When Robert Pattinson was asked what specifically draws him to a Claire Denis films (The New York Times, June 9, 2017–‘The 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far’), he said, ‘Watching the performances in her movies, you can just feel the freedom she gives her actors. She creates an entire world for them to behave in. And I think having such wide parameters to capture things from means her movies can be built from an enormous amount of incremental details rather than a narrow narrative thrust. Her movies feel like waves building and breaking.’

The newspaper’s ’25 Best Films’ included her feature “White Material” (2010), starring Isabelle Huppert, which ranked at #15 and was one out of four films listed directed by women–the others are Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker,” #10), Agnès Varda (“Les glaneurs et la glaneuse,” #18) and Kelly Richardt (“Wendy and Lucy,” #21).

French film director and screenwriter Claire Denis (b. 1946) has been one of France’s leading filmmakers for several years now. She was raised in colonial French Africa, and after working as assistant director to Dusan Makavejev, Robert Enrico, Costa-Gavras, Wim Wenders, and Jim Jarmusch (from 1974 through 1987), she debuted as a film director with the semi-autobiographical “Chocolat” (1988) and became a highly respected director with “Beau travail” (1999) and “Trouble Every Day” (2001) as some of her other career highlights.

She was invited to the latest Rotterdam International Film Festival where she, during a masterclass, talked about her latest feature, “High Life,” starring Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche. You can find here a slightly edited and condensed version of the topics she talked about.

Ms. Denis, the beginning of your films is always very strong and ambiguous, and so is “High Life.” Would you agree?

First of all, I would like to say that for “High Life,” how lucky we were to find this little girl [Scarlet Lindsay], and Robert Pattinson was so inside the project, so trustful. It was touching, and I was also touched by the importance of the music, composed by Stuart Staples, a musician with whom I have worked with for twenty years now. But, as an answer to your question, the strange thing about this film is that I always thought it would start with not the very beginning of the story. I wanted it to take place in this old rusty spaceship, far away from the solar system, which looked like a jail, and there you had this man and this baby—as if it was almost like the end of a story. This was very important because, basically, this was this precious idea of the film—this man alone. His only reason to stay on board is that he has a baby to take care of, he’s responsible for this life. That’s why I wanted to start like that and not work in a chronological order.

What about the use of color in the film, especially green? You have this strange, intense garden, followed by a very quick portrait of the nature of the ship.

I thought, the only thing growing—apart from the baby—was this garden. It was the only place that was still earthy, alive, so very much alive by growing and by the color of a garden, with the yellow and the green. I had read a lot about space, and I found out it’s very important for the space program to be able to grow plants, vegetables, and fruit, something fresh, and not only have dried powders. So I realized this little soil is like a sort of small paradise in that ship, like the paradise of Eden in the bible.

We’re all very used to the Hollywood versions of high-tech spaceships and suits, but in “High Life” you look at it in a different way, don’t you?

It was a jail flying through space, outside the solar system, which means it takes a lot of time already to get there. This main character is not new in space; he has been there for five or six years. The spaceship is a sort of half-abandoned place; he’s there alone with a baby. He was sent into space in this condition, but he’s not a soldier of the force. Actually, we copied the Russian cosmonaut space costume, maybe they look dull, but they’re also high-tech in a way. They’re not out of fashion; they have something to offer. Besides, they still exist, you know. And I wanted the ship to look like a jail, no more than that. I remember when I was in the space center in Cologne, Germany, it’s a place where they train cosmonauts, and after they have spent two or three months in space, they rehabilitate them because when they get back from space, their muscles, their bones, their eyes… they have to recuperate. So when I was there, I was surprised, because, in the copy of the space station, a lot of the equipment is Russian, although it’s part American, Russian, and European. I saw this computer that looked like something from the 1980s; there was something reassuring that time was already a part of the truth.

With Juliette Binoche and Robert Pattinson, you have possibly more expensive actors in your cast…

…or very generous actors.

You also collaborated with several people whom you have worked with over the years, it’s almost like a collective, and one of them is screenwriter Jean-Pol Fargeau.

We wrote this script a long time ago, and an English producer wanted to know if I wanted to do an English-language film. I told him it would be fine with me as long as it didn’t take place in a location where I could do the film in French. So I told him, as a joke, ‘In space, for instance, where they only speak two languages, English and Russian.’ And he came up with a femme fatale story. So I said, ‘Wow, maybe a femme fatale in space.’ [Laughs.] Actually, in a way, that little girl is a femme fatale for me, you know. But that’s how it started. That was about seven or eight years ago, and it took us a long time not to cast the film because the actors were interested immediately, but apart from the German co-producer who offered us the studio in Cologne, it was very difficult. It took us a few years to finance this project. But we were very fortunate to have great actors and actresses who were very generous with their time.

Could you tell something more about the casting, because you always have a particular way of looking at faces?

When we first wrote the script, I thought the main character should be a man in his forties who has no hope and was sent there with other convicts. The trip was just a diversion and not to stay in death row. He believes it’s a different way of dying. I realize it’s a very terrible thing to say, but back then, I thought of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Sadly enough, he passed away [2014]. Then my agent and the casting director told me, ‘Claire, there’s a young actor who wants to meet you, he may not be right for you, but you have to meet him. It’s Robert Pattinson.’ The first thing I said was, ‘But he’s much too young!’ And then, as we were waiting for the money to come in, Robert kept visiting me in Paris, and he said, ‘I’m getting older every month, you know, so in the end, you will work with me.’ [Laughs.] And then, after we had the film financed, I told him, ‘Robert, maybe you’re still too young and too iconic for me, but I can’t make this film without you.’ And I originally wanted Patricia Arquette to play the doctor, but because we kept postponing the film, she was no longer available and couldn’t be with us in Germany. Then Juliette Binoche—we had just finished “Let the Sun Shine In” [2017]—said to me, ‘Maybe we can do it together?’ So it was that easy, that simple.

In your films, you have people with extraordinary faces. Robert Pattinson is often that young, conventional actor with a Hollywood look, but you do a lot of great work with him.

He was never completely conventional. Even when I saw “Twilight” [2008], this young couple—both of them—they look so intense, so mysterious. There was something in both of them as if they were lending their beauty to the film, but inside of them, there was something else that attracted me.

He is used to working in Hollywood films that are full of dialogue. How did he respond to your particular way of dealing because “High Life” is not a dialogue-heavy film at all.

I was completely surprised. I’m not an improvising director, I also like to be part of everything, and I like it when it’s settled. But his interest in filmmaking is so great, so real; he was ready for everything I suggested. He was like the easiest actor I ever worked with. He almost became like a brother of mine, and when I think of him, I realize now how much I want to work with him again. It’s the same with Juliette Binoche: people who get so involved are not afraid to be in a weird project maybe, they have no fear.

In a number of your films, actors do all sorts of choreography, and Robert Pattinson also moves his arms quite a lot. How do you direct in this situation?

When he does this with his arms in the end [holds her arms up high], he was so afraid at that moment that he didn’t know how to answer his daughter, you know. It was a sort of natural gesture he did. When I direct, I don’t ask my actors to move in a certain way. We talk about it and we find the mood and the rhythm, but the camera is my most important choreographer by being close and respectful to the actors, by caressing the actors even. This togetherness is very important, very moving too. If I do a large shot and the character is in a corridor in the distance, the momentum of staying there in a static shot is also some kind of choreography because of the duration or the time—staying there, just looking at someone also means to be together. The camera is always my companion. If you take the dancing sequence with Juliette Binoche in “Let the Sun Shine In” [2017], the most magic ballet in the movement was done by the camera. I was so amazed when I watched [cinematographer] Agnès Godard with the dolly at work.

In “High Life,” there’s a beautiful scene, a lovely choreography also when you use a hand against his wounded hand. Do you construct a scene like that in the editing, or do you conceive of it already when you’re shooting?

It was written to shoot it on the staircase, but during location scouting, I decided not to do it in one sequence shot, but rather do it step by step, moment by moment, piece by piece as if time was counted.

How do you structure your screenplays? Because in your films there are often things we don’t know about the characters until quite late, which is also one of the great strengths of your films.

I don’t have a plan when I’m writing a script to confuse the audience or build a sort of labyrinthian story. I believe in what comes first to my mind. When I wrote “High Life,” the first things I thought of were a man and a baby. Little by little, you understand he is a father. It’s a very natural way of putting things together.

What attracts you to a character when you’re writing your screenplay?

Usually, it’s something that’s for some reason close to my own emotions. I can’t completely invent a character that I have no relation with. I must at least be able to feel what the character feels, someone I could like, love, cherish, or dislike and would never cherish. Someone close, not to my real life, but to my spiritual life, my dreamy life—I’m a dreamer, after all.

International Film Festival Rotterdam (Netherlands)
January 30, 2019

“High Life” (2018, trailer)

FILMS

SWEET MOVIE (1974) DIR Dusan Makavejev SECOND ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Richard Hellman, Vincent Malle SCR Dusan Makavejev, France Gallagher, Martin Malina CAM Pierre Lhomme ED Yann Dedet MUS Manos Hatzidakis CAST Carole Laure, Pierre Clémenti, Anna Prucnal, Sami Frey, Jane Mallett, John Vernon

LE SECRET, a.k.a. THE SECRET (1974) DIR Robert Enrico SECOND ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Jacques-Eric Strauss SCR Robert Enrico, Pascal Jardin (novel by Francis Ryck) CAM Étienne Becker ED Eva Zora MUS Ennio Morricone CAST Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marlène Jobert, Philippe Noiret, Jean-François Adam, Solange Pradel

LA MESSE DORÉE, a.k.a. THE GOLDEN MASS (1975) DIR – SCR Beni Montresor SECOND ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Saul Cooper CAM Jean Monsigny ED Alessandro Lucidi MUS Severino Gazzelloni CAST Lucia Bosé, Maurice Ronet, Yves Morgan-Jones, Bénédicte Bucher, Trille, François Dunoyer, Stefania Casini

LE VIEUX FUSIL, a.k.a. THE OLD GUN and VENGEANCE ONE BY ONE (1975) DIR Robert Enrico ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Pierre Caro SCR Robert Enrico, Pascal Jardin, Claude Veillot CAM Étienne Becker ED Eva Zora MUS François de Roubaix CAST Philippe Noret, Romy Schneider, Jean Bouise, Joachim Hansen, Robert Hoffmann, Karl Michael Vogler

SERIAL (1976) DIR Eduardo DeGregorio FIRST ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Hubert Niogret, Hugo Santiago, Jacques Zajdermann SCR Eduardo DeGregorio, Michael Graham CAM Ricardo Aronovitch ED Alberto Yaccelini MUS Michel Portal CAST Leslie Caron, Bulle Ogier, Marie-France Pisier, Corin Redgrave, Marilyn Jones, Pierre Baudry

MAIS OÙ EST DONC ORNICAR (1979) DIR Bertrand Van Effenterre FIRST ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Bertrand Van Effenterre, Herbert De Zaltza SCR Bertrand Van Effenterre, Dominique Woldon CAM Nurith Aviv ED Joële Van Effenterre MUS Antoine Duhamel CAST Geraldine Chaplin, Brigitte Fossey, Jean-François Stévenin, Didier Flamand, Jean-Jacques Biraud, Claire Denis

RETOUR À LA BIEN-AIMÉE, a.k.a. RETURN TO THE BELOVED (1979) DIR Jean-François Adam ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Benjamin Simon SCR Jean-François Adam, Jean-Claude Carrière, Benoît Jacquot, Georges Perec CAM Pierre Lhomme MUS Antoine Duhamel CAST Jacques Dutronc, Isabelle Huppert, Bruno Ganz, Christian Rist, Jean-François Adam, Aline Bertrand

ZOO ZÉRO (1979) DIR – SCR Alain Fleischer FIRST ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD François Barrat, Pierre Barrat CAM Bruno Nuytten ED Eric Pluet CAST Catherine Jourdan, Klaus Kinski, Pierre Clémenti, Lisette Malidor, Rufus, Piéral, Alida Valli, Christine Chappey

L’EMPREINTE DES GÉANTS, a.k.a. THE IMPRINT OF GIANTS (1980) DIR Robert Enrico ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Gérard Beytout, Eugène Lépicier SCR (novel by Hortense Dufour; adaptation by Robert Enrico, François Chevallier) CAM Didier Tarot ED Patricia Nény MUS Karl-Heinz Schäfer CAST Zoé Chauveau, Serge Reggiani, Mario Adorf, Andréa Ferréol, Raimund Harmstorf, Philippe Léotard

PILE OU FACE, a.k.a. HEADS OR TAILS (1980) DIR Robert Enrico ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Georges Cravenne SCR Robert Enrico, Michel Audiard, Gary Graver, Marcel Jullian (novel by Alfred Harris) CAM Didier Tarot ED Patricia Nény MUS Lino Léonardi CAST Philippe Noiret, Michel Serrault, Dorothée, André Falcon, Bernard le Coq, Gaëlle Legrand

ON N’EST PAS DES ANGES… ELLES NON PLUS (1981) DIR – SCR Michel Lang ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Alain Poiré CAM Daniel Gaudry ED Hélène Plemiannikov MUS Mort Shuman CAST Sabine Azéma, Georges Beller, Henry Courseaux, Pierre Vernier, Duilio Del Prete, Marie-Anne Chazel, Jean Reno

LA PASSANTE DU SANS-SOUCI (1982) DIR Jacques Rouffio FIRST ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Artur Brauner, Raymond Danon SCR Jacques Rouffio, Jacques Kirsner (novel by Joseph Kessel) CAM Jean Penzer ED Anna Ruiz MUS Georges Delerue CAST Romy Schneider, Michel Piccoli, Helmut Griem, Dominique Labourier, Gérard Klein, Mathieu Carrière, Maria Schell, Jean Reno

LE BÂTARD, a.k.a. THE BASTARD (1983) DIR Bertrand Van Effenterre FIRST ASST DIR Claire Denis SCR Bertrand Van Effenterre, Pierre-Alain Maubert (novel by Erskine Caldwell) CAM François Catonné ED Joële Van Effenterre MUS Norbert Abourdaham CASTING Claire Denis, Dominique Besnehard CAST Gérard Klein, Brigitte Fossey, Julie Jézéquel, Mylène Demongeot, Victoria Abril, Didier Flamand, Jean-Jacques Biraud

HANNAH K. (1983) DIR Costa-Gavras FIRST ASST DIR Claire Denis EXEC PROD Michèle Ray-Gavras, Robert Cortes SCR Costa-Gavras, Franco Solinas CAM Ricardo Aronovich ED Françoise Bonnot MUS Gabriel Yared CAST Jill Clayburgh, Jean Yanne, Gabriel Byrne, Mohammad Bakri, David Clennon, Shimon Finkel, Oded Kotler

PARIS, TEXAS (1984) DIR Wim Wenders ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Don Guest, Anatole Dauman SCR Sam Shepard (adaptation by L.M. Kit Carson) CAM Robby Müller ED Peter Przygodda MUS Ry Cooder CAST Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clément, Hunter Carson, Bernhard Wicki, Sam Berry, Viva

DOWN BY LAW (1986) DIR – SCR Jim Jarmusch ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Alan Kleinberg CAM Robby Müller ED Melody London MUS John Lurie CAST Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Begnini, Nicoletta Braschi, Ellen Barkin, Nillie Neal, Rockets Redglare, Vernel Bagneris

OFFRET, a.k.a. THE SACRIFICE (1986) DIR – SCR Andrei Tarkovsky PROD Anna-Lena Wilbom CAM Sven Nykvist ED Andrei Tarkovsky, Michal Leszczylowski CASTING Claire Denis, Françoise Menidrey, Priscilla John CAST Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall, Gudrún Gísladóttir, Sven Wollter, Valérie Mairesse, Filippa Franzén

DER HIMMEL ÜBER BERLIN, a.k.a. WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) DIR Wim Wenders FIRST ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Wim Wenders, Anatole Dauman SCR Wim Wenders, Peter Handke CAM Henri Alekan ED Peter Przygodda MUS Jürgen Knieper CAST Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Peter Falk, Hans Martin Stier

CHOCOLAT, a.k.a. CHOCOLATE (1988) DIR Claire Denis PROD Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Belmondo, Gérard Crosnier SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau CAM Robert Alazraki ED Claudine Merlin, Monica Coleman, Sylvie Quester MUS Abdullah Ibrahim CAST Isaach De Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, François Cluzet, Jean-Claude Adelin, Laurent Arnal

S’EN FOUT LA MORT, a.k.a. NO FEAR, NO DIE (1990) DIR Claire Denis PROD Philippe Carcassonne, Francis Boespflug SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau CAM Pascal Marti ED Dominique Auvray MUS Abdullah Ibrahim CAST Isaach de Bankolé, Alex Descas, Solveig Dommartin, Christopher Buchholz, Jean-Claude Brialy

J’AI PAS SOMMEIL, a.k.a. I’M NOT SLEEPY and I CAN’T SLEEP (1994) DIR Claire Denis PROD Bruno Pesery SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau CAM Agnès Godard ED Nelly Quettier MUS John Pattison, Jean-Louis Murat CAST Yekaterina Golubeva, Richard Courcet, Vincent Dupont, Laurent Grévill, Alex Descas, Irina Grjebina

EN AVOIR (OU PAS) (1995) DIR – SCR Laetitia Masson PROD Georges Benayoun, François Cuel, Françoise Guglielmi CAM Caroline Champetier ED Yann Dedet, Babeth Si Ramdane CAST Sandrine Kiberlain, Arnaud Giovaninetti, Roschdy Zem, Jean-Michel Fête, Didier Flamand, Daniel Kiberlain, Claire Denis

NÉNETTE ET BONI, a.k.a. NENETTE AND BONI (1996) DIR Claire Denis PROD Georges Benayoun SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau CAM Agnès Godard ED Yann Dedet MUS Tindersticks CAST Grégoire Colin, Alice Houri, Jacques Nolot, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Vincent Gallo, Malek Brahimi, Alex Descas

BEAU TRAVAIL, a.k.a. GOOD WORK (1999) DIR Claire Denis PROD Patrick Grandperret SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau (story ‘Billy Budd, Sailor’ by Herman Melville) CAM Agnès Godard ED Nelly Quettier MUS Charles Henri de Pierrefeu, Eran Zur CAST Dennis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Richard Courcet, Nicolas Duvauchelle

VÉNUS BEAUTÉ (INSTITUT), a.k.a. VENUS BEAUTY INSTITUTE (1999) DIR Tonie Marshal PROD Gilles Sandoz SCR Tonie Marshal, Jacques Audiard, Marion Vernoux CAM Gérard de Battista ED Jacques Comets MUS Khalil Chahine CAST Nathalie Baye, Bulle Ogier, Samuel Le Bihan, Jacques Bonnaffé, Mathilde Seigner, Audrey Tautou, Micheline Presle, Emmanuelle Riva, Robert Hossein, Claire Denis

EL MEDINA (1999) DIR Yousri Nasrullah [Yusri Nasrullah] PROD Humbert Balsan, Gabriel Khoury, Marianne Khoury SCR Claire Denis, Yousri Nasrullah [Yusri Nasrullah], Nasser Abdel-Rahmane CAM Samir Bahzan ED Tamer Ezzat MUS Tamer Karawan CAST Bassem Samra, Ahmed Fouad Selim, Abla Kamel, Roschdy Zem, Inês de Medeiros, Amr Sad

TROUBLE EVERY DAY (2001) DIR Claire Denis PROD Jean-Michel Rey, Georges Benayoun, Philippe Liégeois SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau CAM Agnès Godard ED Nelly Quettier MUS Tindersticks CAST Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice Dalle, Alex Descas, Florence Loiret Caille, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Aurore Clément

VENDREDI SOIR, a.k.a. FRIDAY NIGHT (2002) DIR Claire Denis PROD Bruno Pesery SCR Claire Denis, Emmanuèle Bernheim (novel by Emmanuèle Bernheim) CAM Agnès Godard ED Nelly Quettier MUS Dickon Hinchliffe CAST Valérie Lemercier, Vincent Lindon, Hélène de Saint-Père, Hélène Fillières, Florence Loiret Caille, Grégoire Colin

L’INTRUS, a.k.a. THE INTRUDER (2004) DIR Claire Denis PROD Michel Reilhac, Humbert Balsan, Jérôme Clément SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau (novel by Jean-Luc Nancy) CAM Agnès Godard ED Nelly Quettier MUS Stuart Staples CAST Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Yekaterina Golubeva, Florence Loiret Caille, Lolita Chammah, Alex Descas, Béatrice Dalle

35 RHUMS, a.k.a. 35 SHOTS OF RUM (2008) DIR Claire Denis PROD Bruno Pesery, Karl Baumgartner SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau CAM Agnès Godard ED Guy Lecorne MUS Tindersticks CAST Alex Descas, Mati Diop, Nicole Dogué, Grégoire Colin, Julieth Mars Toussaint, Adèle Ado, Jean-Christophe Folly

WHITE MATERIAL (2009) DIR Claire Denis PROD Pascal Caucheteux SCR Claire Denis, Marie N’Diaye, Lucie Borteleau CAM Yves Cape ED Guy Lecorne MUS Stuart Staples CAST Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle, William Nadylam, Michel Subor, Isaach de Bankolé

ADIEU BERTHE – L’ENTERREMENT DE MÉMÉ, a.k.a. GRANNY’S FUNERAL (2012) DIR Bruno Podalydès PROD Pascal Caucheteux SCR Bruno Podalydès, Denis Podalydès CAM Pierre Cottereau ED Christel Dewynter CAST Valérie Lemercier, Denis Podalydès, Isabelle Candelier, Catherine Hiegel, Michel Vuillermoz, Bruno Podalydès, Claire Denis

LES SALAUDS, a.k.a. BASTARDS (2013) DIR Claire Denis PROD Laurence Clerc, Brahim Chioua SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau CAM Agnès Godard ED Annette Dutertre MUS Stuart Staples CAST Vincent Lindon, Chiara Mastroianni, Julie Bataille, Michel Subor, Lola Créton, Alex Descas, Grégoire Colin, Florence Loiret Caille

UN BEAU SOLEIL INTÉRIEUR, a.k.a. LET THE SUN SHINE IN and LET THE SUNSHINE IN (2017) DIR Claire Denis PROD Olivier Delbosc SCR Claire Denis, Christine Angot (book by Roland Barthes) CAM Agnès Godard ED Guy Lecorne MUS Stuart Staples CAST Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine, Josiane Balasko, Sandrine Dumas, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Ales Descas, Gérard Depardieu

HIGH LIFE (2018) DIR Claire Denis PROD Claudia Steffen, Laurence Clerc, Oliver Dungey, Klaudia Smieja, Andrew Lauren, D.J. Gugenheim, Christoph Friedel SCR Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau, Geoff Cox CAM Yorick Le Seaux, Tomasz Naumiuk ED Guy Lecorne MUS Stuart Staples, Tindersticks CAST Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Lard Eidinger, Agata Buzek, Claire Tran, Victor Banerjee

TV MOVIE

TO CATCH A KING (1984) DIR Clive Donner FIRST ASST DIR Claire Denis PROD Thomas M.C. Johnston, William F. Storke, Alfred R. Kelman, Marc Monnet TELEPLAY Roger O. Hirson (novel by Harry Patterson [Jack Higgins]) CAM Dennis C. Lewiston ED Peter Tanner MUS Nick Bicât CAST Robert Wagner, Teri Garr, Horst Janson, John Standing, Barbara Parkins, Marcel Bozzuffi