Category: Filmmakers
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Thirty-five Years Ago, Costa-Gavras Made a Film About White Supremacists in America
The great Greek-French filmmaker Constantin Costa-Gavras turned 90 on February 12, 2023. Best known for his Oscar-winning 1969 classic Z, the director seldom made a film that wasn’t fueled by political urgency. That certainly applies to the movie that was the subject of our 1988 conversation, Betrayed. His third English-language film, it stars Debra Winger as an…
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Revisiting ‘Looper,’ ‘Poker Face’ and ‘Knives Out’ Creator Rian Johnson’s Breakthrough Feature
I’ve just finished the penultimate episode of my favorite new streaming series, “Poker Face,” a conscious throwback to “Columbo” in which each episode begins with a murder and the fun is in watching Natasha Lyonne’s Charlie Cale, a human “bullshit detector” on the run from mobsters, solve the crime. The creator of the show is…
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Louis Malle in 1987: ‘My Time Is The Most Precious Thing I Have’
One of my very favorite interviews was with the great French director Louis Malle. In December 1987, he welcomed me into his lovely apartment on Manhattan’s Central Park South and was the essence of charm. We talked about Au Revoir, Les Enfants, his most personal film and his triumphant return to France after a successful decade…
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Roman Polanski in 1994: ‘I Don’t Think I Made My Film Yet’
I’ve been hesitant to post my 1994 phone interview with Roman Polanski, for obvious reasons. The now 89-year-old Polish director is arguably more controversial than ever after the emergence of the “Me Too” movement. His sleazy targeting of an underage girl in 1977 (one of several sexual abuse accusations) is inexcusable, but I can’t deny…
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Revisiting ‘Fargo,’ the Coen Brothers’ ‘True Crime’ Classic
The Coen Brothers lied to me. Promoting their 1996 dark comedy Fargo, the filmmaking siblings told the press their crime tale was based on a real incident. The movie itself begins with the statement, “This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the…
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Thelma Schoonmaker and Michael Powell’s Off-Screen Movie Love Story
I find it hard to believe that it’s been nearly 28 years since I met Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese’s longtime editor. The occasion was a retrospective of films by her late husband, the great Michael Powell, and the restoration of one of his masterpieces, A Matter of Life and Death. Since our 1995 interview, Schoonmaker has been…
Kevin Lally on Film 