№23354[Reply]
But we did try. And [Rebel Without a Cause actor] Nick Adams and Natalie and I—we were really close.
SHAFRAZI: Didn’t you have an accident with Natalie? You were on your motorbike.
HOPPER: No, it was not a bike. It was in a car. It was with her and her girlfriend, just before we shot Rebel. Actually, Natalie didn’t have the part yet. But she was going to get it.
BRANT: She was pretty close with Nick Ray as well. [laughs]
HOPPER: Well, right, exactly. Jimmy was in New York, so Nick had me test with all the girls. We tested every young starlet in Hollywood for that part. We tested Jayne Mansfield. But Natalie happened to be one of them. So I tested with her. At the time, I was living in this little apartment with Bill Dwyer. The next day, the phone rings. It’s Natalie, but I don’t know who she is. Bill does, though—he says, “It’s Natalie Wood! I think you tested with her.” But I can’t remember because I tested with 20 girls. So I get on the phone, and she says, “I tested with you last night. Do you remember? It was raining.” I went, “Oh, yeah, yeah.” And she said, “I’d like to fuck you, but I don’t do anything. I just lay there.” [laughs] And I said, “Uh . . .” Nobody had ever—or has since—said that to me. So she said, “I have to do a little rehearsing with Nick [Ray] at the Chateau [Marmont], but if you pick me up afterward. . . .” So I went to pick her up. She gets in the car, and I said, “You know, I’ve got a roommate. . . .” She says, “Let’s just go up the hill. I know a lover’s lane.” So she took me up the hill, and we started linking up, and I started to go down on her, and she said, “Oh, you can’t do that.” I said, “Why?” She said, “Because Nick [Ray] just fucked me.” [all laugh]