Brooke Shields & Franco Zeffirelli "Endless Love" 7/11/81 - Bobbie Wygant Archive

That's my friend. My sister didn't come with me this time. Well, we are here in New York City to see the movie Endless Love and to talk with its director, Mr. Franco Zeffirelli, and the two stars, Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. Hi. I hope y'all are doing well today. Brooke, let's start with you. You're playing a 15-year-old girl. Jane is her name. And you're 15. I'm 16. Are you now 16? But in any event, you are starring in a film that you really wouldn't be able to see in our market because it's rated R. You would have to take your mother or someone, an adult with you. You believe me how we can get into movies. All my friends have IDs. Exactly. And that's the point, is that that doesn't stop young people from going into R-rated movies. They have their ways of getting around that. But what about the movie dealing with a 15-year-old girl's sexual awareness and sexual experiences? Do you think most 15-year-old girls, or 15-year-old boys for that matter, are ready for sexual experiences? I think it's a very individual thing because you can't really put an age on it. You can put legal ages on things, but as far as a mental age, that's very difficult to do. So it's a very individual thing. I have my own views, and some of my friends have their own views, but I don't think that there's a certain age to be put on it. I think that Endless Love is a very good film because I know a lot of teenagers will be able to relate to it, and I think it'll help a lot of teenagers as well as adults to be able to see it. Is Brooke Shields at age 16, or even when you were 15? Sixteen and two days. Could Brooke Shields handle a sexual relationship? I don't think so. First of all, that's not what I believe in as far as my own self. I would like to wait until I get married, and that's something I've always believed. I might change my mind if and when I fall in love, which I haven't yet. But I don't think I'm ready at all. See, I'm not even ready for something that's smaller than that, that's minor, because it's all starting for me now, and everything is so confusing and so crucial at this moment anyway that I just have to worry about my own other problems. Are your decisions about this, Brooke, based on your religious background? You're Catholic, aren't you? I'm Catholic. It's basically my own personal feelings. I think maybe the religion could have initiated something, but it's now really up to my own feelings myself. I am Catholic, and I do go to church, and I'm practicing Catholic, but they really are almost different. You don't feel there's a conflict between your Catholicism and playing this kind of role? No, not at all, because, see, I believe in myself, and I know that whatever I truly believe in myself, it really can't be all that wrong if I truly believe in it and trust it. Mr. Zeffirelli, the movie Endless Love, parents are going to have to deal with it, and a lot of parents who have young people, 12, 13, 14, 15, that age group, they're going to have a difficult decision to make. The kids are going to want to see the movie, and the parents are going to say, now should I or shouldn't I? They're going to probably say, why does that guy make movies like that? What would be, if you could talk to them individually, what would be your justification for this movie? First of all, I will ask a simple question. Why, if you decide that a boy or a girl of 14 are not ready for expressing fully what nature has already indicated they are ready for, everybody knows that the Virgin Mary married at the age of 12, Juliet was 14, and that was a regular age for girls to marry throughout the centuries. At one moment, hypocrisy or whatever has taken over and given the parents a burden to decide for their children when they are ready to express fully their emotions. I'm talking, mind you, I'm a very strong Catholic, as you well know. I don't mean that there should be promiscuity, or we should be bouncing from one bed to the other just for the sake of sex. I think God has given us a lot of treasures in our lives, and one is the possibility of communicating with the flesh, with somebody with whom we already have a communication of the spirit, and the mind, and the hearts. So if it's in that context of a seal put to a sublime, spiritual and moral relationship, then there is absolutely nothing wrong with sex, and that's what the Church has been telling us for centuries. It's actually so. Some parents might also, if they looked at the movie first, they might make the observation that it's not what you have in the movie, it's what you have left out. For example, you never deal with the word contraception or the responsibility one has for bringing children into the world. Yes, I'm sure that Jade and David would be afraid to have a baby. It's a fruit of their love. The situation, the story doesn't develop in that direction. But I'd like to see at one moment if the whole story would take that course. If suddenly Jade comes to her mother and says, I'm pregnant. Aha. So what would happen? The story doesn't tell us that because the book didn't tell me that, but also because the relationship with the two kids is so short that it's not even time to go into that area. But I'm sure that the two kids have such an incredible love for each other that they wouldn't hesitate to marry at the age of 17 and 15. What's wrong with it? Well, a lot of parents would find a lot wrong with it. I mean, if they are ready, if they love one another, it's real pure. I mean, the film shows something. Let's not be hypocritical about the film. The film tells us something very moral, very solid, and very sound. This boy and this girl, they don't get promiscuous. They stick to their vow and their allegiance. They love one another. That's what they want in life forever. I think the one thing about the movie that is so valid is the fact that parents should look at it and see that their young children even can have very deep feelings about love and that that should be respected and should be dealt with. Martin, we don't mean to exclude you over there. Do you feel lonely over there? No, I'm fine. This is your very first acting role, film acting role. Right. You're dealing with a very heavy movie and a very heavy role, actually. At any time in the making of this film, were you embarrassed? Was it embarrassing for you to do those sex scenes? Initially, it was. The first time I had to remove my clothes around the crew and some members of the cast, I felt the twinges of self-consciousness. But after running around in underwear for two or three hours at a time, I relaxed. It really was no problem. But in the actual filming of the scenes, Brooke was doubled in some of those places, wasn't she? Yeah. Okay. But in any event, whether it was Brooke or her double, the very intimate scenes, was it difficult for you to do that caressing and the things that you had to do? No. First, when we first started those scenes, I was a little uncomfortable. But as time went on, I relaxed. I, at that point, knew Brooke fairly well. I knew the double fairly well. And it was a job. I had to do a job. Whenever the camera was rolling, it wasn't Martin Hewitt. It was David Axelrod. And that makes the whole difference. Do you have any brothers or sisters? I have two sisters and three brothers. What are their ages? From what to what? From, let's see, 15 through 25. So you don't really have to deal so much with whether a real young brother or sister. But let's say you had a sister 12 years old. Would you want her to see this movie? Well, I have a sister 15 years old, and I want her to see this movie. I don't know. Of course I'd want her to see the movie because I'm in it. If you weren't in it, would you want her to see it? I don't know. I don't know if she'd fully understand it, what it's trying to tell. It may, to such a young mind, not do anything for her. I'm not sure. I don't know. Would you be afraid that she wouldn't be able to sort it out and that she might think this is what she ought to go out and look for this kind of relationship? No, not at age 12, but I think later on in her life, it's a good, solid, loving relationship is good, I think. A lot of teenagers have hang-ups because they don't just let themselves go and open up to somebody. They hide and it stays with them for the rest of their lives sometimes. Brooke, here you are embroiled in another controversy. It seems like everything you do is surrounded with controversy. You can't even make an anti-smoking television commercial without it being a big cause celeb. Do you sometimes just wish that you could do something that wouldn't cause a big brouhaha? Well, I think that I'm past even thinking that it would happen because it's been proven to me that anything, whether I did a no smoking or if I did a smoking campaign, no matter what I do, there's something that's going to be said about it because there are people that want to just talk about me in any way that they can. So I don't really even wish it because then it's almost a game to see, okay, let me see, I'll do something and let's see if it's going to be talked about. And so it's almost become a game for me and I'm past even wishing that it wouldn't happen because it's publicity and publicity is good for you, at least whatever kind, at least your name is there. But sometimes, Brooke, does it really get to you? Do you get depressed? Do you cry? Do you say, oh, not again? I mean, you've had in five years' time a lot of heavy stuff to deal with. Surprisingly enough, not really because honestly, I don't even get caught up in what's written about me. My friends read more about me than I even read about myself because it's not that I'm not interested, it's just that I have, I know what I've said and I try to do my best and I have so many other things that are important to me that I would like to spend my time with, my friends, my school, my horses, everything. And that just takes my mind off anything that's written about me, good or bad. One last question. Mr. Zeffirelli, the movie in its original form was going to be rated X. No, no. That's what I have read and been told, that you made some cuts which brought it from an X to an R. No, there was a danger because I shot so much, I wasn't certain myself in what direction, how far we could reach with this film. There's also another element you have to keep in mind. What was right ten years ago is not right anymore today and it will be perhaps different in five years. We go with the waves of wind. Today there is a kind of trying to go back to another image of the American family which is the tide of time when we leave like a little boat in the ocean and we follow the waves. Now the wave is that the community is so hypersensitive to child pornography for instance, all of that, that certain things that were acceptable some time ago are not acceptable now. People are very nervous. I appreciate that. So that's why I was immensely loose in the scope of my shooting. And I had certain areas covered naturally in case I felt at the moment the film was released that we could go into. Or myself felt that they were needed. The more I progressed with the shaping up of the film and the more I realized that nothing graphic, nothing explicit was necessary. Actually, the more the story, the love story, passion love story of these two kids was imagined, was left in the imagination of the audience the better it would have been. The film is drenched into steamy passion from the beginning. I mean everybody is affected by it. So it doesn't need to be graphic. And even before the association there for protection of minors, whatever it is, told the producers that there was a danger of an X, I had already taken care of it. Actually, I'm quite grateful that this encouragement to my direction came from the high ranking officials because it really convinced me that there was no need of pushing. Sometimes I felt that perhaps we were mature enough to be frank about facing this honestly and loyally and candidly or even illustration of what can go on between adolescence and love. In the end, I don't feel it's essential. Oh, Endless Love may be the most controversial movie of the summer. I think it also will be one of the biggest hits of the summer. I think every young person particularly is going to want to see this film. Thank you very much Mr. Franco Zeffirelli, Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt. Thank you. Did you see the film? Oh, absolutely. Ah, that's good. Yes. I don't think it's for kids, you know. Twelve years old? No, but they are the ones, Mr. Zeffirelli, who are Brooke's fans and they are going to throw up tit to see it. Absolutely. I wouldn't, thinking about it, I wouldn't. I know, because of Blue Lagoon. Doesn't mean you stay in baseball. Yeah, because of Blue Lagoon. I know. Thank you. That's good. I think it gives a lot to think to the adults. Oh, the adults are the ones who ought to see it. The parents are the ones who ought to see it. That's for me. Thank you. All right. Now the questions. Okay. That's fine. I'm good. All right. Okay. Jade is fifteen, Brooke. You are now sixteen, just barely sixteen. A story about a girl having a sexual experience. A sexual relationship, actually. Do you think most fifteen-year-olds are ready for sexual relationships? Now, I was looking into the camera. I should be looking more over here. Let me do that again. Okay. I'll just kind of split the difference. Okay. Brooke, you're now sixteen, just barely. You're playing Jade, who is fifteen. A girl who has a sexual relationship with a young man. Do you think most fifteen-year-olds are ready for sexual relationships? What about Brooke Shields? Is she ready for a sexual relationship? You're Catholic. Do you think that your Catholicism is... No, that's not good. What you're doing in this movie, what you're playing in this movie, a girl having a sexual relationship, do you see that in conflict with your Catholicism? Brooke, it seems like everything you do is controversial. You can't even make an anti-smoking ad for television that doesn't cause a big brouhaha. That's pretty heavy stuff, the things you've been through in the last five years. Do you just sometimes wish you could do something that wouldn't be controversial? How do you cope with this heavy stuff and all this controversy that you cause? Martin, this is your very first film role. The sex scenes, were they embarrassing for you to do? Alright, you have a 15-year-old sister, you tell me. Do you want her to see this movie? If you had an 11, 12, 13-year-old sister or brother, could they handle this movie, do you think, for Zeffirelli? Mr. Zeffirelli, a lot of parents are going to have to deal with whether or not they're going to let their young children see this movie. And they're probably going to say, what justification is there for a movie like this anyway? What would you say to these people? Just one more. Alright, let's let it go.