Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1401019
Jocelyne Cita, a French Martinique girl with excellent English. Together with Jean-Pierre Lelong, the 'French Master of Footsteps,' we had a team! Alan said that it was time to bring a composer on board and he wanted Ennio Morricone. So we patched up our temp track and the maestro arrived with his translator. He watched the film on his own and afterward said to Alan, "The film is excellent but you don't want me; you have already decided on a score!" Of course, that was true, Alan had 'scored' the film with his toolkit. Only time I met the man! (Alan remembers it differently and that the meeting was in Rome but it was definitely at Billancourt.) Eventually, it was agreed that Trevor Jones would score the film and would incorporate a lot of the themes and sounds that were in the temp. He and Alan did come up with the brilliant idea of Courtney Pine playing counterpoint to the more haunting drones. In fact, Courtney improvised to Trevor's score at the sessions. I would call in on Jean-Pierre every morning and evening to listen to the progress being made on the Foley stage. It was inspiring to work with a man totally in control of his craft. He brought a lot to the multi-layered soundtrack. We'd had nearly six months in Paris and were now due to go to Elstree Studios to mix with Bill Rowe and Ray Merrin. I still had some American crowd to record and had arranged for Louis Elman to cast and supervise a recording session. When that was completed, we began to pre-mix. It was at that time that Alan had a problem with the US censors as Top right: Mike Le Mare and EJ studying the Foley chart. Right: EJ at work in Elstree Studios cutting room, note the synchroniser and joiner/splicer. I had obtained a wonderful eerie sound eect of treated demonic voices from Peter Pennell via Bill Trent and other sound editors, each of whom had enhanced the track.