Dennis Hopper is candid
500 Weeks #27
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| Dennis Hopper in Toronto, September 1990 This image was taken with on camera flash. |
The second year I attended The Toronto International Film Festival as an accredited member of the media was the first time I bothered to carry a camera with me. At that point in time, a press pass from TIFF came in one flavour: all access to all media conferences, all press screening and a personal mail box in the main press room.
The film distributors, exhibitors, studios and sales representatives put a lot of effort in trying to get the media to pay attention to - and promote - their offerings. They would stuff each press members’ mailbox at night with flyers about their films and the guests available for interviews. The TIFF staff would maintain a schedule of all the press conference and screening times on a huge board in the press area.
I was at the Festival for one client, Share newspaper, a community newspaper for the Black and West Indian community. The paper was a weekly, with a very small amount of space devoted to film. The editor had films he wanted me to watch and write about, along with filmmakers and performers he wanted photos of, but the assignment list was quite small and the Festival is ten days long. This left me with extra time on my hands to fill up.
I started looking at the flyers in my mailbox and events listed on the big schedule for films I wanted to see and photo opportunities I felt like pursuing for my own interests. When I saw that Dennis Hopper would be taking questions at the press conference for “The Hot Spot” I decided: I’m going.
Mr. Hopper was true Hollywood “l’enfant terrible”, as he became entangled in both drugs and alcohol. He could be as terrible to deal with and was riveting on screen.
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| Dennis Hopper in Toronto, 1990. These three images were taken one right after another, using only available light. |
The press conferences always had a moderator, who would start out with introductions and ask some same basic questions: how did you come to the project, what attracted you to the material, how was the shooting experience, etc. The moderator usually also would inform everyone to only ask questions about the new film. Sometimes the media were threated with ejection for straying off topic or asking personal questions.
The fact that actors become stars by selling their personality and that fans are usually really interested in the personal lives of their favourite performers meant nothing. My impression is that the big movie studios were always trying to prevent the most dreaded of occurrences: independent thought. Studios did not like members of the media who thought for themselves, preferring writers who repeated what the studios told them to talk about in the press kit, and were never negative about one of their offerings.
Mr. Hopper came into the conference and apologized for his hair. He explained that it wasn’t his choice; it was for a role in a period movie, “Paris Trout”, which is set in the 1950s. He was very candid at the press conference, with reporters asking all kinds of questions not related to “The Hot Spot” the film he was promoting. Mr Hopper seemed open to questions about virtually anything, including inquires about his struggles with addiction and cleaning up in rehab.
I heard all this openness and made a truly rare move: I raised my hand to ask a question. When I got the nod by the moderator, I asked Mr. Hopper what his drug of choice was? He answered without hesitation “coke” and I followed up by asking what his favourite alcoholic beverage was. Again, no hesitation as he replied: “Didn’t matter.” He further explained that he drank anything.
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| Dennis Hopper. Toronto 1990. This image reminds me of the Frank Booth character Mr. Hopper played in "Blue Velvet" |
Photographically, I was trying to exclude the microphones out of my frame, but really wanted to included the twinkly, out of focus lights in the background. I went between relying on just the available light, which can be dangerous, because you risk shaking the camera and getting a blurry photo, and using an on camera flash. The photos with flash will be sharper, but the images is flatter, because the light is head on. At this point in time, I did not yet understand how to add a little bit of light from the flash and combine it with the available light.
These photos have never been printed or presented to the public before.
However, a few years later, I had a buddy ( #papajoemambo ) who I want out for a drink with every payday. He always chose a certain downtown “gentlemen’s club”. While waiting for our seats over multiple trips, we learned the names of the folks in charge, including the manager. Somehow I found out he was a fan of Mr. Hopper. The next week, I gifted that manager a print of one of these photos. That got us to a preferential viewing spot for months afterward. Thanks Dennis!
Mr Hopper passed away on May 29, 2010.
Rest in Peace Dennis.
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