MICHAEL WINNER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300210018-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2004
• Sequence Number: 18
• Publication Date: May 30, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

IJ AY 1972
Approved For Release 2005/d/3 -c
CIA-RDP88-01365R00030'D21 e \ - ^
M,ton BerIner
"T h ere aren't too many
who spent
r
i
h
'T h
,
nne
e
Michael W
available during t
1
several weeks scouting loca anes but that's been,
lions here for his latest film,
"Scorpio pronounced Wash- worked out," Winner said.
ington the "most beautiful city few of the Washington in-
in America." He dismissed teriors in "Scorpio" will ac-
San Francisco, which usually tually be clone in London, the
gets the nod, with. a wave of major one being the recrea-
the hand. lion of the Central Intelligence
"If you love trees, and I Agency headquarters in Lan-
love trees, this, is the place," gle , Va. taken an enormous
he said, looking out of the pie buildin in the Greenbelt area
g
lure window of his huge Wat-
Hotel suite at Virginia
ergate
shore greenery across the Po-
tomac.
Ike said that half of "Scor-
p i o ," an international spy
movie, is set in Washington (a.
10-day shooting schedule be-
gan last Saturday) and the
other half. in London, Vienna
-and Paris. Burt Lancaster,
Paul Scofield, Alain Delon are
in it as well as John Colicos
abd Gayle Hunnicutt. All ex-
cept Delon will. be 'working
here.
"The film," he said, will
show the- Washington that's
lived, in, not just what the
tourists see. We'll be shooting
here in 10 or 12 residential
areas from rich to poor, a
couple of supermarkets, a tre-
mendous skating rink, a ceme-
tery and at some monuments,
but I'm not concentrating on
them. Also a gymnasium in a
black area, Union Station, the
Greyhound bus station and 0-
st in Georgetown. lam
amazed that the Georgetown
area has not been used to any
extent in movies. It's quite
marvelous. We have a scene
In which someone is killed
Winner said that he has had
an office here for 16 weeks
rounding up all the necessary
permits.
"I've been very struck," he
.said, "with how helpful not
only the police have been but
-all government authorities as
Well.
"I spent- yesterday (Thurs-
day) seeing a lot .of people.
We expect to use 300 or 400 in
just outside London," Winner
said." It matches the CIA Net-
ter than any building we found
in Washington. We will also be
shooting a' Washington scene
in a modern London apart-
ment house. I regret to say
those buildings are the same
the world over."
Winner, who will discuss
his film "The Joker" after a
showing at the American Film
Institute Theater next Sunday
evening, said he was a little
surprised at the excellent box
office response in this country
to "Chatow?'s Land" which he
also directed.
"We knew it would do well
abroad because Charlie Bron-
son is an,enornious star
there," he said. "But in Wash-
ington where it opened first
(at RKO Keith's) it did terrifi-
cally well. It says 'A.Michael
not a draw nor is co-star Jack
Palance so it must be Bron-:
son.
"The funny thing here is
that this was Charlie Bron-
son's first picture all made in
English, and he has only 10
lines in it. And all except sev-
en words are in Apache. All
he says in English is: 'Stand
back, 'lawman' and 'The Mexi-
can is good.'
"In England and Europe
'Chatow' got an X rating, but
here they wanted a PG so we
took a hell of a lot out of it.
Tor example, where Chatow's
wife is raped we originally
shot her naked and she was
naked when tied to the stake.
Of course, an X in England
Michael Winner
Winner has another Bronson
filth coming out after Christ-
mas - "The Mechanic." It's
about the Mafia as is a film
Bronson has just completed in
Rome, "The Valachi Papers.':
"The Mafia seems to be in
these. days," W i n n.e r said.
"But I think 'The Mechanic. is
different because you never.
see the whole family. It's Ma-
fi5i, all right, but it deals with
only one employee who trains
himself to a pitch to be the
very best killer in the busi-
ness. But as the film begins
he has trained himself to such
a point that he is beginning to
crack up but continues to take
assignments."
-the film. One or two are kind doesn't carry the pornograph-
of semi-local actors who will ' is stigma it does here. An X
have lines." film in England is frequently
Only" problem so far, he one of some intelligence but a
said, was g e t t i n g enough bit strong. In England, you
planes for scenes at National can be refused even an X,
and Dulles airports Aippr6Ved Fb1' 6 F@ , ~ 2O~~/@141
ter after Transp '72). sho+vn at al