As a child, Vincent LaMarca had to deal with the arrest and execution of his father for the kidnapping and accidental murder of an infant. As a retired New York City police officer, he had to contend with the arrest and murder conviction of his younger, drug-addict son. With his sons run-in with the law and… Read More »
Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato Put PARTY MONSTER in Perspective
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato had already told the story of PARTY MONSTER, about the Club Kid murders, a few years back with their documentary of the same name. Turning it into their first feature film seemed, for them, the logical thing to do. When I talked with them on June 28, 2003, they were being honored at the San… Read More »
The LEVITY of Ed Solomon
Making his directorial debut filming his own script wasn’t the only break Mark Solomon made with his previous work. Unlike the broad comedy he’s done before, LEVITY is a thought-provoking film that isn’t afraid to examine matters religious and moral in a world that offers few absolutes when it comes to right and wrong. It was… Read More »
David Cronenberg’s SPIDER
David Cronenberg is on familiar turf with his latest film, SPIDER. The twist is that, while the film is rife with the horror, it stems from seeing the sane world through the eyes of a schizophrenic. When I talked with the soft-spoken and erudite director, I asked why he eschewed his usual trappings of blood and gore.… Read More »
Rob Marshall Conquers CHICAGO
When I spoke to Rob Marshall on January 25, 2003, he was still basking in the afterglow of CHICAGO’s big night at the Golden Globes. Off mic, I asked the obvious question about what it was like for him to adapt a show so identified with Broadway legend Bob Fosse (daunting), and then started the official… Read More »
Richard Linklater Would Like You To Meet BERNIE
Richard Linklater makes films that are as varied as they are piquantly challenging. With BERNIE, based on a true story, he considers a good and universally beloved man who does a bad thing to a spiteful and universally despised woman. When I spoke to him on April 20, 2012, the whole idea of justice and… Read More »
Herzog, Werner — INTO THE ABYSS
Ordinarily I edit out the the sound of a phone ringing during an interview, but there was something about the way Werner Herzog responded to it when it happened during our talk on November 5, 2011, that it seemed wrong not to include it. The film we were discussing was his documentary, INTO THE ABYSS,… Read More »
John McDonagh Hires THE GUARD
John McDonagh garnered acclaim for his screenplay, NED KELLY, but didn’t like the way it was translated to the big screen. The experience gave him the perfect impetus to come up with a screenplay that he could direct himself. Conceived as a low-budget project that would allow him the artistic freedom he craved, THE GUARD… Read More »
Joel Edgerton is on THE SQUARE
The most interesting bit of trivia that I discovered when talking with Joel Edgerton on February 9, 2010, wasnt anything to do with the film, THE SQUARE, which he co-wrote and in which he co-stars. It was how he was first introduced to the action figure of the character he played in STAR WARS: EPISODE… Read More »
IN BRUGES with Martin McDonagh
Martin McDonagh has the same sort of dark, yet whimsical sense of humor with which his film IN BRUGES, is rife. When I talked with him on January 30, 2008, the twisted way in which he examines morality was top of my list of thing I wanted to discuss, as well as the redefinition of… Read More »