Editing Reds (film) (section)

==Production==

===Development===
Beatty came across the story of John Reed in the mid-1960s. Executive producer and film editor [[Dede Allen]] remembers Beatty's mentioning making a film about Reed's life as early as 1966. Originally titled ''Comrades'', the first script was written by Beatty in 1969,{{efn|Attorney Ed Rubin, spokesman for Beatty, briefly outlined the origins of ''Reds'' in a UPI story about a lawsuit brought against Beatty and Paramount by William Greene and Helen Smith, authors of a study of Louise Bryant. Greene contended the film was based upon their work and they did not receive proper compensation. Rubin said Greene had initiated contact with Beatty in 1973, asking the actor to read his manuscript. Advised not to read it without making payment, Beatty paid Greene $250 in a written agreement. Beatty reportedly found the material without substantial value, and he vigorously denied the allegations made in the suit.<ref>[[United Press International]], March 19, 1982</ref>}} but the process stalled. In 1973, Beatty was offered the role of Reed in [[Sergei Bondarchuk]]'s Soviet film production ''[[Red Bells]]'', but declined, and felt further driven to make his own biopic about Reed to compete with the Soviet version.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Reds|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/56684-REDS?cxt=ymal|access-date=2022-01-06|website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref>

In 1976, Beatty found a suitable collaborator in [[Trevor Griffiths]], who began work but was delayed by his wife's death in a plane crash.<ref name="Biskind">{{cite magazine | first=Peter|last = Biskind | title=Thunder on the Left: The Making of ''Reds'' | date=22 January 2007 | url=http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2006/03/reds200603|magazine = Vanity Fair| author-link=Peter Biskind |archive-date=December 15, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215004022/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2006/03/reds200603}}</ref> The preliminary draft of the script was finished in 1978. Beatty still had problems with it and he and Griffiths spent four and a half months fixing it. Beatty also collaborated with his friends [[Robert Towne]], [[Peter Feibleman]], and [[Elaine May]] to continue polishing the script after shooting had begun.<ref>{{cite book|last=Finstad|first=Suzanne|title=Warren Beatty: A Private Man|year=2006|publisher=Crown/Archetype|isbn=978-0-307-34529-5|page=440|chapter=Act 4: The Pro}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Mitchell|first=Deborah C.|title=Diane Keaton: Artist and Icon|year=2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-1082-8|page=63|chapter=1978–1971: The Muse}}</ref>

===Financing===
Beatty achieved tremendous success with 1978's ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]'', which he produced, starred in, co-wrote and co-directed for [[Paramount Pictures]]. The success gave Beatty the clout to seek funding for his long nurtured ''Reds'' project, which was difficult to secure because of the controversial [[Communism|communist]] subject matter and high price tag. Beatty succeeded in interesting both [[Warner Bros.]] and Paramount, before the head of [[Gulf and Western Industries|Gulf & Western]] (Paramount's parent company), [[Charles Bluhdorn]], agreed to finance the project. Bluhdorn soon had second thoughts, and attempted to dissuade Beatty with the promise of underwriting a $25 million alternative to ''Reds'' of Beatty's choice, but Beatty remained committed.<ref name="Biskind" />

===Casting===
Beatty originally had no intention of acting in the film or even directing it because he had learned on projects such as [[Bonnie and Clyde (film)|''Bonnie and Clyde'']] (1967) and ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]'' (1978) that producing a film alone is a difficult task. He briefly considered [[John Lithgow]] for the part of John Reed because the two were similar in appearance, but eventually Beatty decided to act in the film and direct it himself. Nicholson was cast as Eugene O'Neill over [[James Taylor]] and [[Sam Shepard]].<ref name="Biskind" /> Nicholson was older than the young O'Neill he was playing, and having just completed work on [[Stanley Kubrick|Kubrick]]'s ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'' (1980), was in a "most shambolic" and "grotesque" physical state, according to producer [[Simon Relph]]. But Nicholson was committed to the role and appeared at the start of filming four months later having lost the weight he had gained and looking much younger.<ref name="Biskind" />

Beatty also chose to cast non-actors in supporting roles, including [[George Plimpton]], the editor of ''[[The Paris Review]]'', who played the character of Horace Whigham. [[Jerzy Kosiński]], a Polish American novelist, was asked to play the role of [[Grigory Zinoviev]], but he initially refused because he was a fierce anti-communist and feared that he might be abducted by the [[KGB]] if he went to Finland to film.<ref name="Biskind" />

====The Witnesses====
To gain perspective on the lives of Reed and Bryant, Beatty filmed interviews with a group of men and women, referred to only as "The Witnesses", as early as 1971. ''American Film'' identified the witnesses in its March 1982 issue.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Newsreel: Who ''Were'' Those Eyewitnesses in ''Reds''?|journal=American Film|date=March 1982|page=8}}</ref>

In a capsule review for ''The New York Times'', film critic [[Vincent Canby]] refers to them as "more than two dozen very, very old people, billed only as The Witnesses, whom Mr. Beatty interviewed about the Reeds and their long-gone times." He went on to say, "More than anything else in ''Reds,'' these interviews give the film its poignant point of view and separate it from all other romantic adventure films ever made."<ref>{{cite web | last=Canby | first=Vincent | title=For American Movies, a Minor Renaissance | work=[[The New York Times]] | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/27/movies/film-view-for-american-movies-a-minor-renaissance.html | date=December 27, 1981 | access-date=November 23, 2016}}</ref> "The most evocative aspect of the presentation is a documentary enhancement – interviews with a number of venerable 'witnesses,' whose recollections of the period help to set the scene, bridge transitions and preserve a touching human perspective", wrote Gary Arnold of ''[[The Washington Post]]''.<ref>{{cite news | last=Arnold | first=Gary | title='Reds': The Passions of John Reed; A Film Adrift in the Maelstrom of History | date=December 4, 1981 | newspaper=The Washington Post | location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref>

{{div col}}
* Jacob Bailin, labor organizer
* [[Roger Nash Baldwin]], founder, [[American Civil Liberties Union]]
* John Ballato, early socialist
* Harry Carlisle, writer, teacher
* Kenneth Chamberlain, political cartoonist for ''[[The Masses]]''
* [[Andrew Dasburg]], painter
* Tess Davis, cousin of Louise Bryant's first husband
* [[Will Durant]], historian
* Blanche Hays Fagen, member of the Provincetown Players
* [[Hamilton Fish III|Hamilton Fish]], congressman, Harvard classmate of John Reed
* [[Dorothy Frooks]], recruiting girl, World War I
* [[Hugo Gellert]], artist for ''[[The Masses]]''
* Emmanuel Herbert, student in Petrograd, 1917–1918
* [[George Jessel (actor)|George Jessel]], entertainer
* [[Oleg Kerensky]], son of [[Alexander Kerensky]]
* [[Isaac Don Levine]], journalist, translator for Reed
* [[Arthur Mayer]], film historian, Harvard classmate of Reed, also film distributor
* [[Henry Miller]], novelist
* Adele Nathan, member of the Provincetown Players
* [[Scott Nearing]], sociologist, pacifist
* [[Dora Russell]], delegate to [[Comintern]]
* [[George Seldes]], U.S. journalist in Moscow
* Art Shields, political activist
* [[Jessica Smith (editor)|Jessica Smith]], political activist
* [[Lucita Squier]], screenwriter and widow of [[Albert Rhys Williams]], who was an American participant in the Russian Revolution, pro-Soviet author, friend and biographer of Lenin
* [[Adela Rogers St. Johns]], journalist
* [[Arne Swabeck]], member, Communist Labor Party
* Bernadine Szold-Fritz, journalist
* Galina von Meck, witness to Russian Revolution
* Heaton Vorse, son of a Provincetown playwright
* [[William Weinstone|Will Weinstone]], organizer, U.S. Communist Party
* [[Rebecca West]], writer, novelist
{{div col end}}

===Filming===
When principal photography began in August 1979 the original intention was for a 15- to 16-week shoot, but it ultimately took one year. Filming took place in five countries and at various points the crew had to wait for snow to fall in [[Helsinki]] (and other parts of Finland), which stood in for the [[Soviet Union]], and for rain to stop in Spain. Beatty asked the Soviet government for a permit to film in Moscow but was denied.<ref name=":0"/> A cottage in [[Kent]] was used to depict exteriors of the Reeds' home in [[Croton-on-Hudson, New York|Croton-on-Hudson]], which in reality was a small early American [[saltbox house]]. The interior sets built at [[Twickenham Studios]] and [[EMI-Elstree Studios]] were also enlarged to evoke the "flavor" of the real home without reproducing it exactly.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/03/nyregion/the-story-of-reds-and-the-reed-house.html| title=The Story of 'Reds' and the Reed House| first=Marc|last=Myers| newspaper=New York Times| date=1982-01-03| access-date=2019-04-10}}</ref>

Other English locations included [[Frensham Common|Frensham Ponds]] in Surrey, which stood in for [[Provincetown, Massachusetts|Provincetown]], the Smeaton Room of the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] at [[One Great George Street]] for the Liberal Club meeting room in Portland, and the interior of [[Lancaster House]] for that of the [[Winter Palace]] in St. Petersburg.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.british-film-locations.com/Reds-1981| title=Reds (1981)| publisher=british-film-locations.com| access-date=2019-04-10}}</ref> Another round of filming began in 1980 in [[New York City]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington D.C.]], and [[Los Angeles]], including Paramount Studios.<ref name=":0"/>

The Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro was banned from shooting the scenes shot in the U.S. after he was unable to gain an [[H-1B visa]] and because local [[Labor unions in the United States|trade unions]] blocked him from doing work on the film. The film encountered similar problems with [[trade unions in the United Kingdom]], and had to hire a separate British crew and pay British actors enrolled in [[Equity (British trade union)|Equity]] at [[Screen Actors Guild]]-rate salaries in order to allow American actors to film scenes in the U.K. These trade disputes caused the film to run heavily over budget, but the studio ultimately recouped its costs after financing the film with a low-interest loan from [[Barclays]] as part of a [[Tax shelter|tax-shelter]] plan.<ref name=":0" /> Later saying the film "broke even, plus change", Paramount head [[Barry Diller]] added, "I'm proud we made ''Reds''. I'm also proud we protected ourselves in every way known to man".<ref name=dillerventures>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/28/business/barry-diller-s-latest-starring-role.html|title=Barry Diller's Latest Starring Role|first=Sandra|last=Salmans|work=The New York Times|date=August 28, 1983|accessdate=February 14, 2022}}</ref>

Actress [[Maureen Stapleton]] was due to begin shooting her scenes in London in November 1979, but she refused to take a plane because of a fear of flying. Because it was the wrong season for [[ocean liner]] travel, the production had to arrange for Stapleton to travel on a [[Tramp trade|tramp steamer]], which broke down in the [[Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic|North Atlantic]] and had to be towed to [[Amsterdam]].<ref name="Biskind" /> This caused another unwelcome delay. Beatty would also not stop the camera between [[take]]s, letting it roll continuously, and insisted on a large number of takes. Paul Sorvino said he did as many as 70 takes for one scene; Stapleton had to do 80 takes of one scene, which caused her to say to Beatty, "Are you out of your fucking mind?"<ref name="Biskind" />

Beatty and Keaton's romantic relationship also began to deteriorate during filming. [[Peter Biskind]] wrote about the making of ''Reds'', "Beatty's relationship with Keaton barely survived the shoot. It is always a dicey proposition when an actress works with a star or director—both, in this case—with whom she has an offscreen relationship. Keaton appeared in more scenes than any other actor save Beatty, and many of them were difficult ones, where she had to assay a wide range of feelings, from romantic passion to anger, and deliver several lengthy, complex, emotional speeches." George Plimpton once observed, "Diane almost got broken. I thought [Beatty] was trying to break her into what Louise Bryant had been like with John Reed." Executive producer [[Simon Relph]] adds, "It must have been a strain on their relationship because he was completely obsessive, relentless."<ref name="Biskind" />

===Post-production===
The editing process began in early 1980, with as many as 65 people working on editing down and going over approximately 2.5 million feet of film.<ref name="Biskind" /> Post-production ended in November 1981, more than two years after the start of filming. Paramount stated that the final cost of the film was $32 million, the rough equivalent of $80 million in 2007<ref name="Biskind" /> and $122 million in 2024.

===Music===
The film introduced the song "Goodbye for Now", written by [[Stephen Sondheim]], recorded by [[Jean-Pierre Rampal]] and [[Claude Bolling]]. The song was later recorded by [[Barbra Streisand]] for ''[[The Movie Album (Barbra Streisand album)|The Movie Album]]'' (2003).