Fred Schepisi: Interviews

by Tom Ryan (Editor)

Overview

In the New Yorker, Stephen Schiff has described Fred Schepisi (b. 1939) as "probably the least-known great director working in the mainstream American cinema--a master storyteller with a serenely muscular style that can make more flamboyant moviemakers look coarse and overweening." Schepisi's launch in Australia during the country's film renaissance of the 1970s and his ongoing international work have rightfully earned him a reputation as an actors' director. But he has also become a skillful stylist, forging his own way as he works alongside a talented team of collaborators.

This volume includes twenty interviews with Schepisi and two with longtime collaborators, cinematographer Ian Baker and composer Paul Grabowsky. The interviews trace the filmmaker's career from his beginnings in advertising, through his two early Australian features--The Devil's Playground and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith--to his subsequent work in the United States and beyond on films as various as Plenty, Roxanne, A Cry in the Dark, The Russia House, Six Degrees of Separation, Empire Falls, Last Orders, and Eye of the Storm. Schepisi's films are diverse thematically and visually. In what is effectively a master class on film direction, Schepisi discusses his creative choices and his work with actors and collaborators behind the scenes. In the process, he provides a goldmine of insights into his films, his filmmaking style, and what makes him tick as an artist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496811479
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	03/31/2017
Series:	Conversations with Filmmakers Series
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Tom Ryan was the film critic for the Sunday Age and has been a regular contributor to the arts pages of the Age and the Australian for three decades in addition to publishing in Lumiere, Cinema Papers, Movie, Positif, Film Comment, and Senses of Cinema. He previously edited Baz Luhrmann: Interviews, published by University Press of Mississippi.

Table of Contents

Foreword Gillian Armstrong viii

Introduction xi

Chronology xx

Filmography xxiv

Fred Schepisi Sue Mathews/1984 3

Devil's Playground: An Interview with Fred Schepisi Brian McFarlane / 2015 22

Playboy Interview: Fred Schepisi Rennie Ellis/1982 27

Fred Schepisi: The Australian Director Talks about His New Controversial Film, Barbarosa Michael Sragow/1982 42

Altered States in the Great White North James Verniere/1983 45

Fred Schepisi: Taking Hollywood by Drizzle David Edelstein/1984 48

Man of Plenty Brent Lewis/1985 52

Man of Plenty David Stratton/1986 56

Dialogue on Film: Fred Schepisi American Film/1987 61

The Making of Evil Angels: Director Fred Schepisi Talks About Private Moments, Public Realities and Dingoes Philippa Hawker/1988 67

The Man Meryl Streep Trusts Rennie Ellis/1989 72

Fred Schepisi Peter Malone/1998 79

Fred Schepisi: "Pushing the Boundaries" Scott Murray/1990 86

A Cinematic Gallant Stephen Schiff/1993 102

Last Orders: An Interview with Fred Schepisi Cynthia Fuchs/2001 114

Fred Schepisi on Last Orders Tom Ryan/2001 120

Fred Schepisi on It Runs in the Family Tom Ryan/2003 127

Shooting Dialogue as Action-An Interview with Fred Schepisi Fincina Hopgood/2011 138

All against One and One against All: Fred Schepisi's Outsiders Dan Callahan/2014 147

Fred Schepisi on Making Movies-"What I'm Most Interested in-Always-Is the Humanity of the Piece" Tom Ryan/2015 153

Appendices

Planning and Problem-Solving: An Interview with Ian Baker Tom Ryan/2016 178

Key notes: an interview with Paul Grabowsky Tom Ryan/2016 183

Additional Resources 189

Index 192