THE DANCER UPSTAIRS is a stunning exploration of passion and delusion, and not just the romantic kind, though the power of Eros is seen here as just as treacherous as the political backdrop of the story. Set in an unnamed South American country in a time specified only as the recent past, an honest man,… Read More »
AN UNREASONABLE MAN: RALPH NADER, HOW DO YOU DEFINE A LEGACY?
There is no doubt that Ralph Nader has been one of the most influential private citizens of the 20th century. Before he got riled up about it, car safety was optional as far as manufacturers were concerned, environmental degradation was the province of wild-eyed counterculture radicals, and food safety was an illusion. By being AN… Read More »
Todd Haynes Reimagines MILDRED PIERCE
Todd Haynes took on an icon when he decided to film MILDRED PIERCE. Even though his adaptation sticks to the James M. Cain novel with a loving fidelity, he was surprised by how much spectre of Joan Crawford in the title role of Michael Curtiz’s classic noir still looms. Addressing that issue when I spoke… Read More »
Alex Gibney Ponders GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON
When I spoke to Alex Gibney on April 8, 2008, the first question was the one that stuck with me from the minute I heard about this documentary. Where do you begin with a man who was larger than life, as was his writing? Gibney, with a succinct erudition, summed up his own struggle with… Read More »
Judith Ehrlich & Rick Goldsmith Introduce You to THE MOST DANGROUS MAN IN AMERICA – DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS
When I spoke with Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith on February 4, 2010, their documentary had just been nominated for an Oscar, and so naturally that was a subject up for discussion, along with the implications for future financing and distribution of political documentaries. Politics is certainly at the center of THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN… Read More »
Laura Poitras Takes THE OATH
Laura Poitras spent two years in Yemen shooting footage for THE OATH. What began as an investigation into the military prison at Guantanamo Bay became instead a remarkable portrait of two brothers-in-law and their separate journeys in the wake of the American invasion of Afghanistan. Abu Jandal, now a Yemeni taxi driver, was bin Ladin’s… Read More »
Ivan Cooper Relives BLOODY SUNDAY
Ivan Cooper was a member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, where he was a founding member of the SDLP. His was a commitment to non-violence, and the march he was leading on January 30, 1972, was planned as a peaceful protest against the British government’s draconian internment policy that could lock someone up indefinitely and… Read More »
Brett Morgen and the CHICAGO 10
The Yippies at the 1968 Democratic Convention gave themselves body and soul to protesting the injustice. The same can be said of Brett Morgen’s determination to make his documentary about the riots and the trial that resulted from them more than just a look back at an interesting moment in American history. When I spoke to him on February 21, 2008, the relevance of those… Read More »
Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij Listen to the SOUND OF MY VOICE
For co-writers Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling, making SOUND OF MY VOICE wasn’t just a labor of love, but one of passion. Batmaglij directed and Marling stars as Maggie, the enigmatic leader of a cult who claims to have come from the future to save her followers in a film that lets the audience decide… Read More »
John Malkovich Captures THE DANCER UPSTAIRS
John Malkovich is a man who likes to take his time, whether putting together THE DANCER UPSTAIRS, his directorial debut in films, or in answering questions and about the art and craft of acting on stage and on screen. It led to a fair amount of philosophizing when I interviewed him on April 17, 2003 and a… Read More »