By Darius KADIVAR (Paris/FRANCE) &
Parisa DEFAIE (L.A./USA)
First Published in OCPC Magazine Cover
July 2007 Issue
Reza Badiyi the Last TV
Tycoon
©OCPCMagazine & Darius Kadivar & Parisa Defaie
To have an opportunity to interview
one of the most respected and prolific directors in American Television was a
Dream Come True for me and my colleague and friend Parisa Defaie. He is
one of the Last TV Tycoons who certainly shaped the medium as no other
before him. I am nearly certain that many of you ( young or old) have spent many
memorable Friday afternoon's watching his films on Persian TV before the
Revolution. You may have even noticed his Persian name appear as a cathode
like signature in front of your favorite TV show's cast & crew list
wondering who he was and what he looked like ?. Some like me and Parisa may even
recall the days you were day dreaming on your way to school with your favorite
American tin lunch box featuring one of your super heroes like Bionic Astronaut
Steve Austin, the Charlie's Angels or Inspector Columbo and wishing to meet them
in real life. Well I suppose that unlike Parisa, Charlie's Angels were not
really my cup of tea before puberty but I sure did have a crush on Farrah Fawcett wondering where
her name Farrah came from ?… ;0).
Born April 17th 1930 in
Tehran Iran, Reza Badiyi moved to the
United
States in the 1960s to pursue a film career. He
was educated at Syracuse University. He has Over 40 years of
industry experience which include over 400 hours of primetime television, four
feature films, and more than 60 documentaries. His directing credits include
episodes of Mission Impossible, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Hawaii Five-O, The Six Million Dollar Man,
Starsky and Hutch, Cagney & Lacey, Falcon Crest, Baywatch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, La
Femme Nikita and dozens more. He received the Gold Medal of Art from the
hands of the Shah of Iran in the mid 70's. He also received the Directors
Guild of America Award for most hours of television directing. Badiyi
was married to actress/screenwriter Barbara Turner from 1968 to 1985. Their
daughter Mina Badie is
pursuing an acting career and his step daughter is Hollywood actress Jennifer Jason
Leigh.
Parisa and I had this privilege to
interview him, me from Paris and Parisa (Lucky Girl) on Location in LA. Behind
the warm and confident smile, we discovered, a great professional, whose
creative power, has been one of the most influential in the American Television
Industry. We also learned that his rise to fame and success was not without its
share of difficulties, sometimes bitter experiences but always great challenges
which far from discouraging him, only strengthened his love for his profession
as well as his ties with his home country, Iran and serves
as a role model to fellow colleagues of the Persian Diaspora.
Below is the Exact
Transcript (*) of our Audio Interview with Monsieur Badiyi. We hope you
enjoy it:
Parisa DeFaie (PD): How did you decide
pursuing a career in Directing? Did you have any experience before your
departure to the U.S?
Reza Badiyi (RB): My family were mostly in the field
of Medicine, and they were hoping that I would do the same and were worried when
I decided to continue my education in Drama school, in which I became the first
student. But Prior to my move to the U.S I was working at the Audio Visual
Department in Tehran, (Honarhayeh Zeeba), during those years
I was part of a crew that made 24 documentaries and it was a good experience.
What distinguished me from the rest of my classmates was my prior experience
like working with my bother Mojtaba Badiyi and Mr. Mobini, at the Iraneh No
Studios, and other works which made me a part of many projects that were
made in Iran. I had worked as an assistant to
a Russian camera man, consequently I became the camera man. So when I enrolled
in the production Program of Syrcist University in Iran, which has
phenomenal teachers, I already knew how to work with the camera and I knew the
process. Also, filmmakers like John Humphry and other top notch
Film makers from Indiana university and U.S.C., excited us and
inspired us. During the first three years I learned many things, in fact, As
part of our training we were asked to get into our jeans and sweep the floors
which now I see how useful that technique was. We had to clean the studio free of dust,
since film and dust don't go together. (Laughs)
(PD): What was your first project as
a Director?
(RB): I made my first movie " The Flood
of Khoozestan". I went there with a wonderful man who was my assistant at
the time, Mr. Kafafi, who is now an education minister in Iran, and a
young soldier who volunteered to help us out. Because of the Heavy flooding we
were engulfed in Shoosh, and we along with 80+ local people had to run away to
the hills which led to the Biblical tomb of Daniel the Messenger. Since I was
accompanied by the soldier who carried a weapon, I automatically became the
authority figure. For the fist time in my life I had the responsibility of 80+
people on my shoulders, very much like a production. So I started figuring out
everyone's capability, so I could assign them to different tasks. A few were
assigned to gather food, some were assigned to make the food...etc. Therefore we
started making an Organization, everyone had a responsibility and it worked like
a production crew, we had meetings to discuss what had to be done , and what
were our needs. Among all this chaos I also managed to shoot all that was
happening. So when we finally were able to head back to Tehran, I was able to make
a film about a small society and their efforts to survive. Which became an
Internationally recognized movie. The Red Cross Int. picked it up and it
ended up having 70 different narrations and was shown in many countries. I was
also given the Golden Ribbon of Art by the Shah. After the success of "
the flood of Khoozestan" I was invited to continue my Education In New York,
(PD):What was it Like when you first
arrived in U.S? What were some of the challenges you faced as a young
director?
I came to America on Sep
8th 1955. I did not know how to speak English, but between us I have
to tell you something.. I felt guilty!!
because there were so many talented Film makers in my class, and I was
chosen because of my prior experience and the success of my first move, which
the teachers and advisors were so proud of, I arrived in Kansas city and on the
first day I arrived I was lucky enough to meet with a young Director who liked
what I had to say, who was very patient. And who became my dear friend ... and
that was Robert Altman. That was
truly a miracle for me. A man with a lot of creativity, and a good human being
who decided to be my mentor. I became his protégée, when he was not available
they would come after me. It was a huge jump for my career, since I did not go
through the usual steps the other directors go through… it was like moving up
form 5th grade to 9th grade. Everyone from my agent to my
lawyer suggested that I should take it slow and it was too soon for me to get
there... but I took the chance... like mountain climbing... you know you have to
get up there, you don't yet know how, but you take a chance... so the first
Director project was not easy, but the 2nd, 3rd and
4th were. Each movie made the next easier ... all of a sudden I
became the talk of the town .
Darius KADIVAR (DK): Sadly Robert
Altman, recently passed away, could you share with us some of your
collaborations with him?
Robert Altman was my mentor , my
teacher. And the beauty of working with Robert was that no matter what position
you hold among the crew, you could talk to him and give him suggestions. I would
ask his opinion about my ideas and he would just say: "Go for it!". The one
advice he always gave me, was " Never listen to anybody's advice". But what he
was actually trying to tell me was not to limit myself, do what comes to your
mind. I always tried the crazy things with his visuals, because I had the
approval ticket in my hand. When I went to Mission Impossible, I sat
next to the executive producer, and creator of the show. I asked him if there
was any limitation on what I would be doing, and if I could do the crazy visual
effects, and his answer was " there is no limit Reza, Go for it" and that was my
password to success. I give him all the credit to the way he taught me, which
was always supportive. God Bless his soul!..
Badiyi's old time friend and mentor Robert Altman
©imdb.com
(PD):You are the only Director in
the history of Hollywood to win the Director's
Guild of America Award for directing the most hours in television ,
how do you feel about such an accomplishment?
(RB): I believe that motion picture is
like a game that everyone involved has to play, as the leader of the game I have
to make sure everyone takes their part in it. I cannot do it alone. It is a team
effort. In all my accomplishments , I realized that everything I learned were
also gathered from my younger years in Iran. All the motion picture classes,
Iraneh No studios, the experience of working with my first camera my dad
got me, or finding a solution to a problem that took me back to the years I was
working with Mr. Hooshang Partoyee in Iran ... all of those memories and
experiences came in handy during my work as a professional director. From my
first movie up until now That I am sitting here with you, I knew I was made to
do this kind of work. Having Directed 423+ hours of Television program is a
great accomplishment and no one has broken this record to this
date.
Reza Badiyi's prolific filmography counts
many cult series ©imdb.com
(DK) Iranian Television before the
revolution was becoming very competitive and professional with channels like
NIRT and also co-productions with American film companies. Some of the
stars of your films like Peter Graves also worked with Iranian directors like Tony Zarindast and came to
Iran to make several films. How would
you compare Iranian Cinema before with
what it has become today?
(RB) Prior to Revolution I had no idea
of what television in Iran was. Because by 1955 when I
left, there was one channel with limited hours. When I came back to
Iran for a festival I saw programs
like Parviz
Ghareeb Afshar (See article on daughter actress Shiva
Rose in David & Layla ) which was nice. And there was 2 channels, but I
don't recall a specific program. After the revolution , there have been many
channels for News, all kinds of political programs and of course sports... but
in a very controlled environment. Everything is being monitored and a great deal
of recitals from the holly book Quran.
3 years ago I went for another film festival in Tehran ... The Fajr film
festival is meant to be a happy event. A celebration of Art were you'll see
many festivities. But this time it was followed immediately by Muharram, so you
saw everything become dark and mourning started. So right away you see two
extremes, which was evident from the Television programs too. My flight was
delayed for few days due to heavy snow and I had time to watch Television. I saw
a man preaching on Television, there were so many cameras involved to capture
the mood of that environment, the crowd of men, the crowd of woman mourning,
very nice dissolves in between scenes, and close ups of the preacher. The
technology of using Multi Cameras for such event was impressive. But when I saw
the close up of that preacher I was amazed of how he had the pulse of the crowd
in his hands. Of how he was controlling the program. He was such a pro in his
delivery, that I thought to myself , if this man was in U.S , I would become his
agent and become a millionaire... ( Laughs) he knew exactly what he was doing...
all of a sudden the program gets interrupted by another man, who now wanted to
deliver a breaking news. The breaking news was about a soccer team beating the
other 2 to 0, followed by a footage of cheering crowds waving their flags in the
stadium... then back to the preacher and his mourning crowd!!! two extreme
moments... I was asked by Mr. Talebzadeh to conduct an interview, and one of
their Questions was how we were able to make a full hour show in a week, and I
explained this type of work needs a team of dedicated and devoted professionals
who show up to work at 5:00 am and work to 7:00 pm..
(PD) Why are The European film
festivals so fond of Iranian movies, which are mostly about misfortunes even
poverty?... Is it true that such movies may have a negative connotation of how
our nation is displayed?
(RB) There was a beautiful love affair
between International Film Festivals and Iranian films that ended about two
years ago. There was something unique about the Iranian films. Unlike the
American or British films, where they cast actors and there is a script, and
together between the actor and director they try to make the story believable.
The Iranian Film makers would take a man from the street, with absolutely no
acting experience, and they ask him to be himself... once they put everything
together you'll see the innocence of the character and his/her dilemma in what
to do and where to go. And as audience you get engaged and follow the journey,
much like the realities of life... that was the beauty of their work. Now, many
Iranians who live outside of Iran, tend to think that by showing a
kid with no shoes or the girl who's lost her money, or showing people in their
simple clothing is a negative image we are sending out about ourselves. Or they may think it is humiliating,
why are they not showing the good things, beautiful houses...etc... let me say
that recently Ms Tahmineh
Milani has been doing that, which was a necessity to the type of stories
she's been telling. However after a while, all the stories ended up being
repetitive, so for ten years we showed wonderful stories...but the last two
years they were not so interesting anymore. I saw 16 of 20 movies made in Iran
at the Fajr Festival, all the stories were very similar to one another, they are
very sad and mostly about the War with Iraq and the side effects. You'll see a
lot of attention to the use of Narcotics even in Dariush
Mehrjui's work, and others. Also they really don't get the permission to do
the work they want. Farabi needs to give them permit and finance the movies...
but because of the controlling environment the movies change. They seem to be
interfering with the productions which is the situation the directors face in
Iran. Majid-Majidi,
Darius Santoorish, are among Directors who are doing good work, which will be
coming here soon.
(PD) Today's Television Programs tend to
Emphasize on the darker side of the story or characters, we rarely see
up-lifting or life fulfilling stories, why is there such fascination with such
genres?
(RB) You are right!! It's what the
people like. Today's stories are about crimes, or suicide, homicide… etc, the
shows like CSI, LAW&ORDER, is an
"analyzation" of the crime, how or why did it happen?… Most of the time they are
digging inside the mind of a criminal, the only positive thing you can see from
it is that there is nothing they can not find!! they can dig in everything, so
people like to hang to that more than hearing how US is doing badly in
Iraq. Because there is a guilt in
that... until the last election when they said it was enough... but things will
improve in time.
(PD) Technology has made movie
making business a much faster industry. Particularly Editing and post
production. Is the expectation of meeting the release date still a pressure for
the directors?
This new Technology is so expensive.
If you have an army of 100 people, you could multiply it to have 1000 or more...
but the nature of it is expensive. The CGI, is 12 yrs old but it keeps going
further and further, and now you can do phenomenal things with it. The movie 300 ( Zach
Snyder / Frank Miller) made so many of their scenes in front of the blue screen,
and they created the background, and so on. When the studios give you a budget
of let's say 30 $ million, they know what they will get with that budget. 3
years ago I did a picture, in Florida, with Judi Harris,... fantastic
movie... I never ever had a frame of CGI in it, it was simple, the colors were
the colors we actually shot, we did not do anything to enhance it… when you see
the movie, it's a much better picture. People need to see images that are true
to them. You can also excite people by images, which we call it " Tap Dancing",
but then in the long run it may become boring... so, yes it can put a great deal
of pressure on the directors because of the amount of $$$ involved. There are movies made that go directly to DVD and never get to
big screen, and are sold over seas, and never get the exposure they hope
for.
(DK) What was the toughest shooting
Experience you had in your career? Who did you like to work with most?
The hardest shoot was when I was a
camera man working with Robert Altman. We were in Chicago, shooting a pilot and I am talking
about 1963, and it was a night in winter it was 18 below zero. The cameras and
everything froze. When I was shooting ,the steam coming from the actor's mouth
covered his face. We could not back lit the people. We would go to work in the
afternoon until 5:00 am in the cold weather, which was very hard to manage. They
gave us these battery operated suits that had heating inside of them to keep us
warm. We had to keep the cameras warm by heaters so the film wouldn't freeze on
us. Because the film becomes so fragile that can break like a slice of
cucumber....but the results were marvelous...4 yrs ago in Canada when I
was doing La Femme
Nikita, I was on top of this hospital building. It was 10 to 15 degrees
below, and I had to shoot a helicopter land with two ladies whom were
practically wearing next to nothing. The weather was so cold that you could not
keep anyone outside more than a minute and half. So we had to rehearse to get
the timing of the scene… then we would run inside to get warm, and back again
for another shoot. You could not believe the difficulty we faced...but we did
it.
Often we would talk amongst
directors about who was the difficult actor to work with, and I heard there were
some ..I worked with most difficult actors that everyone was talking about, Jack Lord, who fired people left
and right… Jack and I never had any problem. Robert Blake was another difficult
one whom I directed and produced his show...never had any problem. How did this
happen? I did my homework by studying the person...what buttons should or should
not be pushed? I observe them, then I wanted to get the thing I wanted from this
person, and that is his performance. The rest of that person's attitude is not
my problem to deal with or correct. My job as a director was to have the actor
say his words and take him from point A to point B.
Alfred Hitchcock believed that
actors are like furniture. You just move them around. An actress once asked
Hitch " sir, what is my motivation for this scene?" and hitch said " your
paycheck, Love!". (Laughs)
(PD)Working on so many Television
Shows and directing so many movies, I can't even imagine how many actors you've
directed... how do you work with
actors like myself? How do you define the relationship between the actor
and the director?
I always believed that I take a
journey with the actor. We both read the script and I like to see what you as an
actor would brings to the table,
and I re-touch it. Never tell you
what to do, but I will let you know if I like it or not and why, But I
will never tell you how to act. With all my experience working with actors, I
learnt to love them Because when I direct I become a father figure, I become a
priest, a confidant and a shoulder. Then I have to allow you to do that. When a
series is finished or a movie is done, it is very hard for actors to say good
bye. Because they felt like I look after them. The wonderful Sharon Gless once said" I do not
know who I am anymore, I wake up in the morning, get in a limo, then I am taken
to place where they make me up, feed me and put me in front of a camera, , tell
me the words to say and smile... then at the end of the day, I go home, into my
bed...who am I??"... when I was doing Cagney & Lacey, they
sent the script a week ahead of time for the actors to read. So, then the
writers and the actors would meet for lunch and read the entire script together.
They make all they make all the necessary changes. Once we start the shooting, I
had this habit of going to the make-up room and shake the actor's hand, and ask
them if there is anything they need to ask or talk about. Some actors knew what
to do, but Sharon panicked once and said "can we change
this line? I am not sure where I would be going with this…" then I would say it
was not possible... and tried to help her get to the point she was looking for…
then all of a sudden she asked if she could wear a hat while doing the scene.
And I allowed it. That "hat" helped Sharon to get to the role she wanted... she
saw the character through wearing the "hat"… and that was the trick…often I
thought to myself how lucky I am to be a part of this journey with the actors. I
sit and enjoy as an audience. Some times actors are waiting for me to say CUT,
and I wait and wait, I really don't want this great relationship to
end.
(DK) What is your opinion about the
new generation of Iranian director and screenwriter like Farhad Safinia, Cyrus Nowrasteh, or Kayvan Mashayekh? What
advise would give to aspiring directors to make it in Hollywood
today?
I know Cyrus very well, also
Mashayekh...both of whom are two different directors. Cyrus is a very creative
writer, and director. He has created La Femme Nikita ( Based on
Luc Besson's movie) which he
did the pilot for the American Audience, and got accepted. He has worked with
the team of 24, he is very talented...and he is in a different plateau
than the other two. Mashayekh is full of energy, a wonderful kid... but I have
to say this... what makes him successful, is his ability in Marketing... he
knows how to market and where to push it. He can sell his projects. He has the
pulse of industry in his hand. Right now he is working on a script and he is
mainly working in Texas, and I like his passion.
I have been in this business for 5
decades, and honestly after the 90's everything changed. I truly don't know what
is going on. I know they are doing good things on Television, like the Sopranos, 24, or Six Feet Under... my advice
to the new directors is that you have to breakthrough, you have to work as
anything, to be collected and then grow in it.. Be more
creative.
MISSION WAS POSSIBLE: Reza Badiyi and my colleagues editor of
OCPC
Magazine Sepideh
Danosian ( Left) and Parisa
Defaei (Right)
©OCPCMagazine
Many days ago it was hard to even
make a short film.. but now a days you can even take your own camera and put
together a project. You must have the ability to tell a story with your images.
And if you can do that, great!
In the 60's I made a feature with a
help of another gentleman, we had 15,000$. We shot in Kansas all the way to Salt lake city. It was simple, and shot in
Black & White, with a few actors. We ended up selling it for 100,000$. Then
the negatives were lost. In the 90's the negatives were found and the movie came
out again, It got recognized as one of the best features, and I got invited to
USC, and to the American Film society. So you can do anything when you put your mind into
it.
(PD) With so many talented Iranians
in the Entertainment industry, like directors, producers and screenwriter, why is it that we have not
yet seen a movie that truly portray the Iranian culture or people?
Unfortunately, as you remember, the
latter part of the 70's, the hostage crisis took place. And we became the enemy.
At the time I was working in the industry, and I was told by my agent, and
Lawyer to change my name, and never say I was Iranian. And I said to them, No I
was not going to do that. Needless to say I really got hurt. The way I was
standing on that plateau before the hostage crisis, and after ,were miles and
miles different. I was one of the few directors in this town to be able to
CHOOSE what I wanted to do. But, I am Iranian and I always remain Iranian.
Recently because of other issues, like the nuclear Weapons, and the anti-Jew
comments... the industry thinks: "who are these people?" And consequently we are
suffering because of all this. So politely they are telling us you can not do
that!...if you want to make that kind of movie, go ahead and make it in your own
country!...So, it's like having this land and wanting to build on it. You have a
beautiful blue print or map of how to do it... but your are not granted the
permit to
build.
My hope is that all Iranians who are in
this Industry get together and have a syndicate. So everyone can help each
other. Recently, as you know, this has been talked about and I am really glad to
be a part of it. We should support each other.
VIVE LA TELE &
MONSIEUR REZA BADIYI !
Author's Notes:
(*) We decided to print the original
conversation with Mr. Reza Badiyi and his answers to our questions as conducted
during the interview.
Official Website of OCPC
Magazine
Parisa DEFAIE is an actor/director in
L.A. visit her
website: http://www.parisa-defaie.com/
Recommended Readings:
Close Up on Shohreh
Aghdashloo by Darius KADIVAR & Parisa DEFAIE
SHOCKWAVE: Shohreh
Aghdashloo's devilish portrayal of Dina Araz in 24 Hits France by Darius
KADIVAR
Pasdar Fever Hits France
by Darius KADIVAR
Persian Golden Boys in
Hollywood by Darius KADIVAR
In the Arena with Omid
Djalili by Darius KADIVAR
Tony Nourmand's Golden
Eye by Darius KADIVAR
Nailing the Script: Cyrus
Nowrasteh's new challenges by
Darius KADIVAR
When Giants Meet: Googoosh
Greets Shahbanou of Iran at NY Concert by Darius
KADIVAR
Fardin's Western
Spaghetti by Darius KADIVAR
Sultan
of My Heart: Monika Jalili and Noorsaaz's remembrance of things
past... by Darius KADIVAR
About the Author: Darius KADIVAR is a Freelance Journalist,
Film Historian, and Media Consultant.
