THE SANDS OF DEE

Bernard told me that he liked the films of Michael Powell a lot. I did too. He wondered about getting him to make a video. I liked the idea a lot.

It was 1988 and Michael Powell was now living in New York married to Thelma Schoonmaker, long time editing partner for Martin Scorsese.

My friend Skip Lievsay was a sound designer who had been working with Thelma and Scorsese for years. Skip had helped me to make my first film “Tribeca” with A Certain Ratio in 1980, and often worked on various music projects with me. He was happy to ask Thelma if Michael could be interested in meeting me.

Thelma met me first, then introduced me to Michael.

I revered Michael’s work so much, and was happy to find him charming, and funny. He was working on a film to be shot in Ireland (it had to have another director attached for security because of his age, 83). I left Michael with New Order’s music and returned later for another meeting.

He liked the music, especially the rhythm, and he began to speak of a poem by Charles Kingsley called “The Sands of Dee”. He expressed his interest in making a short film base on the poem. I did not have a chance to propose him a specific track that was going to be released as a single, and I found his idea more interesting.

Michael went on to explain that the poem is the story of a woman who takes her cattle out in to the Dee estuary outside of Liverpool and is overtaken by the swift tides. The next day she is found dead in the salmon nets.

Michael mentioned his interest in having Tilda Swinton play the girl. He had known Tilda since he became the “godfather” of Sally Potter’s film “Orlando” but had no idea that Tilda and I were friends. Michael wanted New Order to compose the music – a unique track – and to be seen performing the song on the beach at the end of the film.

To prepare for the film I went to Anita Overland who was Gerard de Thame’s producer at HLA (Helen Langridge Associates). While we did not end up working together with Gerard (see texts on “Fine Time” and “Round & Round”), we had all become good friends. Anita was very much up for the gig and we arranged for her to take Michael and Thelma on a recce (location scout) before putting the final budget together. I could not go because I had to produce another video for New Order.

Later I met with Thelma, Michael and Anita in London. The budget was made and came out to be somewhere around £200,000. I had a dream of it premiering at the Cannes film festival. It was late winter/early spring and the band said that they were not ready. So we had to wait. Thelma and Michael returned to New York.

I continued working on the project, looking for a male actor to play Tilda’s husband. The two actors that Michael suggested were Albert Finney and Ben Kingsley. I did not get very far with casting this character.

In the fall New Order said that they were ready, but Thelma was editing Scorsese’s “Goodfella’s” and Michael had already fallen ill.

I remember being in Paris when I got the phone call that Michael Powell had died. I saw Thelma soon after at his funeral in the Cotswolds, where Michael had a cottage. Tilda and Sally were there, along with many familiar faces from the film world. Michael was much loved.

So we never made this film where Michael Powell once described the close up on Tilda found dead in the salmon nets as being “box office”. And I will also never forget how Michael was dressed for, perhaps, the last time I saw him in London: a matching tweed outfit with cape and cap. He was a beautiful sight. We are lucky to have his body of films to live with. His work will continue to be discovered and cherished by generations to come.

So, that’s the story. The delay in posting this text is that I needed Thelma to proof some facts. Of course she was busy with another Scorsese film, THE DEPARTED, for which she received an Oscar (kudos!). Soon after, Thelma’s corrections and comments arrived along with a couple of stills from the recce for THE SANDS OF DEE. And there was also one of Michael in that tweed suit. I wondered if he wore that on the recce?!

It has taken me some time to address this story, and it has grown. I learned that the reason that the band were not ready to shoot that spring was due to a result of sport over art. New Order had been asked to compose the UK football theme song for that season. Tony Wilson convinced the band to delay the filming. Tony told me that, although the song WORLD IN MOTION was a big success, Bernard will not forgive Tony for not having worked with Michael.

In April this year I went to the Tribeca Film Festival and met Paolo Cherchi Usai. When told that he was archiving the films of D.W. Griffith I told him that I just learned that Griffith made a short based on THE SANDS OF DEE (by chance, when checking something via internet on the poem). Paolo confirmed this with great enthusiasm, calling it a small masterpiece. He has since sent me a copy and, indeed, it is a gem. The poem was more an inspiration for the film shot in Santa Monica, California, unlike what Michael had planned. But I wonder whether Michael knew of this silent film. I suspect not, but it is of no matter. In a way our film has been made – some of the best films never make it beyond the idea. Now these images from its planning, Michael and Thelma are part of turtle.>

MHS

Postscript

In a review of NORTH SOHO 999, a new book out in the UK that takes place in the neighborhood in which I have been living, Fitzrovia, I learned that the opening to Michael’s PEEPING TOM was shot in an alley through which I always went out of my way to walk. It was special to me, and now I know why.

Post post script

Anita Overland helped me to survive my illness and is a big part of the reason that I am still here. This story is our story, our film.