Kevin Lally on Film

Interviews and more from the former executive editor of Film Journal International and Boxoffice Pro

Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon Transform a Personal Crisis Into a Witty Romantic Comedy

It was such a pleasure to meet Kumail Nanjiani and his wife and writing partner Emily V. Gordon at CinemaCon 2017, shortly after they introduced footage from their film The Big Sick. The $5 million comedy went on to gross $44 million in the U.S. and Canada, and earned the pair an Oscar nomination for their…

gkevinlally

December 10, 2022

Filmmakers, Gordon, Emily V., Nanjiani, Kumail, Showalter, Michael
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