The World According to Garp (1982 George Roy Hill)

Familiar names too in the sound department: Dick Vorisek is the supervisor and Tom Fleischman the mixer.

Of the cast should mention Jenny Wright as Cushy and Brenda Currin as the vile Pooh, Peter Michael Goetz as the family publisher, Mark Soper as Michael Milton, George Ede the Dean, Brandon Maggart as the wrestling coach.

We spent an illuminating hour with the film's editor Steve Rotter, who thinks he only got the job because Dede Allen was busy (I don't know with what - Reds was finished and she didn't have another credit until 1984). He'd worked with Hill on Slaughterhouse-Five, a director he held in very high esteem.

Steve modestly claims his only real achievement in the film was arguing that the plane crash into the house should just be one shot; otherwise the film was a product of Hill's set ups and his handling of the cast (himself a former actor). It was Glenn Close's first feature, and with Williams he held him back, didn't want him going into funny routines - it was his first serious performance. He would only let the stunt people do the rooftop scene twice as it was so dangerous, even though they were wired (which had to be manually removed from the shot). The dog playing Bonkie was not very vicious at all and so the attack is a mixture of fake dog head and quick cutting. And that there was a second animation by John Canemaker (how Jenny was impregnated) that somehow went missing from the film, but fortunately you can see a silent treatment of this scene here at 11:40.

It was an important film for Steve because it got him into the A league, and he subsequently worked with Phil Kaufman on The Right Stuff and won the Oscar, then for Nancy Myers, Elaine May, Herbert Ross.

We didn't see Garp until 1990, after Fatal Attraction - thus Glenn Close going from bunny boiler to this was a major surprise.

But above all, I think he expresses surprise at how ahead of its time the film was in its feminist and transgender themes, and how well it worked - a wonderful combination of talents.

"There's another kid I'm sure you're gonna like too."
"What's he like?"
"Can't tell yet."
"Quiet type?"
"Yeah - real. Very young. A real baby. I invited him over to meet you."
"When?"
"Should be here in about seven and a half months."