took quite some time to construct, owing to people's geography, from L.A. to Spain to Paris to Rome, and I had to remember what people had said in order to tie in with the narration, not an easy task, but I think came off pretty well. 

Did you originally want Penny Brown to narrate the documentary?
 

Penny Brown is a sweetheart, no other word for it.  She is also a really good and valuable friend to have.  Originally we were toying with who to do the narration whilst Mike and I were in Southern Spain meeting Jess Franco.  My accent is too European perhaps for an American audience, and I think that Mike would have had difficulty pronouncing some of the Italian words and names.  So suddenly, I thought, "Why don't we ask Penny to do it, as after all she was in the movie?".  Also Penny has done dubbing before and has a good clear voice.  She also admired Fulci, and the eagle eyed will recognise her from THE NEW GLADIATORS too.  I called her and followed it up with an email and she was delighted.  We got her by her horse, Red, which mirrors her with the horse at Woburn in the film, and the documentary also ends with her quoting from the film.

What are some elements you may of wanted to incorporate but just didn’t have
the time or space to?
 

Well I was in touch with a few other people involved with the film.  One of my contacts, and generally all round good guy, Andrea Carpentieri, was and is in touch with Ely Galleani, whom no-one interviewed remembered sadly, and it would have been nice to have her input.  Also I was in touch with Silvia Monti, who now lives in Switzerland.  I tried to track down Alberto de Mendoza but that proved quite difficult, which is unusual.  I also spoke to Ennio Morricone, but he generally was too busy to discuss the film each time we were in Rome.  I also spoke to Luigi Kuveiller a couple of times, but again, he was always tied up with other projects whenever I called him.

I really like the idea of sharing the present day shooting locations from  the film, can you go into more details about this area of the documentary?
 

Well Woburn Abbey is a large stately home in England north of London.  Quite some of the exteriors and I believe interiors were shot there too.  We even think we spotted the copse of trees where Penny is standing when she speaks to Florinda.   The rest of the locations were generally recognisable London landmarks, even though their bearing in the film has no reality with the real London.  Stanley Baker and his sidekick see Carol leaving The Old Bailey, whilst standing outside The Albert Hall and in reality the two places are miles apart.  Lambeth Palace Road, I used to get the bus past everyday so I was familiar with that area.  One real scoop was finding the actual street in Belgravia where the exterior of the Hammonds' apartment is situated in London.  I recognised the style of houses but finding the actual house and street was great fun.

One amusing story was, whilst shooting outside the Law Courts, a policeman came up and questioned me and my friend Mark [Vella] asking what we were doing, videoing the building.  I told him the truth, that we were shooting present day exteriors for a documentary about a film.  When prompted for the title of the film, he sniggered to himself and told us to get on with it and shoot what he had to shoot fast, as it might be seen as some as a security risk (!)

I tried and I tried to find the Clinic where Carol is chased by the hippy, at one point I thought I had found it, but I was never entirely sure. 

What do you hope for people to learn from this look inside of Fulci’s film?
 

Well, the documentary initially is intended to be an introduction into the "giallo".  After all, not everyone who will pick up the dvd will be aware of what exactly a "giallo" is.  However, after a brief summary of what a giallo is and some brief notes about Lucio Fulci, we go into the familiar terrain covering memories from the film, from the people who made it.

Not much is generally known about the "behind the scenes" stuff of these cult movies.  People's memories fade, or dare I say it, people die of and the memories are gone forever.  I always saw and see DVD as the non-plus-ultra format for home entertainment and the historian as much as the film enthusiast in me was what made me want to go into the extras business.  Anyone can interpret a film in a critique or review, but to actually hear people's memories adds a more honest and personal touch.  Also, I don't know about you, but seeing the people as they are today gives an added dimension.

There has always been a degree of controversy surrounding the film, and the "vivisected dogs scene".  I wanted to find out more about that, and hopefully put the rumor to bed that they were real.  Also, there were other little facts I discovered in the course of my research, such as the identity of Mike Kennedy, and his background in rock n roll.  None of this was known before.  I hope I have provided an interesting, intelligent and enjoyable selection of basic facts coupled with people's heartfelt memories, and few in jokes too for those with eyes to see.

Would you like to add more, to let people know something that isn’t shared
in the film of the documentary?

There are a few facts here and there, and it would have been nice to hear thoughts from other people on Fulci and working on the film.  But I am my own worst critic, I never listen to my audio commentaries or interviews when I get the discs.  I don't revel in that sort of self glorification, though, this time I must confess I am really proud of the work I have done here and I think it stands up pretty well.  when I was putting it together and, after the fact, I somehow got the timings wrong and in the end, not much has been cut from the documentary to be honest, and what was trimmed, well the documentary has definitely survived without it being there.  Some of the lobby cards and posters could have been better - but I was drawing from my own collection and not many people have Fulci's Franco & Ciccio movies in their poster collections.

It was great fun to do, some good memories, plus I had enthusiasm from Mike, as well as my friends supporting me, and I got the chance to work on one of my favorite movies.  I had a vision of how I wanted it to look, and all in all, I generally genuinely believe it came pretty close, given the resources and the facilities I had to work with.  Not bad for 5 days none stop work with very little sleep in between each day.  I hope that side of things doesn't show too much. 

*****Conducted Feb 15 2005

 

 

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