"When Ken asked me to play Franz Liszt in this next film Lisztomania, I though he was kidding".

"The script was only 57 pages long- the rest of it was deep inside Ken's terrifying head- and the dialogue was dreadful.  I could see what Ken wanted visually but I felt like I let him down.  Knowing what I know now, I would have changed every single word of it and made the character work".

What it is commendable that Daltrey takes the blame, the fault really lies (IMHO) with whoever decided to start the film without a finished script. That is really one of the cardinal rules of filmmaking: "Never start shooting a film without a finished script in hand."

"When Ken asked me to play Franz Liszt in this next film Lisztomania, I though he was kidding".

"The script was only 57 pages long- the rest of it was deep inside Ken's terrifying head- and the dialogue was dreadful.  I could see what Ken wanted visually but I felt like I let him down.  Knowing what I know now, I would have changed every single word of it and made the character work".

Daltry talks of the Tommy film happening, then not, then happening, then not.  "And then, all of a sudden, Ken Russell arrived, things started happening very quickly, and I was cast as Tommy".

Just a reminder Ken's influence "Anybody who was in touch with anything in the 1070s was a Ken Russell fan.  He was an icon, a hero, and we idolised him".

Daltry says Ken thought Tommy was the best modern opera since Berg's Wozzeck.

The filming involved 50 or 60 people together for four months, staying in a motel in Hayling Island near Portsmouth- "the intensity of life on a Ken Russell set meant we all developed a close bond quickly".

Daltry had to learn how to act deaf, dumb and blind.  Admirably he talked to disabled extras.

On the Acid Queen scene "Ken tried to work out which tropical creatures I should share a sarcophagus with... First, Ken tried snakes... then he tried butterflies "they were not normal butterflies.  They were giants: plate-sized with bodies the size of a fist".  Ken didn't use any of the footage, he went with poppies.

Some good insights- "Everybody loved Ken.  He was always open to ideas.  If he got stuck on how to shoot a thing he'd always ask, well, what do you think?  And if he liked it, he'd try it."

I just got Roger Daltrey's autobiography from the library.  I like the Who, and saw them last year (they weren't very good) but of course I am reading to find out what he says about Ken, particularly working with him on Tommy and Lisztomania.  I have just read the first few pages (I'll provide updates as I progress) but Ken is already mentioned on page 5:
     "'One more time, Roger.'  That was one of Ken Russell's favourite catchphrases.  He always liked to take his actors over the edge."

An evening of clips and conversation with actress Glenda Jackson, moderated by Annette Insdorf, including film clips.  The clips include Women in Love and The Music Lovers.  It is from 92Y at the Kaufmann Concert Hall, New York on 29 April 2019.

Details are here
https://www.92y.org/event/glenda-jackson