The actors who starred in the 1963 classic remember drinks with Dirk, ridiculous beehives – and a director with a foot fetish
Sarah Miles, actor
My agent was a man called Robin Fox. I was in a relationship with his son, Willy, an officer in the Coldstream Guards, who later changed his name to James. I'd already been offered the part of Vera the maid, so I said: "I won't do it unless you audition Willy for the role of the aristocrat." Nobody could have done it better. Dirk was suggesting Willy, too. And he was brilliant.
People still come up to me and say how that scene where I'm on the kitchen table, with a tap dripping, is the sexiest scene. But I didn't see anything sexy about it. It was just a very innocent, simple scene. I got up on a table and tapped my tummy – what's sexy about that? There's so much suggested raciness, a lot of people see things that didn't actually happen. That's genius film-making.
We didn't have teams of stylists. I just did what I thought was good and showed it to Joe [Losey, the director]. Like my beehive – it was ridiculous! Joe didn't want it to start with, but then began to think it was a good idea. I've always done my own hair and makeup; I take full responsibility for how I look. It might not have worked other times, but it worked here. Joe did linger on my feet a lot. He had a bit of a fetish for that sort of thing: shoes, feet, the ends of curtains. He wanted me to play Vera like a knowledgeable north country girl, but I said I saw her more as a child. He thought, in the end, that was probably more sexy than playing it all tits and arse. I didn't play it tits and arse. I played it feet and eyes.
It was one of my first movies and it all felt easy. There was no pressure and everybody got on. Sometimes, when you're doing a film like that, you realise there's something in the air that's making it run smoothly. There was a time when Joe was off ill and Dirk took over directing, but even that went smoothly. Only with hindsight do you realise what a perfect team Joe put together. Every department came up trumps. I'd known Harold Pinter, who wrote the screenplay, for a long time because I was in Worthing rep when he was there, but he didn't come on the set often. We saw more of Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth, who did the music. And they were lovely. Weren't we lucky?
Joe has been described as neurotic and paranoid, but you have to get beneath all that rubbish to find the real person, and the real person was a gem. We were close for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, I couldn't do The Go-Between with him, but I did Steaming. He came up to me at the beginning and said: "I just wanted you to know this will be my last film. I'm dying of cancer." He didn't tell anybody. He died with such grace and humility. It is how you die that shows who you are.
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Wendy Craig, actor
I'm not sure how I got the part. I'd done a film with Dirk Bogarde and I think he'd liked me so he may have put me forward. He and Joe were very close. It was obvious they were working together, like it was a joint project.
My character Susan knows Barrett [the servant played by Bogarde] is up to no good – and her hackles are raised. But off-camera we got on terribly well. Dirk was very kind to me. After we finished shooting, we used to go to his dressing room and he'd pour us all a drink then give me all sorts of tips and instructions about things like camera angles and reverse shots. I'd been in theatre and was really inexperienced in film. But it did mean I was used to doing long scenes. There's one lengthy, tense scene where I'm arranging the flowers. It had to be done in one take and we got it first time. I loved that.
Joe just let us get on with it. If we were doing it right, he didn't interfere. I don't remember having any rehearsals. We'd just turn up and start shooting. I think one did in those days. But he was a very strong, serious presence – smouldering, on fire inside, but keeping it all under control. Everything had some impact or meaning in the film. Nothing was gratuitous and it all had to be exactly as he wanted. But we respected him and went along with that. It was marvellous having somebody in charge who knew what they were doing.
For the interior shots, we used a set. We couldn't shoot in the Chelsea house you see in the film since it belonged to somebody else. It was beautiful but it wasn't terribly big. A set made it easier to use mirrors, get moody lighting and feature all those interesting shots – like Dirk's shadow against the wall.
I lived in London when the 1960s were just about to really start and remember it as an amazing, exciting time. But I went on to do TV and lots of comedy and I didn't stay in touch with any of those people. Watching the film now, I can't help feeling nostalgic.
Interviews by Steve Rose. The Servant is out on DVD and Blu-Ray on 8 April.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/25/how-we-made-the-servant
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