Julie Christie on Zhivago

The dvd extras (and there are lots) on disks of DOCTOR ZHIVAGO include a fascinating newsreel interview with Julie Christie which goes on for about 10 minutes with her in closeup deftly fielding interviews with 3 members of the American press at the publicity junket for DR ZHIVAGO in New York. She smokes cigarettes, drinks coffee and takes it all in her stride totally unselfconscious in front of the cameras. Here she is in her mid 20s looking radiant and is one of the most glamorous creatures ever put in front of a camera. What a year it was for her, not only ZHIVAGO but also DARLING and that small role (filmed before the other two) as Daisy Battles in YOUNG CASSIDY, began by John Ford and completed by Jack Cardiff. I understand Ford filmed her two scenes with Rod Taylor.

Another fascinating item on the ZHIVAGO disks is an interview with screenwriter Robert Bolt with his portable typewriter in front of him. It makes one realise what an undertaking (especially on a picture this size) scriptwriting was back then - before computers and hard (or floppy) disks: the rewrites, the copies, keeping a master copy safe, all before one could update or change by just turning on a laptop!