Implosion/De Sade - Welles wanted to direct Matheson script

[Harvey Chartrand]

I was just reading "The Remarkable Michael Reeves: His Short and Tragic Life" by John B. Murray. Reeves was approached by American International Pictures to direct a Richard Matheson script titled "Implosion". It was about the life of the Marquis De Sade and absolutely brilliant. Orson Welles got a hold of the script and wanted to direct it himself. His old friend and colleague John Huston was cast as De Sade's libertine uncle.
Reeves was deeply troubled. He found "Implosion" too disturbing and turned it down. He would never direct a picture again, committing suicide in February 1969. The script went through several rewrites and was retitled "De Sade." In the process, it was utterly ruined, according to Matheson, who retains credit for the screenplay of "De Sade", which was eventually directed by Cy Enfield. Roger Corman directed the sex scenes when Enfield proved unwilling or unable to do so, due to his Puritanical nature. "De Sade" was a disaster, with a fatally miscast Keir Dullea in the title role.
According to Murray, this has to go down as one of the great lost opportunities in the history of the cinema. It would be great if "Implosion" were published. Matheson is a master of the macabre, one of the great horror writers of the post-WW2 era.

[mteal]

Interesting info, Harvey. I thought about buying the DVD of De Sade because of the intriguing mix of talents involved, but after reading your post and a few online reviews of it, I think I'll pass. It sounds pretty inept and dated.

I'm skeptical of Welles having wanted to direct Matheson's script, since throughout most of his career he directed only his own scripts. Huston reportedly also offered to direct De Sade, but was turned down (?!). He isn't featured much in the film's orgy scenes, which are said to be pretty tame by today's standards. However, according to one online review, Huston was featured heavily doing nasty S&M bits in a Playboy photo spread for the film. Maybe this stuff got left on the cutting room floor.

BTW, Cy Enfield (Zulu, Mysterious Island) was also an assistant to Jack Moss during the making of The Magnificent Ambersons. I remember reading an interview in which Enfield claims his vehement pleas saved the "kichen scene" between Fanny, George, and Jack, which RKO executives had desperately wanted out of the film. I believe he's also the one who said that many of Welles' multi-page cables regarding the TMA editing were tossed in the trash by Moss...unread.

[ToddBaesen]

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I haven't read John B. Murray's book on Michael Reeves, but it sounds like he has no idea what he's talking about. When I talked to Matheson, he told me Implosion was a script that AIP never filmed, which had nothing to do with DeSade. Implosion was about most of the women in the world becoming sterile, and then the authorities put the remaining fertile ones into breeding camps. DeSade was originally written by Matheson for Roger Corman to direct, who prepared it with Matheson, but eventually Corman decided not to direct it.

I think, as Mteal notes, it is very unlikely that Orson Welles ever saw the script, much less wanted to direct it, since Welles often mentioned he didn't feel comfortable doing nude and or sex scenes. It's also unlikely that Reeves found either Implosion or DeSade too disturbing to direct - after all here is a man who directed the ultra-violent scenes in The Witchfinder General. However, Reeves was having mental problems at the time, meaning he couldn't direct anything. According to DeSade's producer, Louis "Deke" Hayward, he had preliminary talks with Reeves about directing DeSade, but Reeves didn't even see a script. Gordon Hessler, who took over directing The Oblong Box from Reeves, and was at one point going to produce DeSade tells a slightly different version of the story in an interview on The Cry of The Banshee DVD with Vincent Price that has just come out.

However, Murray is correct about one thing: Matheson felt that both Implosion and DeSade were two of his best scripts. When I talked to Matheson, he told me that, quite emphatically. He felt DeSade got wrecked by Cy Enfield, who was apparently ill and/or having mental problems when he was directing the picture. Matheson also said that AIP head Jim Nicholson told him after the film was finished, John Huston had said to Nicholson, "why didn't you ask me to direct it, I'd have been happy to do it."
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[Harvey Chartrand]

Todd,
I doublechecked and Murray does indeed write that "Implosion" was the original script for "De Sade", before AIP's Deke Heyward and others ruined it.
Composer Paul Ferris (who wrote the score for "Witchfinder General") says that Michael Reeves found the "Implosion" script too disturbing to work on. By late 68, Reeves was a basket case — a manic-depressive in a low cycle, abusing pills and alcohol and enduring nasty side-effects from shock treatments (including a terrible stutter). So Reeves was obviously in no condition to work, blowing his career just as he was making it big.
Perhaps Welles was interested in filming "Implosion" and not "De Sade". Welles was aware of Matheson's work, later recommending "I Am Legend" to Charlton Heston, who filmed it as "The Omega Man" in 1971.
Did you interview Richard Matheson for a film magazine? If so, which one? Was the "Implosion" script ever published? If not, are there any plans to release it in book form (along with Matheson's original script for "De Sade")?

[ToddBaesen]

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Harvey,

It's funny you should mention that Welles was interested in I AM LEGEND, because I asked Richard Matheson about that story, as well. Apparently, that's another bogus account, because in Charlton Heston's diary, he mentions wanting to work with Welles on another last man on earth story, EARTH ABIDES, after they finished TOUCH OF EVIL, which is probably how the story got started that Welles wanted to do I AM LEGEND. Here's what Matheson had to say:



TODD BAESEN: There's a story I heard about I AM LEGEND, although I don't know whether it's true or not. Apparently Orson Welles liked I AM LEGEND and suggested to Charlton Heston that he read it while they were both working on TOUCH OF EVIL in 1957. So Heston read I AM LEGEND, liked it and wanted to make it with Welles. Of course, Heston ended up making it as THE OMEGA MAN, without Welles directing.

RICHARD MATHESON: (laughing) I wonder if Heston realized he was doing my book when he made THE OMEGA MAN? If he liked the book, he certainly didn't allow much of it to remain.

TODD BAESEN: So did Welles ever show any interest about making I AM LEGEND?

RICHARD MATHESON: No, not to me. I met Welles while they were making TOUCH OF EVIL. He was there at Universal, looking at the rough-cut of THE SHRINKING MAN, and both TOUCH OF EVIL and THE SHRINKING MAN were produced by Albert Zugsmith. Welles even did the voice overs for the trailers on THE SHRINKING MAN. I hear stories like that all the time, though. Jim Nicholson told me that when AIP was making DeSADE, John Huston, who was acting in the film said, "Why didn't you ask me to direct it? I would have been happy to do it." Well, that made my day, after it was done so weirdly. At first, I was thrilled when I heard Cy Enfield was going to direct DeSADE, because I think ZULU is one of the greatest action pictures ever made. But from what Roger Corman told me, AIP didn't really know what was happening over there in Germany. So Roger had to go over there and fill in the gaps and throw in a few orgy scenes. I remember meeting with the editor, who worked on THE BLUE MAX, and he said he only had three-quarters of a film there!

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