Kevin Lally on Film

Billy Wilder’s ‘The Apartment’ Is My Kind of Christmas Movie

I was pleased to see Billy Wilder’s Oscar-winning The Apartment prominently featured in CNN’s 2022 special “Tis the Season: The Holidays on Screen.” A Christmas Story is great, but this is a film I’d happily watch in a Dec. 25th marathon. To celebrate the wonders of The Apartment, here is my chapter on that masterpiece…

gkevinlally

December 1, 2022

Film Appreciation

John Waters’ ‘Hairspray’ Gets a Shocking PG Rating

I met John Waters at Manhattan’s St. Regis Hotel in 1988 at a high point in his career: the release of his crossover hit Hairspray. While waiting in the lobby, I heard that another celebrity, Lana Turner’s notorious daughter Cheryl Crane (Google her for the sordid details) was staying at the hotel to promote her new…

gkevinlally

November 30, 2022

Filmmakers, Waters, John

Morgan Freeman Directs His First—and Only—Feature Film

Unlike consumer-oriented magazines about the entertainment business, Film Journal generally did not profile movie stars unless they also were aboard a project as a producer or director. So this 1993 interview with one of the most celebrated and enduring contemporary stars focused on a movie few people remember, his one and only feature directing gig, the South…

gkevinlally

November 28, 2022

Filmmakers, Freeman, Morgan

James Ivory on ‘Maurice,’ a Landmark of Gay Cinema

During my time at Film Journal, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing both director James Ivory and his professional and life partner, producer Ismail Merchant. My 1987 profile of Ivory focused on a landmark in his career—and a landmark in gay cinema, his adaptation of E.M. Forster’s Maurice. Since that time, Ivory has directed 12…

gkevinlally

November 22, 2022

Filmmakers, Ivory, James

France’s Cerebral Alain Resnais Just Wants to Entertain

I was at Film Journal for less than eight months when the opportunity arose in early 1984 to interview Alain Resnais, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave. At the time, I felt like Mike Myers in Wayne’s World: I’m not worthy! But this daunting intellectual proved to be warm, welcoming, and surprisingly down-to-earth. I also…

gkevinlally

November 19, 2022

Filmmakers, Resnais, Alain

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…

gkevinlally

November 16, 2022

Filmmakers, Ullmann, Liv