Kevin Lally on Film

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

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
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…

gkevinlally

November 10, 2022

Bass, Saul, Filmmakers
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…

gkevinlally

November 7, 2022

Filmmakers, Jones, Chuck
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…

gkevinlally

November 2, 2022

Filmmakers, Van Sant, Gus
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…

gkevinlally

November 1, 2022

Filmmakers, Russell, Ken