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RF: He comes from a very rigorous and strict Plymouth brethren background and suddenly encounters, first of all, the taste of Christmas pudding which his father tells him is the food of satan and hits it out of his mouth and then when he's at University . . . he leaves his father as a result and then encounters the delight of gambling and he's torn, he's tormented between these two extremes and his ethics are in turmoil and that was the main thing that attracted me to it.
TB: Do you think that aspect of his personality is something that a lot of
people will be able to identify with, that kind of torment that you often
have between the spiritual side and the personal side?
RF: Yes, I hope so, because I feel although it is a "period" film, that
dilemma is, you know, an ongoing one and a modern one too.
{2 clips from film}
RF: I always saw it as a life affirming moment, that moment when someone's about to throw down their card, or the moment that the horse crosses the line, is something he lives for. It's all the calculations and the working out of the odds and then that moment something very primitive . . about that moment which I think he lives for - I always saw that akin to tasting the Christmas pudding when he was a child.
{TB's comments (not in interview with RF): O&L is not an easy to digest Hollywood romance, it demands some hard work from the audience.}
RF: It reveals itself slowly. If you hadn't read anything about it and
you sat in front of the screen and the film started, I think you'd be
wondering for a while where all this is going to lead you - but I think you
just have to be patient because I think it pays off at the end.
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© EL STEPHO
Added to the RF Reading Room on March 23, 1998
EL STEPHO