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Reggio:
No. It was only during the editing of
Koyaanisqatsi,
when Philip and I became so excited about the language we felt we had struck upon, that we decided we wanted to flesh out our point of view.
MacDonald:
How did you originally connect up with Glass?
Reggio:
Through two friends, one known in the film world actuallyRudy Wurlitzer, a screenwriterand Jeffrey Lew, a Buddhist friend of Philip, who set him up with his first recording studio at 112 Green Street. I had done a study with a woman in Santa Fe who is a composer and pianistMarcia Mikulak. But after listening to various music, I felt Philip's music was what I wanted. It had a trance element built into the rhythm structures that would fuse with the image. Getting to Philip was difficult. After my first inquiry through Rudy, Philip said, "I don't like movies, I don't see movies. I have no real interest. I'm not putting down your effort; it's just not what I do." Then I said to Rudy, "Let's try this: I'm going to put some images to some music Philip has donespecifically,
North Star
and I'll have a little screening for him at Anthology Film Archives," which was on Wooster Street at that point. Philip was kind enough to come to the screening, as a favor to Rudy, I think. He told me afterward that he had intended to duck out, but he became very entranced by the relationship of my images to his music, and from that moment on, we've had a very productive and convivial relationship. We're able to be very critical with each other and yet maintain a mutual respect.
Within the production group here, the choice of Philip Glass was the single most controversial thing I did. People here
hated
his music. They said, "If you wanted to choose the
worst
composer in the world, you'd get this person who has broken-needle syndrome." Of course, I disagreed and persevered. My colleagues wanted me to use the great musics of the world, Bach and Mozart, et alia. My own clear feeling, which I trust explicitly, is that if the music is truly half of what's happening, it has to be written with the charge of the intention of this film: we can't be borrowing music that had another intention. That I'm able to collaborate with such a great composer gives me a real edge. I'll give Philip a poetic understanding of my feeling, and he'll try to translate it back through composition, through mathematics, which a lot of composition is, so that the
feeling
comes through. I should mention that I don't know anyone who worked on
Koyaanisqatsi
who doesn't feel Philip's music was the right choice now.
MacDonald:
Does Glass look at material as you shoot it?
Reggio:
He's integrated into the whole process. Usually, as you well know, a composer scores background to plot and characterization and is not integrated into the life of the film. Maybe he's involved for as long as a month. Philip is involved with the concept; he goes on location, looks