The King of Retakes

A perfectionist to his very core, Charlie Chaplin would often require several takes before being pleased enough to move on. How many takes? In some case, several hundreds.

I had always been aware of Charlie's dislike of working with his leading lady, Virginia Cherrill, in his 1931 film City Lights. I knew that he thought she was a pain to work with and direct, perhaps because she was not too talented, but I never realized how big of a pain she was. In rare footage discovered of Charlie directing Ms. Cherrill, footage that now appears on the collector's edition of the film, the anguish and disgust can be seen on Charlie's face. He is agitated at almost everything Ms. Cherrill does and he doesn't make any effort to hide it. The footage is narrated by historian Hooman Mehran and in his narration it is revealed that Charlie was even mad at the inflection in Ms. Cherrill's voice although it was a completely silent film. (haha)

342 retakes of one scene. 342!!

This film archival gem gives invaluable insight into Charlie's methods as a cinematic genius. <3

Note: Yes, Charlie and I are on a first name basis.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/11/18/behind_the_scenes_footage_of_charlie_chaplin_directing_city_lights_captures.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Zgcn_UdSJHI