William Friedkin Interviews, Conversations with Filmmakers Series. (original) (raw)

Books Edited by Christopher LaneConversations with Filmmakers Series

(Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2020)
Pages 194
Paperback.
ISBN: 978-1-4968-2708-1
$ 25.00

Review by Dr. Kirk Bane,
Central Texas Historical Association October 10, 2022

William Friedkin (born 1935) stands as one of the great filmmakers of the Seventies, directing two genuine classics during that decade: THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) and THE EXORCIST (1973). The former motion picture garnered eight Academy Award nominations while the latter gained ten! Friedkin won Best Director for THE FRENCH CONNECTION, which was also named Best Picture at the 1972 Oscars. While these certainly rank as his most notable features, and represent his commercial and critical peak, Friedkin went on to helm such films as SORCERER (1977), CRUISING (1980), TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985), JADE (1995), BUG (2006), and KILLER JOE (2011). In 2013, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Cannes. At the age of 87, Friedkin remains active; in August 2022, for example, DEADLINE reported that he is set to direct Kiefer Sutherland in an update of THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL.

Fans of the heralded, and sometimes controversial, auteur will appreciate cinema scholar Christopher Lane's superb new book, WILLIAM FRIEDKIN: INTERVIEWS (University Press of Mississippi, 2020). This volume offers more than a dozen discussions and AFI seminars with Friedkin, conducted between 1974 and 2018. The interviews and articles appeared in such publications as VENICE MAGAZINE, LITERATURE/FILM QUARTERLY, CINEASTE, ROLLING STONE, and THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Friedkin devotees will relish the insights and opinions found in Lane's terrific collection. Consider eight such observations from the celebrated director:

• "Claustrophobia and irrational fear are two elements that interest me as a filmmaker. I'm drawn to people who are thrown together in a tense situation, with no escape."
• "I try to cast people based on one inherent quality: intelligence. I don't care how good an actor is, or how good his performances have been, when I talk to him, in my initial meetings up front, I try to gauge intelligence."
• "I know that some critics like me and they'll always write a good review and some don't like me and they'll write a bad review no matter what I do. Hostile journalists are depressing."
• "The most important theme in my films is the thin line between good and evil. The fact that, very often, there are equal parts of both in all the characters, which is what I encounter in life. I don't know anyone who is all good, or all evil."
• "I do believe in the Academy Awards as a standard, as the best prevailing standard that the motion picture industry has to honor those films that it believes are meritorious."
• "Why make a film about someone, unless you're going to reveal something about their humanity?"
• "There are a lot of people running studios that I don't respect."
• "The characters that interest me are obsessed by one thing or another, be it religious fervor, the pursuit of a criminal, money, fame, recognition, freedom."

In addition to the interviews, this superb study also includes an Introduction, a Chronology, and a Filmography. "William Friedkin," Lane contends, "represents one of the last great true American auteurs, helping to define and shape what would become known as the Directors Era�Friedkin is no stranger to controversy, or hard work, often outspoken, always opinionated, with a wry and devilish sense of humor-and an absolute willingness to speak his mind unabated."

Note One:
KILLER JOE, an unsettling black comedy starring Matthew McConaughey, received an overall rating of 80 % on Rotten Tomatoes. According to the website's Critics Consensus, the movie is, "Violent, darkly comic, and full of strong performances. KILLER JOE proves William Friedkin hasn't lost his touch, even if the plot may be too lurid for some." GUARDIAN critic Peter Bradshaw calls the film, "A gruesome, brutally violent and queasy trailer-park nightmare from deep in the heart of Texas." And ROLLING STONE critic Peter Travers observes that, "As a sadistic Dallas cop who moonlights as a hit man, Matthew McConaughey is on fire in KILLER JOE, fierce and ferociously funny."

Note Two:
Friedkin buffs should also read the director's captivating memoir, THE FRIEDKIN CONNECTION (Harper, 2013).