When “Everybody Loves Raymond” ended its nine-year run, executive producer and sometime writer for that series, Steve Skrovan, decided to do a sitcom about life in a public advocacy office.That idea was inspired by the real-life adventures of pal and co-writer/co-director Henriette Mantell’s time working as an office manager for Ralph Nader. Oddly, though, the more Skrovan thought about… Read More »
Dean DeBlois & Clark Spencer & LILO AND STITCH
Dean DeBlois and Clark Spencer, co-director and producer respectively of LILO AND STITCH are, like so many Disney folk, big kids masquerading as grown-ups. Stitch, the alien of the title, is like nothing so much as Buster Keaton’s evil alter ego, and Lilo, the little girl who adopts him, is more like the typical Disney nemesis, not heroine.… Read More »
Hal Hartley & Parker Posey Revive FAY GRIM
The only room to be found in the shared suite was the cramped bedroom, and so Hartley, Posey, and I stretched out amid my recording equipment on the bed to chat about art, politics, and the effect of eye contact on and off the screen.
The MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES of Edward Burtynsky & Jennifer Baichwal
Edward Burtynsky has been taking photographs of the changing landscape of planet earth for decades. His enigmatic, haunting photos of the impact of industrialization on the planet, and on the people living on it, have been exquisitely translated to film by Jennifer Baichwal. When I talked with them on June 30, 2007, accomplishing that transmutation, including… Read More »
William Gazecki Draws Conclusions in CROP CIRCLES: QUEST FOR TRUTH
William Gazecki proved he’s not afraid of controversy with his Oscar(tm)-nominated documentary, WACO: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. Whatever your opinion about what causes crop circles, Gazecki’s film will certainly give you food for thought. I spoke with him by phone on August 29, 2002, and the first thing I wanted to know was how he got from Waco to crop circles.… Read More »
Guy Maddin Imprints His BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!
Guy Maddin’s appearance at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival marked the second consecutive year that he had brought his unique vision to that event. Last year, it was to receive the festival’s Persistance of Vision Award. This year, it was to present his latest film, BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! in its live event incarnation, complete with orchestra,… Read More »
YOU KILL ME Say Tea Leoni & John Dahl
It’s only right that the interview in support of an offbeat, quirky film should also qualify as both offbeat and quirky. John Dahl and Tea Leoni were in rare form when we talked on June 15, 2007, waxing eloquent on such topics as acting as a virtual tennis match, the invigorating qualities of coffee, and… Read More »
Fredi M. Murer on VITUS
Fredi Murer, a courtly gentleman given to performing deft sleight-of-hand for his interviewers, tapped his own childhood when he created VITUS, both the film and the character. Murer himself was not a genius in the classroom, as he tells it, but he did have a creative streak that landed him in all sorts of usual scrapes. When we talked… Read More »
INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS Courtesy of Brenda Blethyn and Cherie Nowlan
The battle of the sexes takes a decidedly different turn in INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS, and so when I talked with its star, Brenda Blethyn, and its director, Cherie Nowlan on June 25, 2007, how men and women react to the film was top of my list of things to ask them. Along the way, Blethyn bragged… Read More »
Kasi Lemmons Says TALK TO ME
There is a piquant contrast between the calm, almost nurturing personality of filmmaker Kasi Lemmons and that of radio pioneer, Petey Green, the bombastic subject of her film, TALK TO ME. But, as I discovered when I talked to her on June 5, 2007, there is the same drive, the same commitment, and the same passion for what she… Read More »