Fact #121459
When:
Short story:
The Zombies audition for US movie mogul Otto Preminger at The Cromwellian Club, London, UK, hoping to land a part in his new movie Bunny Lake Is Missing.
Full article:
Rod Argent (The Zombies) : The Cromwellian was a club we used to go to sometimes. The producer, Otto Preminger, auditioned a few people for that movie. We played Summertime, and I've since learned that he knew Gershwin, so it must say something that he wasn't put off by our version. He was a very unpleasant man.
Colin Blunstone (The Zombies) : Preminger just sat there while we played and then said, 'You've got three days. We want three songs written and recorded'. We just didn't have a backlog of songs, so we desperately had to find some. Chris came up with two and I wrote one.
Rod Argent : Preminger came along to the recording session because we were doing a promotional thing for the film. One of Colin's songs that was in the film, we put different lyrics to it saying you mustn't miss the first couple of minutes of the film. It was a gimmick.
I remember Preminger in the recording studio. He carried on and shouted at everybody all the time. I remember thinking, we don't need to put up with this. I don't care if we do this film or not. So when he shouted at me I shouted right back, "Why do you have to be so bloody rude?" I was expecting a huge fight, but he just gave a little smile and he was all right after that. I didn't care for him.
In the end, I couldn't believe we were relegated to a tv set in the final thing. You see my face for about ten seconds, then back to the movie. And we had equal billing with Keir Dullea and Laurence Olivier.
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Colin Blunstone (The Zombies) : Preminger just sat there while we played and then said, 'You've got three days. We want three songs written and recorded'. We just didn't have a backlog of songs, so we desperately had to find some. Chris came up with two and I wrote one.
Rod Argent : Preminger came along to the recording session because we were doing a promotional thing for the film. One of Colin's songs that was in the film, we put different lyrics to it saying you mustn't miss the first couple of minutes of the film. It was a gimmick.
I remember Preminger in the recording studio. He carried on and shouted at everybody all the time. I remember thinking, we don't need to put up with this. I don't care if we do this film or not. So when he shouted at me I shouted right back, "Why do you have to be so bloody rude?" I was expecting a huge fight, but he just gave a little smile and he was all right after that. I didn't care for him.
In the end, I couldn't believe we were relegated to a tv set in the final thing. You see my face for about ten seconds, then back to the movie. And we had equal billing with Keir Dullea and Laurence Olivier.