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I had someone dress in a police uniform, closing down Fifth Avenue.
We had no permission to do anything like this.
John D. Kisch/Separate Cinema Archive/Getty Images; Everett Collection; Courtesy of Larry Cohen
I got away with so much in this city that I would probably go to prison for now."
Cohen: “So many of my movies have been about benevolent things that turn into things of horror.
Suppose God is wreaking havoc on the streets of the city?
Everett Collection
Bernard Herrmann (legendaryPsychoandTaxi Drivercomposer) was going to do the music.
Then Bernard Hermmann didnt do the music, because he died.
So, thats what the Whisper version is.
Courtesy of Larry Cohen
Its never been seen in New York its never been seen anywhere, really.”
Cohen: “The Chrysler building people didnt know we were going to climb up into the needle.
Who would do such a thing?
Courtesy of Larry Cohen
I didnt even know if the crew would follow me.
Then, of course we had to put pulleys down and ropes to bring the cameras and the lights.
Finally, the Chrysler building found out what we were doing and said we had to have more insurance.
Courtesy of Larry Cohen
I signed the contract right at the top of the building.”
Cohen: “Perfect Strangersis one of my favorites.
That’s where I got to direct a 2-year-old child.
Everett Collection
That was really a challenge.
Everybody thought it was insane.
The crew is looking at me like, This guy’s nuts!
Everett Collection
I sat down with the kid, and I told him what to do, and he did it.
That was a unique experience.”
Eric was actually very nice.
Everett Collection
We had a fight the first day.
[I] always have a fight the first day, with somebody.
The Stuff
Cohen’shorror-comedyconcerns a killer dessert.
Yes, you read that right.
It’s a furrier’s showroom.'
There were two tenants in this building.
It was the showroom and it was the New Jersey headquarters of the teamsters union.
And here we were shooting a non-union picture.
Sure enough, here came all these guys that looked like Tony Soprano.
Then they walked away and [they] didn’t bother us at all.
Cohen: “The cast was excellent.
That was a little bit more of an organized picture.
I’d never had that on any of my movies.
But I never saw it.
So, I had no idea what it said.
I just went and did what I wanted to do.”
