Category: Filmmakers
-
Face to Face with Liv Ullmann, Icon of Swedish Cinema
Liv Ullmann, icon of Swedish cinema, once sat at my feet—this interview from 1993 will explain why. It was the thrill of a lifetime to meet one of the greatest actors in screen history, on the occasion of her film directing debut. Ullmann went on to direct four more features (including two scripts by her…
-
Saul Bass, The Name Behind the Title
Any movie lover can easily name hundreds and hundreds of actors, directors, screenwriters, cinematographers and costume designers. But only a select few title sequence designers have achieved similar recognition. The most celebrated and influential of them all was the late Saul Bass, who began creating iconic opening credits for Otto Preminger in the 1950s and…
-
A Conversation with Animation Legend Chuck Jones
Few people today remember the 1992 Warner Bros. release Stay Tuned, but how could I pass up the opportunity to get on the phone with one of my childhood heroes, the animation master Chuck Jones? Fortunately, this interview spends a minimum of time discussing his seven-minute contribution to that project and much more on his philosophy…
-
Gus Van Sant Emerges from the Underground
When I met Gus Van Sant in 1991 at New York’s Mayflower Hotel to discuss one of his most acclaimed films, My Own Private Idaho, I was startled to see his star River Phoenix sitting on a nearby couch, strumming a guitar as we talked. At one point, Phoenix chimed in excitedly about how the film…
-
Ken Russell Enters His Gothic Phase
Ken Russell was everything I hoped him to be when I met him in 1987: animated, outspoken, brimming with energy belying his 59 years. (I still remember how he sat with his legs tucked under his torso.) I encountered this veteran enfant terrible of British film during his Gothic phase—he would follow Gothic with the wild horror phantasmagoria Lair of…
-
A Quick Encounter with the Dancing Stars of MGM
I was hired by Film Journal in August 1983, and my first couple of years there are filled with indelible memories. Attending the premiere of Brian De Palma’s Scarface at Manhattan’s Cinema I and spotting Eddie Murphy chatting with Lucille Ball just a few rows behind me. Going to the premiere of Footloose at the Trans-Lux on Lexington Avenue and seeing…
Kevin Lally on Film 