Fact #171299

Nicholas Roeg (director) : We had a scene where we wanted to use a real Magritte painting. We knew two or three people who'd got Magrittes and we wanted to borrow them, but they wouldn't lend their paintings. I was determined to get it. So we talked to the studio and the studio said, 'Oh, that's quite ridiculous.' And I said, 'We can rent one from a gallery. I know what gallery we can rent it from.' And the guy said, 'Are you crazy? You can get a print. Rent a Magritte? That's really … you don't know what you're doing.' I said, 'Fuck it! I am going to get it on that set. We are going to have a real thing. We don't want to photograph a print.' So, all right, if they won't get it we'll rent it ourselves. We rented it. When that painting came on the set it changed the atmosphere of the set. And Mick had a look … because the print wouldn't have done it. It was behind him. He takes down a fake painting and puts up the Magritte. Even the prop man was, 'Cor, £40,000!' It created a tension. I mean, Mick was performing in front of it and it gave a different tone. I believe that's true.

We rented real diamonds for Anita Pallenberg to put on. It gives a different tone when someone feels the weight of them as opposed to the painted paste. They give a person a different authority than fake things do. Everybody says, 'Look at this, £180.000!' It's very different than saying, 'Here's your diamonds, dear. They're supposed to be real.' It changes the performance.
(Source : not known)