Lesley Ann Warren found working with Blake Edwards unique

Lesley Ann Warren agreed on a moment’s notice to meet with director Blake Edwards regarding a role in his upcoming film “Victor/Victoria” despite having not seen the script. She didn’t even have time to change clothes because Edwards was leaving for London and this was her only chance to meet with him face-to-face.

Warren was familiar with the filmmaker because of his films “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Days of Wine and Roses” and the “Pink Panther” movies. She knew the opportunity to be in one of his films was a major honor.

Despite being unprepared and a little disheveled, Warren and Edwards met. He made her immediately feel comfortable despite the swiftness of the meeting.

“We had great laughs about how Julie [Andrews] and I had just done ‘Cinderella.’ In the meeting he said, ‘Do you want to do this role?’ And I said, ‘I’ll do anything you want me to do.’ So, I went home, read it. I mean, I would have done anything, anyway, but I was thrilled,” Warren says.

It was a smart move taking the impromptu meeting as Warren would go on to earn an Academy Award nomination for her performance in “Victor/Victoria.” The connection between Warren and Edwards is just a small part of “American Masters: Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames.”

The production – set to debut at 8 p.m. Aug. 27 on Valley PBS – looks at how Edwards redefined slapstick comedy through a lens that continues to impact today’s directors and actors. His resume covered more than four decades.

Along with Warren, the documentary includes interviews with Andrews, his children, Bo Derek, Rob Marshall, Rian Johnson and Paul Feig.

The documentary uncovers the man behind the camera and explores how his four-decade marriage to legendary actress and singer Julie Andrews shaped his life and career. It includes never seen archival video and stills used to explore the filmmaker’s complex life and genre-spanning career.

Warren had worked with numerous TV and film directors – at times being on set for 19 hours a day – before showing up on the set of “Victor/Victoria.” The experience of working with Edwards was very unique to her.

“I’ve actually never experienced the kind of civility and grace and comfortability on a set. He believed that people couldn’t be funny after 10 hours of shooting. That’s what he said to us,” Warren says. “He would bring us in at eight and we’d be out of makeup by 10, 10:30.

“We would stop shooting at five and because we shot in England, there was a tea trolley that came around at four o’clock. Never again have I experienced that kind of understanding of what it takes to do the work from a director and the higher-ups. It was an incredible gift, but it also changed my perception of how things could work but generally, generally don’t.”

One of her fondest memories of working with Edwards was hearing his laughter. There were times he would laugh so hard while a scene was being filmed that he would fall off his chair and the scene had to be reshot.

Warren saw how Edwards embraced and enjoyed what the actors were doing creatively and even if a scene did not go well, Edwards was also reassuring. She never felt criticized by Edwards.

One reason Warren was such a big fan of Edwards was his approach to sexuality. She describes his work on “Victor/Victoria” as taking on the gender fluidity issue in a visionary way before it was a mainstream conversation.

“People come up to me with a lot of respect and admiration and excitement about what he chose to do in that regard. I know that prior, in some of his movies, that wasn’t happening,” Warren says. “It was a different time and a different sensibility. And you know, I’m glad to be in the latter, so that I don’t have to deal with that.

“I’m proud that he made this film that dove into gender identity and all the pitfalls and issues around it in an incredible, entertaining but educational way, really, below the surface, just slightly.”

Executive producer Michael Kantor stresses the documentary does a good job at showing how Edwards turned the spotlight on issues that were important at the time and continue to be relevant because of how many A-list directors point to Edwards as a directing inspiration.

Danny Gold discovered while directing the documentary the strength of Edwards was his honesty about himself and his fearlessness to show it in certain projects that he did and that he brought himself into it. Gold was inspired to become a director because of movies such as Edwards’ “Return of the Pink Panther” and now sees that work in a new light.

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