PHOTOG IN NEW FRAME OF MIND--AS FILM PRODUCER

Those who spent time around Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton during their much-publicized marriages will remember Gianni Bozzacchi. So will anyone who was involved in movie making in Rome during the ‘60s.

The red-haired, dashing Italian was the Burtons’ personal photographer for 11 years, notching up more photo credits than the British Queen had free dinners. Through his friendship with them many doors were opened, and soon he was working for Time-Life, photographing the great and the near great, from Picasso to Princess Grace, from Castro to Clint Eastwood.

All of which paid good money. All of which gave him a glamorous life style--for Rome, in those long ago days, often seemed to be the hub of the world. But none of which totally satisfied him.

“I loved being a photographer,” he said the other lunch-time in Los Angeles. “And at one point I suppose I was one of the highest paid in the world. But I wanted something more. And having spent so many years around film sets, it seemed natural to want to make movies myself.”

So at 33, having worked on 150 movies as a special photographer, Bozzacchi put aside his cameras for the last time and turned to producing.

His first film was “China 9, Liberty 37” with Warren Oates, Jenny Agutter and Sam Peckinpah. Monte Hellman directed. Next came “Together” with Jacqueline Bisset, Maximilian Schell and Terence Stamp. He also worked with Michelangelo Antonioni on two projects--”Winter,” written by Anthony Burgess and Buck Henry, and “The Crew” by Tonino Guerra (author of the Oscar-winning “La Strada”).

But if it is true that inside every fat person there is a thin one struggling to get out, so it is also true that inside every movie maker there is a story waiting to be told.

And Gianni Bozzacchi felt he had such a story--about a young Italian photographer falling in love. So he sat down five years ago and, with a little help from his friends, he wrote the script of “I Love N.Y.”

“I hadn’t the faintest idea how to write a script,” he admitted. “But my friends helped me. And I did know what I wanted to see on film. My eye has always seen the world in terms of a camera.”

The script was finished two years later and guess what? Nobody called to say “Sensational, terrific, the best thing I’ve ever read.” Nobody said, “We’ll get Brando” or “We’ll get Beatty.” Nobody said anything.

“It was very depressing,” said Bozzacchi. “There were several false starts but nothing came of anything.”

By the time four years had passed, it seemed quite possible that the script of “I Love N.Y.” would never be filmed.

“Then I made one last effort,” said Bozzacchi, who by that time had joined forces with Italian-American producer Andrew Garroni. “I went to see a Swedish bank in London and talked them into financing the project. And even though I have creative control and final cut and a large piece of the movie, they came up with the necessary $8.6 million. Incredible.”

Shooting began last May in New York with Christopher Plummer, Jennifer O’Neill, Virna Lisi, Scott Baio (from TV’s “Happy Days”) and Kelley Van Der Velden in the cast.

And Bozzacchi, who had charmed a tough-minded Swedish bank into lending him $8.6 million, also managed to charm the unions here into allowing him to bring in six key technicians from his native Italy.

“I told them it was my first picture as a director,” he said. “I told them I had to have people around me I knew and trusted. And they said OK.”

With his New York scenes in the can, Bozzacchi and his stars and his key technicians then flew to Rome.

To film around the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps and the Forum? No. To shoot New York interiors in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios.

It seemed a long way to go.

“It was,” said Bozzacchi. “But by filming in Cinecitta instead of an American studio, I saved exactly $1.7 million from my budget. It helped that I am an Italian, of course, and understand the Italian mentality. So I could get things done. But even an American producer can save a lot of money by working there.

“Of course there were difficulties filming there, problems with air conditioning and strikes. Even so it was worth it. And because of the money we saved we could build more elaborate sets.

“There was another plus. The actors all loved being there. So everyone was in a good mood. Everybody was very happy to be in Rome and that made things easier for me.”

Everyone asked him the same question. Even Fellini who dropped by the set one day. Wasn’t he nervous standing behind the camera for the first time?

“And the answer is I wasn’t,” said Bozzacchi. “In fact, I felt more secure on that set than I used to when I was a photographer. At least with a film you can say ‘Let’s do it again,’ which you can’t always do as a photographer. And I suppose I’d gained confidence from all those years around sets watching directors like John Huston and Joe Losey and Franco Zeffirelli working.”

Bozzacchi describes “I Love N.Y.” as “a romantic story about two people in love--a WASP and a wop.”

“I firmly believe that the young people of America are turning back towards romance,” he said. “So many of them are the product of divorced or single parents and what they want is a love affair, not just sex.”

The movie is now in post production and, although no distributor is set, Bozzacchi, now 43, exudes the confidence that helped persuade a lot of people to go along with him on this venture.

“I have never failed at anything I’ve done,” he said. “And I know I won’t fail with this. ‘I Love N.Y.’ is my baby and I intend that it will have the chance of a good life. You’ll see.”