Camera 3 interviews Graham Crowden + Rupert Webster 2002

Camera 3 Interviews

Rupert Webster on Lindsay Anderson:
I was twelve years old and I wanted to be in the movies. I got the part through a casting agent, Miriam Brickman. I was suggested to her by Roz Chatto, who was also a casting agent. I had auditioned for ‘Oliver!’, the film starring Oliver Reed and Mark Lester, but I was too tall for that. I had suddenly shot up. They liked me but I was too tall. I was casting about and I remember going in and reading for ‘if....’, not for Lindsay but for one of the assistant directors. He liked it and, straightaway, he took me away somewhere else, and Lindsay was there and I did the reading for him. I don’t think the reading was with Richard Warwick, it was with an older chap. I heard that day, or the next day, that I’d got the part. I was very excited. With a few of the other kids, I had to go to a fitting at Bermans in the West End to try on the costumes. I really hated the clothes, the school uniforms, the casual clothes and the army clothes. I thought, “God, I’m not going to look good in this lot!” They didn’t fit properly. It was one size fits all. You had to request a nip and tuck here and there to improve the fitting. I thought it was a joke.

I stayed in digs with the guy who played Machin. There were chaperones and tutors. We had to carry on with our school work which was a giant pain. I thought it was going to be a nice long holiday.

Graham Crowden on Malcolm McDowell:
"Malcolm, whom I worked with in these three films, was, absolutely splendid as Michael Travis. I can’t think of any other film actor who could do it as well. I have a lot of energy and no confidence. He has a lot of energy and a lot of confidence. That’s the difference between us. And he passed that confidence on. I can’t say how much he encouraged one. He made you believe that you could do it very well. I could do it very well, that’s why I was cast in it, but nevertheless he knew that deep down I did lack confidence, though I might not appear to, and he would always be there to say: “Well that’s great!” I got to know him quite well. He came down to our farmhouse in Bedfordshire, once, to play cricket with the village team, which was a great success. He was the star of the afternoon. We had a lot of laughs."