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strangewood:

The reading took place at his apartment. […] Alain listened without moving until suddenly, looking up to glance at his watch, he stopped me: “You’ve been reading the script for seven and a half minutes now and there hasn’t been a word of dialogue. That’s good enough for me. I’ll do the film. What’s the title?” “Le samouraï”, I told him. Without a word he signed to me to follow him. He led me to his bedroom: all it contained was a leather couch and a samurai’s lance, sword and dagger.”

Jean-Pierre Melville recounting the casting of Alain Delon in Le samouraï