RIP "Hurricane Billy" - William Friedkin

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Only because he just died yesterday, I just learned that film director William Friedkin waited for the statute of limitations to expire and then openly admitted he was using the counterfeit money from "To Live and Die In LA" in real life. LOL!



When counterfeit money printed for the movie landed into public circulation, William Friedkin was contacted by the Secret Service and a DA to come in for questioning, Friedkin basically told them to screw off, get a warrant and then immediately spent more counterfeit money. LOL! Our lunatic king, no one does it like him.


The Friedkin connection: A memoir (2013) by William Friedkin.

Counterfeiting Prop master Barry Bedig

Prop master Barry Bedig was literally born into the biz. Yet despite being the son of storied special effects man Sass Bedig (“The Godfather,” “Bullitt,” “The French Connection”), Barry’s youth was largely unaffected by Tinseltown’s glare. Infrequent studio visits with Dad produced understated memories. “I got to ride [Roy Rogers’ horse] Trigger once,” he deadpans.

Obtaining union status at 25 in 1964 at 20th Century Fox after a stint in the U.S. Navy, Bedig was one of the youngest prop masters in the history of IATSE Local 44, having gained the prerequisite 2,000 hours for membership, then passed the daunting written exam.

He hit the big time in 1972 when he was called for Woody Allen’s “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask.” Bedig’s contributions to the seven-segment film would become his career trademark: detail. He was tasked with creating the Jester’s wand for the “Do Aphrodisiacs Work?” sequence — a handmade prop that featured a lampoon of Allen’s face and became the director’s favorite. It was his orgasmic orb on “Sleeper” a year later that audiences most remember. “Everyone on set tried it,” Bedig notes, “but only Woody made it believable.”

But it was director William Friedkin who defined Bedig’s career. The two share a dozen features spanning 30 years and a mutual commitment to quality, a collaboration that started with “Sorcerer” in 1977. On their second film together, “The Brink’s Job,” Bedig’s input rose to genius level: He brought $2 million in real currency to the set, creating a palpable buzz during the sequence in the bank vault in which actors Peter Falk, Peter Boyle and Paul Sorvino throw wads of the loot into the air. (The cash was well guarded; losses were less than $5,000 during filming — a small price for an idea worth its weight in gold.)

Partnering with a multitude of directors throughout the 1980s, Bedig hit a home run on Barry Levinson’s “The Natural.” Responsible for everything from old-time baseball mitts to Redford’s magical bat, “Wonderboy,” the prop man enlisted Paul Sullivan Jr. (young Roy Hobbs) to wood-burn the lightning logo on the prop — creating a character in its own right.

In 1985, he worked on Friedkin’s “To Live and Die in L.A.,” which withstood jail threats from the government over its depiction of counterfeiting. He also propped character-driven collaborations for Herbert Ross like “Steel Magnolias” and Andy Bergman’s comedic romp “Honeymoon in Vegas,” his exacting style a testament to his depth of craft, translating script and actors’ needs while providing accuracy to period and story.  And he knew to never sell a director on a prop unless he had “more on the truck.”

Bedig, now 79, retired after Friedkin’s “Bug” in 2006. He lives in the San Fernando Valley and enjoys playing casino poker and mentoring his son, Jason, an art department lead man. “Be professional,” he counsels the third-generation filmmaker, “and never leave the set. That’s when things can go wrong!”

William Friedkin creates an Amazon account to write a single movie review (to talk shit about the transfer on a Sorcerer DVD) LOL!


Amazon review comment by Friedkin


Friedkin is informed that Oliver Stone claims DVDs will only last 10 years:


William Friedkin Revisits To Live and Die in L.A. on Blu-ray [Exclusive] (Feb 19, 2010)


William Friedkin doesn't want Gene Hackman in The French Connection and discovers the wrong actor from Belle de Jour has been hired in the title role... makes a masterpiece anyway!




Friedkin employs an arsonist who specializes in insurance fraud to rig up a big explosion in Sorcerer:


William Friedkin: Interviews

Friedkin's thoughts on a book about his films, written from a scholarly perspective:


FASCINATING BEYOND BELIEF (Friedkin interview)


Another Friedkin interview talking about Strokin' by Clarence Carter, which everyone should listen to (at least) once in his honor, but preferably over and over again.


STROKIN’: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN AT THE HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE (2014)




William Friedkin aka 'Hurricane Billy', a god of chaos. RIP legend!




"To Live and Die in L.A." on 4K Blu-ray was released a few weeks ago. I still have my 2k blu-ray from 13 years ago. I bet it still plays. LOL.

[Schmoe]

Rest in peace.  Horror is my favorite genre, and The Exorcist made a strong impression on me when I watched it as a child.  Needless to say, I had trouble sleeping for a bit after that