Peter Bogdanovich is a legendary filmmaker whose career began by interviewing filmmakers in a thorough yet conversational manner, which was a tremendous influence on The Seventh Art. His relationships with John Ford and Orson Welles, among others, have yielded indispensable books investigating these auteurs’ films.
His own filmography is just as expansive and intricate, including richly woven odes to classical filmmaking and quite a few films that experienced crippling studio interventions, resulting in films that reward close readings, revisiting, and discussion. Some of his most beloved films include the Academy Award-winning The Last Picture Show (1971) and Paper Moon (1973); the Barbra Streisand-starring screwball comedy, What’s Up, Doc? (1972); and the Cher showcase, Mask (1985).
We were lucky enough to have Peter join us at Unit Bar, where he shared charming, insightful, and emotional stories on the topic of our favourite Bogdanovich films, specifically those that are criminally under-seen for various reasons: Saint Jack (1979), The Thing Called Love (1993), Texasville (1990), and Noises Off (1992).
He also mentions two new projects in development at the time, including She’s Funny That Way, formerly known as Squirrel to the Nuts. That film, to be produced by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, was rumoured to have a cast featuring Owen Wilson, Olivia Wilde, Jennifer Aniston, Brie Larson, Jason Schwartzman, Cybil Shepherd, Eugene Levy, and Kathryn Hahn. It would later be released in 2014 and become Bogdanovich’s final narrative feature film, starring Wilson, Hahn, Aniston, and Shepherd, as well as including Imogen Poots, Will Forte, Rhys Ifans, and Richard Lewis.
Our interview with Peter Bogdanovich was the feature interview in the fourth monthly issue of The Seventh Art as a “video magazine.” It was released in May of 2012 and was the first of four non-Canadian interviews conducted in our first year ahead of covering TIFF for the first time, alongside Joe Swanberg, Mia Hansen-Løve, and Lauren Greenfield. The lead photo from our interview set was taken by Emma McIntyre.
