Actor George Roth’s touching Letter to Clive Barker….
Over at the official Clive Barker Facebook page I came across a post by actor George Roth who played the oddball policeman Kane in Nightbreed. Over the years Roth has apparently believed Clive wasn’t a fan of the work he did in the film and that was why most of his favorite scenes hit the cutting room floor. Apparently he didn’t know about all the studio meddling that affected the film during the production. It’s a very a touching letter and it’s good to see that Roth can finally see his scenes the way Clive Barker always intended them to be seen.
Clive:
Thank you. Thank you.
I had the pleasure of working with you on Nightbreed, playing Kane. It was fun. You were great to work with. I loved it.
Then….
I vividly remember the day I was was called to Pinewood to re-shoot my death scene in “Nightbreed,” some time after principal shooting was over. The AD came to check on me and told how much he and everyone had enjoyed a scene in the rough cut of the film where I showed off the armaments to Decker. As a young actor with few credits, my heart soared. In the next breath, he told me, “yeah, we were all pretty upset when it was cut from the film.” My heart sank beneath the floorboards of the Pinewood dressing room. I didn’t ask for greater clarification. I had no idea about the true creative intrigue going on. I thought, maybe Clive didn’t like what I did. I hid my disappointment, went on set, and did the best job I could being killed by Shuna Sassi. I even asked to have one quill straight through my eyeglass lens as a kind of twisted homage to Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin.”
When I attended the London premiere, I was unsure what would be left of Kane. When Eigerman shouted “Kane!”, I learned. There was no scene of introduction to Decker, no scene in the armory, no scene in the field with the gasoline and mines. I was devastated. I wanted to show everyone the great stuff you let me do. I wanted to pad my show reel with my quirky little deputy.
I moved to LA in 1991 and thought about writing to you to ask if I might be able to get a copy of my work, but didn’t. Through the internet, I learned what had happened to the film, that my sadness and disappointment was your devastation. I lost the chance to show my wife and daughter my scenes and brag about working with Clive Barker doing “Nightbreed.” You lost your baby.
I am so happy for you. Your baby has been resurrected. And I now know that you valued my work on the film. Personally, it means a lot to me that you didn’t leave me on the cutting room floor, that I was included in the restoration. Thank you, Clive. I wish you the best.
George Roth
well, if you can get to LA, you probably could get a piece of Clive’s butt. he’s the horniest human being that i have ever come across.
LOL! Yeah, he’s very open. Which one of the reasons why I respect him so much. I prefer women but if given the chance there are a few men I think I’d sleep with. 😉
having spent time with him, i think the idea of sleeping with a guy who was in one of his earlier films and who admires his work as you do would be almost irresistible. there are ways to reach him.
If Clive were an option to the millions of women out there, I’m sure we’d all be clammering for a chance, even with his butthole. Just sayin. Lol
LOL!
Very cool. Cant wait to get my copy of the restored version.
Rob: Thank you for letting me know you posted the letter. Several friends have downloaded the Director’s Cut from Netflix and remarked on how different the film is now. Also, I want to assure you, that as much as I liked working with Clive Barker on “Nightbreed, I am not the George who posted on the 7th and 8th. He seems to know a lot more than I do. Thanks again.
Those Facebook wall posts are hard to spot. Mark Miller (who works directly for Clive Barker) asked me to find it for him, so you might be contacted by him. They are trying to track down as many cast and crew as they can.
No problem George. And I was pretty sure you weren’t the one posting those comments. 🙂 But it was a great letter and I’m happy you got to see your hard work put back into the film. Congrats.
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