In 1956, Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay for John Huston's version of Moby Dick. British filmmaker Jack Clayton, who had worked as an associate producer on two of Huston's films, Beat the Devil and Moulin Rouge, was again asked to produce. Due to other contractual commitments, he couldn't, but he did get the chance to meet Bradbury. That meeting was successful. According to Clayton, "We both liked and respected each other very much from the beginning."
A few years later, 20th Century-Fox asked Clayton if he was interested in developing a cinematic version of Bradbury's fantasy classic, Something Wicked This Way Comes. This effort, unfortunately, died on the vine. Then, in the mid-70s, Clayton, in collaboration with Bradbury, penned a first draft screenplay for Paramount at the behest of then-head of production, David Picker. Again, in a way unfortunately typical of Hollywood, the project was abandoned.
"It got thrown away, as most development deals do in this town," explains Clayton, "only because of the alleged feud between Picker and Paramount chairman Barry Diller."
Finally, about 18 months ago, producer Peter (The Final Countdown) Douglas asked Clayton if he still had any interest in the project. Clayton was not only interested but available to helm the motion picture. Thus, in September 1981, lensing began on the back lot of Walt Disney Studios.
Dressed in jeans and a blue turtleneck sweater which almost matches his slightly down-slanted eyes, Jack Clayton is a gracious host. His Disney Studios office is not glamorous but simply furnished, decorated with an assortment of books, last year's Christmas cards, and a black-and-white watercolor by Something Wicked production designer Richard MacDonald. There is an electric kettle to provide Clayton with his ever-present cup of instant coffee, a substitute for the cigarettes that he gave up five years ago.
Cup in hand, the British director describes the process of readying Something Wicked This Way Comes for the screen: "Ray and I totally rewrote the script. After seven years, that's necessary unless you're a dullard! It was like a new project."
Although Clayton has always liked the story, his primary motivation for taking on the picture was his desire to film a fantasy. "The nearest that I've come was The Innocents," he explains. "But this is real 'fantasy-fantasy'." Yet, this very fact presented its own set of problems, such as how does one translate Ray Bradbury's flowing prose into a film script?
"It's impossible, of course, and that's the answer! The only thing you can do, if you attempt that kind of thing, is to keep the fantasy going without the book's absurdities. When I say 'absurdities,' I mean, for example, the Dust Witch arriving in a balloon and Will shooting her down with a bow and arrow. That type of stuff belongs to fairy tales, and I wasn't interested in making a fairy tale. I approached Something Wicked in a totally different way. I wanted the fantasy, but to have fantasy — this is my theory and we'll see if I'm right or wrong — you must dig the story's roots deeply into reality at the start."
Clayton built a foundation of reality by beginning the film in a ordinary town populated with ordinary people, and interjected some extraordinary events. The Dust Witch, for example, who is extremely ugly in the novel, is extremely beautiful here, except for a brief, uncertain flash. "I think it's much more interesting to have a beautiful witch," Clayton says of the change. "Why not? Beautiful women, and beautiful witches, can create much more havoc in the world than ugly ones!"
[…]
Those "Wicked" Children
[…]
Those "Wicked" Effects
The special effects of Something Wicked brought their own somewhat wicked degree of frustration. At the outset, Clayton admitted his limitations in that area. "I openly declared that I was a director who knew nothing about special effects. I just deal in human beings — and atmosphere, story, love and hate between the collection of them. I asked for — and was promised — the best people that they could give me."
Unfortunately for the director, Disney was then heavily involved in creating the computerized world of TRON. Most of the studio's experienced FX experts were committed to that project and unavailable for Something Wicked. Of that period, he says, Ev"ery week, a test came through and it was always wrong. That's the reason why the film has taken so long to finish. Only after a pre-dub did Disney realize it. When the team from TRON became available — and only then — did I get the special effects this movie deserves."
[…]
