A Conversation with Terry Rawlings

[Ben]

Hey all,

I'm really super-pleased to be able to finally post my conversation with a great friend of mine, and a family friend for so many years now, editor Terry Rawlings.

http://animatedviews.com/2015/conversat ... -rawlings/

Terry knew my Dad from Elstree Studios back in the Muppets, Star Wars and Indy Jones days - he even helped us set up our first VHS recorder back in the day - and he's always been kind enough to offer advice and such as I took on editing as a profession myself.

We've been back in touch more recently and this interview actually dates back quite a number of years! We kept tinkering with it...adding new bits...going back and asking more, until we called it a day a couple of years ago, since we knew it could just run and run!

It still sat on my drive as real life got in the way, but the recent issue of Watership Down -the very film that had given us the impetus to record an interview in the first place - on Criterion's new Blu-ray edition finally gave me the chance to finish it up and post it with some kind of reason and timing.

It's *long* (we spoke for over three hours!) but an in depth chat, full of anecdotes and fun asides, as well, of course, as speaking about Watership Down for the main course, preceeded and followed by a discussion of Terry's phenomenal movie career.

I hope you enjoy it!

-- Ben.

[Vernadyn]

I haven't read the whole thing yet, but it was intriguing to read about Rawlings's relationship with Jerry Goldsmith. He doesn't hold back on his opinions on other films/actors too, which is refreshing. There's a book's worth of material here, so thanks for making this interview available!

[Ben]

One of the reasons this has taken so long to go to print is because we did explore the possibility of a book...we had so much more material on some individual films, as well as private photos and the like, that didn't get in here.

I have also heard some of the cut music from Watership Down, and it's beautiful stuff in its own right. We may still make some of these available in the story, but there are some hurdles to overcome. We did actually offer Criterion some extras, too, but they chose to frame their disc differently. Somewhere in all this, there is a terrific, definitive WD edition to be found!

In as far as what we have posted...I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[Vernadyn]

I haven't seen Watership Down in a long time, but I've always loved the book. The Hubley opening of the film is quite striking; that style would have been perfect for the the El-ahrairah stories in particular had the structure of the film allowed for their inclusion.

I also saw the "follow-up" Plague Dogs. It's a brutal film, but that ending…. I remember just staring at the screen for a couple of minutes after the film had ended.