Gerald Duchovnay, editor. Film Voices: Interviews from Post Script.
Smith, C. Jason
Gerald Duchovnay, editor. Film Voices: Interviews from Post Script.
State University of New York Press, 2004. 346 pages; $29.95.
Collected in Film Voices are seventeen of the most influential
interviews from Post Script, chosen, arranged, and introduced by the
general editor, Gerald Duchovnay. Founded in 1981, Post Script was
designed to appeal to scholars from a wide range of disciplines as well
as general readers interested in motion pictures. The accessible,
interdisciplinary intent of the journal created a discursive space where
the technical, academic, and popular regularly meet.
The Post Script interviews are well known for their subtle
negotiations of the path between academic discourse and film production.
Conducted by a wide range of scholars with diverse interests, the Post
Script interviews are superior examples of how the interaction between
interviewer and subject can rise to a true collaboration, pushing each
to explore more fully the ideas behind action.
As Duchovnay notes in his introduction, "The essays in this
collection bring together major Hollywood directors and actors,
independent filmmakers, screenwriters, an animator, an editor, and
several international voices" (1). A fine essay unto itself,
Duchovnay's introduction traces an erudite cartography of the
impressive array of speakers, tying these very different voices together
around four themes that appear throughout the collection: "the
concern for quality films, the influence of the business ('the
suits') and money on filmmaking, the importance of the script,
casting, and audience, and technology's impact on the filmmaking
process" (1). The interviews themselves are notable for their clear
and lucid questions, which belie preparation, and for substantive
biographical and scholarly introductions.
The collection is divided into four parts: "Hollywood
Voices," "Independent Voices," "International
Voices," and "Behind--and in--the Scenes." Big name, if
not necessarily big budget, directors are the focus of "Part I:
Hollywood Voices." The first interview with Robert Altman (M*A*S*H
[1970], Popeye [1980], and Gosford Park [2001]), conducted in 1981 by
Leo Braudy and Robert P. Kolker at first seems a strange choice to open
the collection as Altman firmly states, "I have no opening remarks
because I have nothing to say" (17). Following this initial
resistance to interviews, the ensuing discussion is packed with
Altman's strong views on the relationship between direction,
interpretation, and criticism. For Altman, the job of the director is to
create the space for individual interpretation and not to imply a
formalized theme ready for the "right reading."
He is resistant to criticism, he says, because he prefers to work
intuitively, and formal criticism makes him too self-conscious during
the process of creation and inevitably hinders the work of the director.
Even of more concern, however, is his pronouncement that film is in dire
trouble--"the patient is critical" (21), he asserts--due
primarily to corporate influence that creates a profit over product
mentality. Thus, Altman defends his choice of the "small film"
that may be "slipped through" the system (21).
Francis Ford Coppola (interviewed by Ric Gentry in 1987) revels in
the wonders of film technology following a television version of
"Rip Van Winkle" he prepared for Fairie Tale Theater.
Considering himself a technical director, Coppola reminisces about
technical issues on Apocalypse Now and editing The Godfather for
television while on location using an early VHS setup. Sydney Pollack (1983, Leo Braudy and Mark Crispin Miller interviewing) discusses the
process of moving from treatment to script to production on Tootsie and
the complex relationship between the director and the actors. The
interview focuses particularly on the difficult, yet rewarding,
relationship between Dustin Hoffman and Pollack on the set of Tootsie.
Dependence on the director's creative vision and trust in the
actor's abilities and intuition is the basis of Ric Gentry's
interview with actor-director Clint Eastwood. Eastwood espouses what may
seem an ironic approach to the director's chair as the primary seat
of power while also relying on the actors to be in the moment. He
encourages his actors to improvise and to feel free to make mistakes
when they speak just like real people.
This method serves as an interesting counterpoint to the following
interview with Oliver Stone, conducted in 1995 by Ric Gentry. Stone, in
final postproduction of Nixon (1995) when the interview was conducted,
focuses on the importance of cinematography to the director's work,
particularly in preproduction. He chooses his cinematographer and
cameraman early and insists on as much rehearsal time with actors as
possible before running the camera. As he says, "We improvise off
of preparation" (97). Stone further discusses how he uses imagery
and technology to produce his "fractured" biographies.
"Part II: Independent Voices" contains interviews with
directors Barbara Hammer (Gwendolyn Audrey Forester corresponded with
her "over some period of time"), Robert Downey, Sr. (2001,
conducted by Wheeler Winston Dixon), Don Bluth (1982, conducted by
Gerald Duchovnay), and Jamie Babbit (2000; again, by Wheeler Winston
Dixon). What stands out in these interviews is how each particular
independent director uses her or his "outside the system"
status to develop a singular vision and bring new ideas to the screen.
Director and sometimes actor Robert Downey, Sr.'s small-budget
films such as A Touch of Greatness (1964), Putney Swope (1969), and
Greaser's Palace (1972) are well appreciated as works of art in the
industry and by a loyal "cult" following. His dedication to
the process of filmmaking as an art form is the subject of this very
rare interview. Downey, much like Altman, is not particularly optimistic
about the future of film, but his enthusiasm for the freedoms of
independent filmmaking is undeniable.
Disney expatriate Don Bluth--creator of animated films like the
classic speculative The Secret of NIMH (1979) and the SF Titan A.E.
(2000), and, with Steven Spielberg, An American Tale (1986) and The Land
before Time (1988)--further expresses the need to break away from a
corporate system that has a tendency to bog down creativity. As an
animation "outsider," Bluth sees his roll as pushing the art
or animation (particularly as a process) and stimulating the industry to
help both improve and grow.
While the prolific independent filmmaker Barbara Hammer (A Gay Day
[1973], Sappho [1976], Nitrate Kisses [1992], Tender Fictions [1995],
The Female Closet [1998], and My Babushka [2001] to name a very few) and
newcomer Jamie Babbit (But I'm a Cheerleader [2000]) both use film
to explore lesbian themes, they each go about it in very different ways.
Hammer focuses on examining boundaries and the fear that maintains them,
while Babbit is interested in reversing roles from more tradition
representations of women and lesbians in films where the
"femme" is always the pursued.
Director Paul Verhoven (interviewed in 1990 and 1992 by Chris Shea
and Wade Jennings) heads "Part III: International Voices."
Verhoven became famous in the U.S. for the sci-fi action flicks RoboCop
(1987), Total Recall (1990), and the thriller Basic Instinct (1992). His
interview focuses primarily on the themes of censorship and violence in
film, and he seems particularly concerned with the nature of film
violence and its impact on society, though (perhaps predictably)
concluding that the fantastic violence on the big screen has little to
do with "real" violence in society.
Of real interest is Verhoven's surprisingly lengthy discourse
on Western misconceptions of Christ, and he is particularly revealing as
to his beliefs in the nature of myth making, representation, and
cultural politics (though he has not made the Christ film he references
working on). Best known in the U.S. as the director of Dangerous
Liaisons (1988), British director Stephen Frears (Lester D. Friedman and
Scott Stewart interviewing), shares Robert Altman's desire for
subversive films. He talks widely on the directorial choices in shooting
location (in this case Great Britain) and casting (American actors
versus British actors).
Of particular interest in this interview is Frears' choice of
an American cast for Dangerous Liaisons because he wanted the energy
American actors bring to a script. Canadian director Atom Egoyan (Nobody
Waved Goodbye [1964], Exotica [1994], Felicia's Journey [1991], and
The Sweet Hereafter [1997]) talks with Peter Harcourt about the job of
the story--what the director should focus on--is bringing "order to
chaos." Completing the chapter is director Louis Malle of Pretty
Baby (1978, notable partly as Brooke Shield's break-out role) and
My Dinner with Andre (1978) fame, who is guided by interviewer Richard
A. Macksey through a complex discussion of the use of music (and lack
thereof) in film.
"Part IV: Behind--and in--the Scenes" includes interviews
with actor-director James Woods (1998 and 1999), the inimitable film
editor Dede Allen (2003), cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (1983, all
three conducted by Ric Gentry), and writer-director Horton Foote (1990,
by Gerald C. Wood). The indomitable James Woods, notorious for a
tenacity that some believe borders on downright contrariness, is no
friend of the complications of the Hollywood system; and yet, having
appeared in over ninety films including Videodrome (1983), Nixon (1995),
Contact (1997), Any Given Sunday (1999), and Northfork (2003), he has
been extremely successful at turning "bucking the system" into
a career. Dede Allen is a legendary film editor and former
Vice-president of Creative Development at Warner Brothers who quit her
job because she was tired of the franchise film culture driven by 18-25
year old (male) audiences. She worked as film editor on such classics as
Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Little Big Man (1970), Slaughterhouse Five
(1972), Reds (1981), The Addams Family (1991), and more recently Wonder
Boys (2000). Her discussions of the deteriorating effects of corporate
culture on art clearly echo the sentiments shared throughout the volume.
And finally, we have the deeply talented writer Horton Foote, who is
known, among his other myriad accomplishments, for his adaptation of
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), his screen adaptation of
his own play The Trip to Bountiful (1985), and the brilliantly scripted
love story Tender Mercies (1982).
Foote argues for the importance of the writer to the cinematic
process and as the one who should maintain creative control; for Foote,
the writer is the "key player" and the "architect of the
film" (326). Foote's feelings on the Hollywood film are all
too clear; as he states, the Hollywood film "seems to me overblown;
it seems to me pretentious in the wrong way, and too loud, too
overemphasized and vulgar ... I almost dread going to films because the
minute you go in they begin to manipulate you" (323).
An important work in cinema studies, Film Voices is essential for
film and media scholars, students, and serious enthusiasts. The
multifaceted discussions of film as a complex process highlight the
importance of the issues that face each of the key production members.
Writers, directors, actors, cinematographers, cameramen, and editors are
all represented here repeatedly. Film Voices does, admittedly, focus
primarily on directors; and while this may be seen as a detriment by a
few, Duchovnay has taken steps to ensure that the directors included
vary widely in their concerns and approach (which is not to forget that
even some of the directors included are also actors and/or writers).
That many of the discussions revolve, not around the role of the
director alone, but also the interaction with the writer and actors (and
other members of the crew), is what really focuses this volume. There
are exceptions. Predictably, the interviews with the independent
filmmakers tend to be more director-centered, focusing on the choice of
theme and approach--film as a work of art with one artist--but even
these interviews fit nicely into the continuum of possible positions for
the director's chair.
Just like the journal from which they originated, the interviews
are accessible to the wider interdisciplinary audience and general
reader interested in film. This is not a happy fan piece that extols the
wonders of Hollywood but a serious collection of interviews on the
realities of film production.
Finally, having done a bit of interviewing myself, it struck me
that these interviews--the questions, the format, the pacing--would make
an interesting study in a journalism course called "The Art of the
Interview" or some such. Honest, tough, and often edgy, these
interviews are some of the best of their kind and offer substantive
insights into the filmmaker's art. Never do we feel that these are
"stock" questions nor "canned" responses but,
rather, real people talking about the profession to which they have
devoted their lives.
In the final analysis, Film Voices is an important work in motion
picture theory and the history of cinema that gives voice to the great
joys and serious concerns of filmmakers.
C. Jason Smith
CUNY-LaGuardia
jsmith@lagcc.cuny.edu
