Billy Wilder gave Jack Lemmon free rein to fill in the character of C.C. "Bud" Baxter in performance. He compared the actor favorably to Charles Chaplin and thought he could do no wrong.

Wilder found Lemmon very professional and cooperative. "He has his own opinion on things, but he's not bullheaded about it," the director said.

"As I saw it, [Baxter] was ambitious; a nice guy but gullible, easily intimidated, and fast to excuse his behavior," Lemmon said of his approach to the character. "In the end, he changes because he faces up to having rationalized his morals. He realizes he's been a dumb kid, he's been had."

Lemmon invented one of the funnier moments in The Apartment. Baxter has a bad cold from wandering the streets in the rain while an executive uses his apartment for an affair. Lemmon was playing with a nasal spray prop in his dressing room and discovered if he gave it a sharp squeeze, it would squirt ten feet. He filled it with milk to make the liquid visible on black-and-white film, and when Fred MacMurray, as his boss, chastises him for creating a problem around the use of the apartment, Lemmon gave the container a squeeze. The milk shot out and sailed right past MacMurray's nose. "He was beautiful; didn't say a word, just gave me a look and went right on with the scene," Lemmon said. Wilder left the take in. "With Wilder, like with Ford, the best way is to do it rather than talk about it," Lemmon explained.

Lemmon said he learned much about filmmaking from Wilder, particularly the director's use of "hooks," bits of business the audience remembers long after they've forgotten other aspects of the movie. One such hook was the passing of the key to Baxter's apartment. Lemmon said for years after the picture's release, people would come up to him and say, "Hey, Jack, can I have the key?"

Wilder and Diamond would allow not even the slightest deviation from their script. Shirley MacLaine drove them crazy with her ad-libbing. She was forced to do one of the elevator scenes five times because she kept missing one word.

Wilder and Diamond deliberated for 20 minutes when Lemmon insisted he wanted to repeat the word "yes" twice.

Wilder and Diamond did not have an ending to The Apartment until the completion of shooting. They handed Lemmon and MacLaine wet mimeographed script pages 20 minutes before shooting the final scene. Quick studies, the two did the scene in one take.

Lemmon related later in life how Wilder kept his film editor, Doane Harrison, on the set with him at all times as associate producer and never made a shot until they both discussed it. As a result, he was able to shoot sparingly, cutting the film in the camera and eliminating costly set-ups that might never be used.

Wilder captured the spirit of Christmas office parties - the free-flowing booze and often raucous behavior - by shooting that scene on December 23.

Wilder's sets are known to be easy-going, energetic, and full of humorous interaction. He also adds touches that cater to an actor's need for small details to make them feel secure. For instance, for MacMurray he created memo pads and stationery with his character's name on them, even though no one but the actor ever saw them.

Wilder told a story to illustrate the penny-pinching ways of Fred MacMurray, one of the wealthiest actors in Hollywood. In an important scene with MacLaine, MacMurray had to hand her a hundred-dollar bill. Wilder gave MacMurray a real bill to use. When the scene was over, MacMurray gave the money back to the director. Several minutes later, Wilder claimed the actor never returned the bill. He insisted up to the point that MacMurray, sweat pouring from his brow (according to Wilder), reluctantly opened his own wallet to pay him back. It was then Wilder confessed to the prank.

To create the effect of a vast sea of faces laboring grimly and impersonally at their desks in the huge insurance company office, designers Alexander Trauner and Edward G. Boyle devised an interesting technique. Full-sized actors sat at the desks in the front and dwarfs were used at tiny desks toward the rear, followed by even smaller desks with cut-out figures operated by wires. It gave the effect of a much larger space than could have been achieved in the limited studio space.

Wilder often incorporates famous paintings into his film sets. The shot of MacLaine lying unconscious on Lemmon's bed was inspired by the composition of Rousseau's Sleeping Gypsy, which hangs in the bedroom.

Wilder and cinematographer Joseph LaShelle were occasionally at odds over the look of The Apartment. LaShelle, who had worked with directors who came primarily from television, wanted to use more close-ups, a shot Wilder prefers to avoid.

"In film making, I like the normal set-up, like Wyler uses, like John Ford, like Chaplin," Wilder once said. "I'm against this fancy stuff. It reminds an audience that artisans have intruded. I don't want them to grab their partner and say, 'My God, look at that!'"

by Rob Nixon