October 29, 2025
SIFF and Greg Olson Productions Present
L.A. NOIR
shadows in paradise
The Limey (1999) The late, great Terence Stamp (1938-2025) was part of the swinging 1960s London cultural scene. He and Michael Caine roomed together, and Stamp’s romance with It Girl actress Julie Christie inspired The Kink’s Ray Davies to write the immortal song “Waterloo Sunset.” Stamp recalled his first dinner date with Christie. “Her eyes were brilliant, almost turquoise and, although she glanced down at the tablecloth a lot of the time, whenever I caught her eyes on me they were defiant and glittered like a dragon’s. When she finally spoke her voice was low and husky. It wasn’t the easiest blind date I’d had. As we walked afterward I plucked up my courage and asked for her phone number. I didn’t have anything to write with. She said, ‘you won’t remember it.’ But I did.” Terence’s brother Chris managed The Who, so Pete Townshend’s song “The Seeker” perfectly opens The Limey. In 1967 Stamp starred in Ken Loach’s film Poor Cow, and flashes of that film provide backstory glimpses of Wilson’s life. Terence Stamp: When I told Steven, “Yes!! I’ll be in your film,” he sounded relieved. I said, “Was there ever any doubt I’d want to?” He replied, “Its not many leading men who relish being up there with their thirty years younger selves.” This was all over the phone. My only meeting with Steven before filming was in the garden of the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. He told me that when you looked at most people, you could imagine cogs turning in their heads. What he wanted to feel from my character Wilson was the presence of a bigger cog behind the others, moving in increments, but powering their motion. Then he asked me what Wilson would wear. Both of these seeming flecks of direction created a reverberation in me. In fact, they were all the tips I needed. Steven Soderbergh: One of the things I like best about The Limey is how much of Peter Fonda (1940-2019) is in it. We’d be doing a scene, there’d be no marks for him to hit, I’d just let him go and have multiple cameras running. If he ended doing something off the cuff and great, I didn’t have to ask him to do it again. His spirit really comes across in the film. We were shooting him driving on the Pacific Coast Highway, and at the location I saw Peter and Terence greet each other for the first time since the 1960s. And the first thing out of Peter’s mouth was, “Do you remember where we were?” Terence replied, “The Taormina Film Festival in Sicily.” And Peter said, “That’s right; I wonder what happened to her.” Turns out they were both wooing the same woman, but she got away. The film started out as a linear narrative, but we redrafted it as a memory piece, with contemplative interludes. The editor Sarah Flack and I had conversations about layering in those shots, how to establish certain story points. We were asking the audience to embrace a polyphonic structure, so balance was critical. It’s pretty aggressive in how non-linear it is, impressionistic, an internal experience. Thanks to poet, film curator and teacher Tova Gannana for her film essay and her L.A. Cruising, Radio On pre-film playlist.
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh Screenplay by: Lem Dobbs Cinematography by: Ed Lachmann Music by: Cliff Martinez Edited by: Sarah Flack THE PLAYERS: Terence Stamp as Wilson Peter Fonda as Terry Valentine Lesley Ann Warren as Elaine Luis Guzman as Eduardo Barry Newman as Avery Joe Dellesandro as “Uncle John” Nicky Katt as Stacy Amelia Heine as Adhara Melissa George as Jenny Wilson Michaela Gallo as Young Jenny Wilson William Lucking as Warehouse Foreman Steve Heinze as Valentine’s Bodyguard Nancy Lenehan as Lady on Plane