Directors Whose Interviews You Like More Than Their Movies?

[MortSahlFan]

-Sam Peckinpah
-Orson Welles

Very interesting men.. I love reading or watching any of their interviews. I might like a movie or two, but that's about it.

[Noodle Lizard]

Chris Morris. Four Lions is solid enough (if a little basic), but Morris's interviews surrounding The Day Shall Come were far more interesting and informative about the subject than the film itself was. I could and would listen to him talk about anything at great length.

Kevin Smith, but he's taken it to ridiculous extremes now. I'd be absolutely fine if I never heard him on a podcast talking about weed or heaping praise upon every comic book movie that comes out for the rest of my days, but his earlier Evening Withs were good.

Terry Gilliam, to an extent. I like a great deal of his movies and love a couple, but there's often something intangibly flawed or off about them. I could, however, listen to him talk about them for as long as he'll give us. Jodorowsky likewise. Both of them have an infectious love for what they do, even with the almost comical struggles they face in doing it.

[checkoutgirl]

John Waters.
Kevin Smith.

[Mister Six]

Chris Morris. Four Lions is solid enough (if a little basic), but Morris's interviews surrounding The Day Shall Come were far more interesting and informative about the subject than the film itself was. I could and would listen to him talk about anything at great length.

My first thought too.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Jerry Lewis.

He only ever directed one masterpiece, The Nutty Professor, but he's fascinating to listen to when talking about the art and craft of filmmaking. Everyone knows that he pioneered the use of video-assist, but the man was immersed in every technical aspect of putting a film together.

There are loads of clips of him on YouTube talking about this stuff. First clip I could find here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ6nlpZFzKo&t=5s

[Noodle Lizard]

John Waters.

I knew there was someone I was forgetting, and that's it.

[MortSahlFan]

Terry Gilliam is a good example.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I knew there was someone I was forgetting, and that's it.

Great example. I find his films tiresome, but I love listening to him. He's a funny, interesting guy.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Really like listening to Mike Leigh talk.

[Small Man Big Horse]

-Orson Welles

I really love The Trial, Kane, Touch Of Evil and his version of Othello, but my favourite thing of his is This Is Orson Welles, the book long interview with Peter Bogdanovich, and the fact that he often rewrote the transcribed pages and changed them completely endears it to me even more.

[phantom_power]

Werner Herzog. Sorry. I like some of his films but he is a much better character than film-maker

[sutin]

I enjoy John Waters movies when i'm in the mood but he's such an engaging speaker. You never need to see Pink Flamingos if you've heard him talk about it.

[chveik]

Jean-Luc Godard

[beanheadmcginty]

Nick Love. Primarily that coked up director's commentary he does with Danny Dyer.

[MortSahlFan]

Werner Herzog.

[checkoutgirl]

You never need to see Pink Flamingos if you've heard him talk about it.

Curiously I could't disagree more on that particular point. Pink Flamingos is a film that even if every second of it was described in exact detail, you still have to see it at least once.

[greenman]

Werner Herzog. Sorry. I like some of his films but he is a much better character than film-maker

A lot of the latter day documentaries of course are strongly based on his viewpoint so his "character" features heavily in them.

[Sin Agog]

Not that much into Abel Ferrara's filmography, but King of New York's drunken commentary track is a classic.


Can't remember how much I liked Kenneth Anger's movies- I suspect there's some nice, zen moments accompanied by Manson cult member Bobby Beausoleil's Tangerine Dream-esque music, but much of it has been done better elsewhere.  As an incredibly gossippy, voyeuristic queen in his Hollywood Babylon books, though, he is a shamefully fun fucker.

[MortSahlFan]

For those who like Herzog, check out "Stroszek" - it's great... I thought "Aguirre" was ok, didn't like Fitzcaraldo (the documentary was much better)

[Twit 2]

He's done loads of great films. Anyone who thinks he's more entertaining than his films probably hasn't watched enough of the really great ones.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Yeah I can't go along with the idea that Herzog is more interesting than his films, he wouldn't be nearly as fascinating as a person if his films from 1969-1987 weren't so fucking spellbinding. I don't think that Burden of Dreams is better than Fitzcaraldo in the same way that I don't think Hearts of Darkness is better than Apocalypse Now. Many of these directors would not be interesting at all were it not for their evident talent

[chveik]

I used to love Herzog but I can't stand his self-aggrandising persona anymore. thankfully some of his films (Aguirre, Kaspar Hauser) are more clever than he is

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Absolutely, if anything his persona and self-conscious memeification is now very grating whereas the better films (the ones where he is offscreen) still hold up

Have to agree about Godard though, since about the late 80s it's almost always been more rewarding to hear him talk about his films than it is to watch them

[Bence Fekete]

Nice thread.

Since the millenium, Oliver Stone's output has been several buckets of piss. But whenever he starts talking I'm still captivated by his unique and honest take on reality.

[MortSahlFan]

Nice thread.

Since the millenium, Oliver Stone's output has been several buckets of piss. But whenever he starts talking I'm still captivated by his unique and honest take on reality.

I always looked at Oliver Stone who takes the right subjects (JFK, Snowden, The Doors), and then distorts them, and discrediting them. Probably a CIA spook. And now, people reference all that inaccuracy as if it were fact. Stone was a cokehead, so he showed Jim doing coke, when the only drugs he engaged in (by those close to him, some of his own words, etc) were psychedelics and alcohol.

[MortSahlFan]

duplicate (sorry)

[nw83]

Herzog - he's one of my favourite directors, but this applies to his new films and documentaries, which I just can't be bothered with
Peter Strickland - gives very interesting, knowledgeable and detailed interviews, but his films are never quite as good as I hoped

[peanutbutter]

Peter Bogdonavich maybe? I like some of his films an awful lot though, and as an interviewer rather than an interviewee

[chveik]

a bit off topic
I love some of Bresson's films but his theories might be his most important work. shame nobody was properly inspired by them

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Yeah Bresson's book is excellent