'Perfectionist' Charlie Chaplin demanded 342 takes for one scene from co-star
'Perfectionist' Charlie Chaplin demanded 342 takes for one scene from co star
(Web Desk) - Charlie Chaplin made ‘City Lights’ co-star Virginia Cherrill perform one scene for 342 times in the 1931 film, it was revealed through the behind-the-scenes footage released by film archive the Criterion Collection.
Cherrill, who was not a professional actress, but a socialite that Chaplin had spotted in the crowd at a boxing match, had to say only two words -
"Flower sir?" -in the silentfilm, according to the reports.
According to Hooman Mehran, the author of ‘Chaplin’s Limelight and the Music Hall Tradition’, Chaplin was a perfectionist, the king of the re-take.
Mehran asserted that Cherrill’s performance was just a three minute sequence in the finished film but he took her to task, even though it was a silent film.
In the black and white movie Cherrill played a blind flower girl who mistakes Chaplin, the tramp, for a wealthy man.
Mehran added that the Oscar-winning comedian was a one man show, as not only was he the director, he was the writer, he was the producer and when music came in.
