Making of an epic

With the touring production of the show coming to The Mayflower this week, SALLY CHURCHWARD talks to the film's director and co-writer Ken Russell about his famous creation...

"I had an amusing incident with Oliver Reed," reminisces New Forest based director Ken Russell about shooting Tommy with the famous hellraiser.

"On the way back to the hotel after shooting we passed a pub which was on an estuary where they had very good shrimps.

"I dropped in and asked for some shrimps but they said they weren't in yet so I went to leave because I didn't want a drink.

"But Oliver was down the other end of the bar and he said, 'Jesus,' (he always called me Jesus, though it turned out not to be for a very nice reason) 'Jesus, you're going to have a drink with me.'

"I said no, walked out and got into my custom-built white Toyota and before I knew it Oliver was on the bonnet, holding the windscreen wipers and staring at me. His nose had gone terribly flat against the windscreen and he said, 'Jesus I asked you for a drink.'

I thought he'd get off so I started the engine and began to pull away but he held on. I started speeding off but I thought, 'I'd better be careful, I need him for filming tomorrow,' so I turned around and went back to the pub.

"He said, 'you wanted shrimp,' and he walked down the beach and into the water and carried on walking until his head disappeared. Then a hand rose above the surface dripping mud and he walked out holding his hand high - it was very dramatic.

"He walked up to my white bonnet and threw down a handful of mud. As it happens there was a shrimp in there and he said: 'There's your shrimp Jesus, now come and have a drink with me.' Well, I couldn't refuse and, as usual, he spiked the drink and I ended up drunk on the floor," laughs Russell.

The off-set antics of the filming of Tommy may have been colourful but they could never compete with the film itself when it comes to grabbing your attention.

The musical, "the only rock opera ever made" as Russell says of his work, of which he is still very proud, was not only a massive worldwide hit but was also one of the most unusual films ever made.

It started life as a concept album of the same name by rock band The Who in the 60s but it took Russell to shape these disjointed songs into a structured story about a psychosomatically deaf, dumb and blind boy who becomes a pinball champion and a cult leader.

Russell admits that when he was first approached with the idea of directing a film based on the album, he hadn't even heard of The Who. But once he listened to the album he realised that he had something special on his hands.

An all-star vehicle, the film not only featured the songs of and performances by The Who - including Roger Daltrey in the title role - but also boasted such headline names as Elton John, Oliver Reed, Tina Turner, Jack Nicholson, Eric Clapton, Robert Powell and Ann-Margret, who was Oscar-nominated for her role.

Tommy features no spoken dialogue. Instead, Russell asked Pete Townshend, who wrote the album, to pen some extra tracks to help the story to develop.

The film is a classic Russell movie; rich in symbolism and featuring some of the most memorable scenes ever committed to celluloid.

These include Ann-Margret, who played Tommy's mother, writhing on her bedroom floor in a cascade of champagne followed by baked beans which spew from her broken television set, symbolising her mental breakdown.

Unfortunately for Ann-Margret she suffered for her art. The champagne bubbles around her started going pink and she realised that she had cut her hand open on the jagged glass of the broken TV screen.

Russell himself carried her to the nearby emergency ward, with her catsuit soaked through with champagne, make-up smeared across her face and blood pumping from her hand.

Further drama happened on South Parade Pier in Southsea.

Much of the filming was done in and around Portsmouth, which Ken was familiar with because he grew up in Southampton and because he had shot an earlier film, The Boy Friend, there.

The boundary between life and art became very blurred when the pier's ballroom caught fire during filming - but ever the professional, Russell turned his camera on the flames and added the footage into his film.

"The fire was nothing to do with us," Russell hastens to point out.

"We were filming inside and I said to the props man: 'Go easy on the smoke. I only wanted a bit of atmosphere!'

"He said: 'I haven't touched it, guv, the building's on fire. I'm just leaving now if you don't mind. I don't want to be burnt to death.'

"I looked up and flames leapt through the ceiling as we left. We were outside and I thought: 'I might as well film it - I can put it in the movie.'"

The memorable Pinball Wizard section - featuring Elton John in the largest pair of Dr Marten boots ever seen - was also shot in Portsmouth.

After shooting the scene, Elton John and Roger Daltrey hit the town in Portsmouth - lads at the local snooker club found themselves playing in unusual company that night.

It's easy to assume that shooting a film with so many pop stars - whose reputation for rowdy behaviour and unreliability tends to precede them - must have been a nightmare for Russell. But, he says, this was far from the case.

"Before I started it, people said, 'You're making a rod for your own back with that lot,' but as a group they were the best people I'd ever worked with," says Russell fondly.

"Once Keith Moon was late through no fault of his own. He came and apologised and said, 'Put it there as hard as you can,'" says Russell, miming The Who's drummer offering his jaw to be punched. "I kissed him."

That said, the stars did have a few rock and roll moments.

One day Russell was chatting to Moon as the drummer sat in the window of his hotel.

Moon spotted a porter walking across the lawn below him and called out to him that his broken television hadn't been fixed. The porter said he'd come up to fetch it but Moon told him he'd send it down, and with that, threw the TV out of the hotel window.

And Pete Townshend had a bit of a rock 'n' roll moment too.

"There's a scene where the band go ape and he smashes his guitar. I had a producer who was always worrying about saving pennies and he asked if he could smash a replica guitar instead of the real thing, which cost about £5,000.

"I asked Pete and he said: 'Absolutely not!' In the first take he smashed it up and he said, 'I don't quite like the way I did that, can I have another take?' and he did it three times. The producer was almost crying."

One of the nicest people Russell met was Tina Turner. In the film she plays the Acid Queen, a drug-addict prostitute, but the character was a long way from Turner's real personality.

"She was a marvellous person," says Russell. "When I went to LA and met her again she brought me some cookies she'd made. She was a great cook and very sweet. But I don't think anyone could have portrayed her character, the Acid Queen, as well as her."

Russell stayed in contact with many of the stars of Tommy. He and Reed were firm friends until Reed's death - even though Reed did threaten to sue him once. But what's a bit of litigation between friends?

"I was asked to do a horror film and I thought he'd be very good in it. He signed the contract but when I saw the script I pulled out and he was going to sue me over it. I thought: 'If I give him a part in Tommy maybe he won't sue.' I told him about the part and he said: 'I'm still suing you,' but he was only joking.

"Early on I realised the limitations of his acting - he was himself and if that happened to fit the character, all well and good. Over the years I developed a working relationship with him and I'd say 'moody one,' 'moody two,' or 'moody three' and he got moodier with each number, but it seemed to work. He seemed to know exactly what I wanted - he was intuitive.

"I remained his friend until the bitter end," Russell says with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Sometimes I even dream about him. He was a lovely person."

Tommy is available to buy on special-edition double DVD.

The stage version of Tommy is at The Mayflower from Monday, 28 February until to Saturday, 5 March. For tickets and more information call 023 8071 1811.