The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

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Purab aur Pachhim and It’s a Wonderful Life 191 I was doing something similar, albeit in a British context, that I had been touched by him. It was a very moving few hours I had spent with him. What was the film’s reception like in Britain? Chadha: Well, it was a huge hit in the Indian community. It’s a gem, but, of course, someone who knows nothing about Indian film wouldn’t know about it. That’s why it’s important for people like me to talk about it, because otherwise people would think the Indian cinema starts and stops with Satyajit Ray. I was always taken to very populist films by my parents. And so, for me, it’s about promoting this sort of work that no one knows about, but definitely was an influence on me, as was Ken Loach and all his early films of the ’60s. The actual film that I saw on a screen when I was young, and I thought, “Wow, I want to make movies like this!” was My Beautiful Laundrette by Stephen Frears, because that was a portrayal of my community in Britain in a very exciting way that I’ve never seen before. It tackled homosexuality and right-wing Indians, and it was just something different. Really political for that time—I just thought it was the most exciting movie on the screen, in terms of race. Where I grew up, we had three cinemas that showed Indian films. But then down the road, there was an English cinema where I saw The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music, all those kind of movies. And on television every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, I used to love watching all the old British films by Ken Loach and people like that, where you’d get workingclass girls getting pregnant and going for abortions, and all these kinds of really gritty social-realist movies. And, of course, the old evening comedies. I loved the old Alastair Sim, Margaret Rutherford comedies, so I had a very mixed diet of films when I was growing up. Does your perception of that film change with subsequent viewings? Chadha: It gets better and better. Because as a filmmaker, I came to appreciate a bit more of how clever he was in terms of his message. If you look at it, it could be a very propagandist sort of message. It could have been very twodimensional; he could have shown the West is bad and the East is good, but he did a very good job of making it human, making the characters human, making it work in a very human way.
192 Gurinder Chadha My films are from a much more celebratory view to show that the nightmare Manoj Kumar saw was going to happen—actually didn’t happen. It’s like the opposite, you know. It’s a film that has really informed me, and it’s an absolute gem. If I had the power, I would take it and release it myself. Why do you think it’s stuck with you for so long? Chadha: It hasn’t informed everything I’ve done. If anything, I would say It’s a Wonderful Life is more like that. I think of it as something I watched at that time that had an impact because it was portraying people like me on the screen. That’s a good segue into It’s a Wonderful Life. Why did you choose this film? Chadha: It’s a Wonderful Life is one of the best films ever made. I can sit and watch it over and over. The other one is Tootsie. There’s something about It’s a Wonderful Life. It doesn’t matter what generation, who you are, when it was made, what country you’re from, whichever culture—it’s so, so wonderful. Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is the film I come back to time and time again, which I think informs me and my work, if I could ever achieve an iota of what this film is really about. Some context here for the three people on earth who haven’t seen the film: James Stewart plays a man who wishes he was never born, then is taken around by an angel to see how the world would be without him. Chadha: It’s about the human spirit and about what being alive means, what life is about. It’s corny, but it’s a masterpiece of cinema. It’s a masterpiece of feel-good cinema. It’s more than that. Ultimately, I think cinema is about exploring the human spirit. Capra just somehow manages to capture the essence of human life without making it schmaltzy. Try, if you can. You can watch that film, and you know what is going on. But I defy anyone who is able to watch that film, and the end when the table is cleared, and everyone is coming in with the money—I just cannot believe there isn’t anyone with wet eyes at that point, or a big lump in their throat. I’ve seen it millions of times, and I’m just in floods of tears at that point.
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Danny Boyle on Apocalypse Now Kevin
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-P
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Contents Introduction … vi 1 Edga
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Introduction Movies are personal to
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viii Introduction For me, a sevente
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2 Edgar Wright How would you descri
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4 Edgar Wright an extremely gory Ri
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6 Edgar Wright going on. People are
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8 Edgar Wright Wright: The thing th
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10 Edgar Wright And then the deadpa
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12 Edgar Wright when a director has
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14 Rian Johnson How would you descr
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16 Rian Johnson [laughter] So there
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18 Rian Johnson The Godfather, and
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20 Rian Johnson creates the beauty
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22 Rian Johnson Johnson: Oh God, ar
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24 Rian Johnson As a filmmaker it
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26 Danny Boyle Starring Martin Shee
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28 Danny Boyle Boyle: [laughs] It h
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30 Danny Boyle on the ground, they
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32 Danny Boyle shooting schedule; h
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34 Danny Boyle And, as a filmmaker,
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36 Danny Boyle nonsense. But, it se
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38 Danny Boyle Boyle: Oh yeah, it
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40 Bill Condon How would you descri
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42 Bill Condon Condon: Oh, I think
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44 Bill Condon that great ending. I
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46 Bill Condon And then there’s a
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48 Richard Kelly Terry Gilliam call
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50 Richard Kelly access passes to t
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52 Richard Kelly Kelly: It makes it
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54 Richard Kelly they are not seen
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56 Peter Bogdanovich Texasville (19
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58 Peter Bogdanovich How did it cha
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60 Peter Bogdanovich everything the
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62 Peter Bogdanovich And you were p
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7 John Dahl A Clockwork Orange John
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66 John Dahl For example, I would s
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68 John Dahl way around. Art consis
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70 John Dahl Dahl: It’s interesti
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72 John Dahl My only other criticis
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8 Henry Jaglom 8½ Henry Jaglom cha
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76 Henry Jaglom was going through.
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78 Henry Jaglom out of control. A g
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80 Henry Jaglom Over the years, I
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9 Brian Herzlinger E.T.: The Extra-
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84 Brian Herzlinger during the scen
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86 Brian Herzlinger that world brou
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88 Brian Herzlinger You met Spielbe
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90 Brian Herzlinger And he says,
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92 Brian Herzlinger in theaters bec
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10 Alex Gibney The Exterminating An
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96 Alex Gibney one was political in
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98 Alex Gibney There’s one scene
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100 Alex Gibney you’ve had to do
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102 Alex Gibney I would say that th
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11 Kimberly Peirce The Godfather Pe
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106 Kimberly Peirce and he gets him
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108 Kimberly Peirce Have you ever r
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12 Steve James Harlan County U.S.A.
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112 Steve James later. It’s so tr
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114 Steve James an outsider. She ha
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116 Steve James out there, which wa
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118 Steve James James: Sure. It was
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120 Steve James give-and-take, then
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122 Steve James 28 Up and The Times
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124 Austin Chick Can you tell me ab
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126 Austin Chick Chick: Yeah, I mea
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128 Austin Chick Chick: The very fi
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130 Austin Chick But this does have
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14 Guy Maddin L’âge d’or Guy M
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134 Guy Maddin a movie myself. My m
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136 Guy Maddin It has a great shape
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138 Guy Maddin Maddin: Oh my God, i
Page 149 and 150: 140 Guy Maddin shooting things, I l
Page 151 and 152: 142 Guy Maddin to the way we love.
Page 153 and 154: 144 Guy Maddin see that the spicy,
Page 155 and 156: 146 Michel Gondry How you would des
Page 157 and 158: 148 Michel Gondry You’re right. I
Page 159 and 160: 150 Michel Gondry I think they have
Page 161 and 162: 16 Michael Polish Once Upon a Time
Page 163 and 164: 154 Michael Polish because he was u
Page 165 and 166: 156 Michael Polish I’ve heard it
Page 167 and 168: 158 Michael Polish aspects of filmm
Page 169 and 170: 17 Arthur Hiller Open City Roberto
Page 171 and 172: 162 Arthur Hiller movies like that,
Page 173 and 174: 164 Arthur Hiller hope I put in thi
Page 175 and 176: 166 Arthur Hiller Coburn character
Page 177 and 178: 168 Pete Docter How would you descr
Page 179 and 180: 170 Pete Docter Docter: Yeah, I had
Page 181 and 182: 172 Pete Docter Tatum O’Neal was
Page 183 and 184: 174 Pete Docter meaning of the scen
Page 185 and 186: 176 Atom Egoyan How would you descr
Page 187 and 188: 178 Atom Egoyan It’s been suggest
Page 189 and 190: 180 Atom Egoyan old quote about sto
Page 191 and 192: 182 Atom Egoyan That had a huge inf
Page 193 and 194: 184 Atom Egoyan Bergman was working
Page 195 and 196: 186 Atom Egoyan always find that im
Page 197 and 198: 20 Gurinder Chadha Purab aur Pachhi
Page 199: 190 Gurinder Chadha blond hair and
Page 203 and 204: 194 Gurinder Chadha Even now, as I
Page 205 and 206: 196 Richard Linklater Raging Bull 1
Page 207 and 208: 198 Richard Linklater I’ve been i
Page 209 and 210: 200 Richard Linklater To see someon
Page 211 and 212: 22 Jay Duplass Raising Arizona Jay
Page 213 and 214: 204 Jay Duplass superbly executed
Page 215 and 216: 206 Jay Duplass camera, similar to
Page 217 and 218: 208 Jay Duplass And Moonstruck is t
Page 219 and 220: 23 John Woo Rebel Without a Cause a
Page 221 and 222: 212 John Woo I was pretty strong—
Page 223 and 224: 214 John Woo —but the role went t
Page 225 and 226: 216 John Woo Mean Streets came out
Page 227 and 228: 218 John Woo Scorsese’s violence
Page 229 and 230: 220 John Woo That’s one of the pe
Page 231 and 232: 24 John Landis The 7th Voyage of Si
Page 233 and 234: 224 John Landis That’s funny, bec
Page 235 and 236: 226 John Landis People have a misun
Page 237 and 238: 228 John Landis completely dazzles
Page 239 and 240: 230 John Landis Casablanca or Citiz
Page 241 and 242: 25 Kevin Smith Slacker For director
Page 243 and 244: 234 Kevin Smith very clever, very f
Page 245 and 246: 236 Kevin Smith place I’d really
Page 247 and 248: 238 Kevin Smith Smith: The benefit
Page 249 and 250: 240 Kevin Smith What was your react
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242 Chris Miller When did you first
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244 Chris Miller at the same time.
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246 Neil LaBute The Soft Skin 1964
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248 Neil LaBute if anyone, is short
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250 Neil LaBute most passionate mom
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252 Neil LaBute LaBute: Yeah, well,
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254 Neil LaBute Such a small portio
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256 Neil LaBute If I remember right
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258 Neil LaBute Lachenay moves arou
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260 George A. Romero The Dark Half
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262 George A. Romero I’ve never h
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264 George A. Romero Pressburger an
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266 Frank Oz How would you describe
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268 Frank Oz Tell me about that dis
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270 Frank Oz There’s a story abou
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272 Frank Oz coffeehouse. That was
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274 Frank Oz know what I’m doing.
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276 Frank Oz It’s amazing how you
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30 John Waters The Wizard of Oz The
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280 John Waters And then, the seldo
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282 John Waters countries—maybe t
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Acknowledgments First, thanks to th
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Index A accidents, on-set, 148-149
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288 Index Coutard, Raoul, 257 Cowar
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290 Index Hoop Dreams, 117, 118, 12
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292 Index My Beautiful Laundrette,
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294 Index special effects, 223, 224
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