Simon Markson
“About nine months ago Markson Pianos were approached by a
film production company and asked if we could supply pianos for Florence Foster
Jenkins, a film being made in the UK.
They were very specific. There
were six pianos in all. They wanted a
concert grand, two smaller grands and several uprights for specific location
sets. The film is based on the life of
Florence Foster Jenkins who was an American socialite from the 1920s and ‘30s. They wanted a concert grand for the Carnegie
Hall set and we put in a Steinway. There
were two hotel and apartment scenes where we put in a Bechstein grand and another
Steinway grand. The uprights were for
various different scenes for a members of the cast playing
the piano. The pianos all had to be adapted
to become silent so they could be played as ordinary pianos but could also be
silenced where necessary. At other times
they would be played quite quietly. Meryl
Streep had to sing, and you always can’t sing without a piano accompaniment really,
but the piano couldn’t be too loud for those scenes. So there were lots of technical
challenges. We put a Steinway grand into
Abbey Road studios with Meryl Streep coming along to record her singing, where
she recorded in a separate sound booth to where the piano was situated.
We had to deliver the pianos at short notice and also tune them
at very short notice. Logistically this
was challenging to arrange. The piano
might be needed twenty steps up or twenty miles away. Our tuner could sometimes be required to be
there at 8.30am and stay there all day.
He was picked up either from his barge, or from our showroom, by a
chauffeur. I think it was both the most
exciting and most challenging thing we’ve ever been asked to do, with last
minute changes and technical demands of finding so many different pianos at the
same time for one film. We’ve done lots
of different films where we might have been required to supply one piano at a time,
like for ‘Room with a View’ when we supplied a beautiful ornate Bechstein grand
piano.
I was asked by the production company to do a viewing to see
if one of our pianos could be taken to the first floor of a mansion outside
London. The film director turned up
with crew in a jeep and I was asked to play the part of the piano tuner in the
film. I’ve done a lot of amateur
dramatics and improvisation before, so I unhesitatingly said “yes!”. The director said “we’ve found our piano
tuner” and everyone cheered. Then, followed a costume fitting and several months later I was called in for the
filming, collected by car early in the morning and taken to Twickenham film
studios. I expected that my character would to be seen in the background tuning a grand piano, so I was surprised
to find myself on set with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. It was only in the dressing room that I had
been shown my script. It became clear on
set with various retakes that I would grow into the part of Charlie the piano
tuner, and that my interaction with Meryl Streep was a comic one.
While on set I was asked my opinion on whether a large busk of Toscanini
should remain on the piano or if it should be placed behind me. I said it shouldn’t be placed on the piano as
it would be difficult to tune the piano. I was also aware it would block
most of the view of me in the film! Hugh
Grant wanted it on the piano but Meryl Streep agreed with me and the bust was
placed behind. With the announcement of Toscanini’s arrival I was to be escorted
off stage by Hugh Grant. In one of the
takes I slowed down thinking that this would increase my visibility in the
film, and the director, Stephen Frears, shouted out “Don’t make a meal of it
Simon”.
In the after-party Meryl Street was very interested to hear
about our piano business. I was told by
the young editor that I had been cut in rather than cut out so I knew straight
away that I wasn’t on the cutting room floor. It was a wonderful experience, they
were very good humoured, supportive and encouraging.” (Simon Markson)
*****
Florence Foster Jenkins is out in cinemas from May 6th
No comments:
Post a Comment