November 15, 2016 (XXXIII: 12) Norman Jewison: MOONSTRUCK (1987), 102 min.

(The online version of this handout has color images and hot url links.) Academy Awards, 1988 Won: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Cher); Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Olympia Dukakis), Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (John Patrick Shanley) Nominated: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Vincent Gardenia), Best Director (Norman Jewison) Directed by Norman Jewison Written by John Patrick Shanley Produced by Norman Jewison & Patrick J. Palmer Music Dick Hyman Cinematography David Watkin Film Editing Lou Lombardo Cast Cher…Loretta Castorini Nicolas Cage…Ronny Cammareri Vincent Gardenia…Cosmo Castorini Olympia Dukakis…Rose Castorini Danny Aiello…Mr. Johnny Cammareri Julie Bovasso…Rita Cappomaggi John Mahoney…Perry Louis Guss…Raymond Cappomaggi Feodor Chaliapin Jr….Old Man Anita Gillette…Mona Leonardo Cimino…Felix Paula Trueman…Lucy Nada Despotovich…Chrissy Catherine Scorsese…Customer at Bakery NORMAN JEWISON (b. July 21, 1926 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world’s most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, often exploring controversial and complicated subjects. Jewison got his BA at Victoria

College, University of Toronto, and after moving to London, where he wrote scripts and acted for the BBC, he returned to Toronto and directed TV shows for the CBC (1952-1958), then musicals and variety in New York, before embarking on a film career. Even though he was offended by it at first (and turned it down), A Clockwork Orange (1971) inspired him to make Rollerball (1975) a few years later. Jewison was also the original director of Malcolm X (1992), however had to withdraw from the project due to outside pressure demanding that the subject be made by a black film-maker (it would eventually be directed by Spike Lee). In his DVD Commentary for In The Heat Of The Night, Jewison recalled that shortly before he began production, he took his family on a ski trip in Colorado. He broke leg and ended up in the local hospital. While there, he met New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy who also had an injured child in the hospital from his own ski trip. In the waiting room, the two men struck up a conversation. When he mentioned to Kennedy the movie he was working on, RFK became excited and said "This could be an important picture. Timing is everything." Later, after the movie was released, one of the first awards it won was the New York Film Critics

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—2

Award for Best Picture. When Jewison went to the ceremony to receive his award, he was presented with his award by none other than Robert F. Kennedy. When he got to the stage to accept the award, Kennedy was smiling and saying "See? I told you! Timing was everything!" Some of his most well-known works include the sharp pre-glasnost political satire The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966), the original and iconic The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), the sultry mystery and racially provocative In the Heat of the Night (1967), the first rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), the futuristic cult hit Rollerball (1975), hit musical comedy-drama Fiddler on the Roof (1971), the romantic comedy and multiple Academy Award-winner Moonstruck (1987), courtroom drama ...And Justice For All (1982), military drama A Soldier’s Story, the labor movement picture F.I.S.T. (1978), the masterfully told story of Reuben 'Hurricane' Carter The Hurricane (1999), as well as The Statement (2003), ), In Country (1989), Agnes of God (1985), among many others. Always a bridesmaid, but never the bride, Jewison has been nominated for an Academy Award five times for Best Picture and three times for Best Director, though never won in either category. However, he has won numerous accolades around the world, including numerous Golden Globe nominations, a BAFTA Award, the Silver Bear for Best Director at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Directors Guild of Canada and America, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the 71st annual Academy Awards. JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY (b. October 3, 1950 in The Bronx, New York City, New York) is a writer, known for Doubt (2008, play/screenplay), Moonstruck (1987) and Alive (1993). After he was thrown out of Catholic school in New York, he attended the private Thomas Moore Prep School in Harrisville, New Hampshire. He then returned to New York and attended New York University, left to enlist in the military and then returned to finish university on the G.I. Bill. He graduated in 1977 as valedictorian. His play Doubt has won several awards for outstanding dramatic play including: the 2005 Pulitzer Prize, the 2004-2005 Drama Desk Award and the 2005 Tony Award. The play is about a molestation charge in a Catholic school. He had this to say about the experience: I did Doubt as a film, a play and an opera. We were there to use the new materials we'd been offered to express the story in the way it wants to be expressed. I realized that if the priest is

giving a sermon, we're going to see the congregation. [The movie] came to life as a filmic idea rather than a theater idea. It's not an obvious thing to be able to get people to go to a movie where they buy popcorn to watch nuns and priests argue. I was scared. The other 10 television or movies he has written for are The Red Coat (2006, Short, written by), Live from Baghdad (TV Movie, teleplay), Papillons de nuit (2002, book & play "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea"), Congo (1995, screenplay), We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993, screenplay), Danny i Roberta (1993, TV Movie, play "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea"), The Princess and the Cobbler (19993, additional material

- uncredited), Joe Versus the Volcano (1990), The January Man (1989) and Five Corners (1987). He wrote and directed Doubt (2008) and Joe Versus the Volcano (1990). DICK HYMAN (b. March 8, 1927 in New York City, New York) is composer, songwriter, conductor, pianist, organist and

arranger, educated at Columbia University and a music student of Teddy Wilson. Hyman worked with Red Norvo (1949-1950) and Benny Goodman (1950), and then spent much of the 1950s and '60s as a studio musician. He appears on the one known sound film of Charlie Parker (Hot House from 1952); recorded honky tonk under pseudonyms; played organ and early synthesizers in addition to piano; was Arthur Godfrey's music director (1959-1962); collaborated with Leonard Feather on some History of Jazz concerts (doubling on clarinet), and even performed rock and free jazz; but all of this was a prelude to his later work. In the 1970s, Hyman played with the New York Jazz Repertory Company, formed the Perfect Jazz Repertory Quintet (1976), and started writing soundtracks for Woody Allen films. He has recorded frequently during the past several decades (sometimes in duets with Ruby Braff) for Concord, Music Masters, and Reference, among other labels, and ranks at the top of the classic jazz field. In 2013, Hyman teamed up with vocalist Heather Masse for a set of standards on the Red House label called Lock My Heart. A versatile virtuoso, Hyman once recorded an album on which he played "A Child Is Born" in the styles of 11 different pianists, from Scott Joplin to Cecil Taylor. Hyman even had minor hit record in 1968: "The Minotaur" as "Dick Hyman & the Eclectic Electrics", which was first single ever to be entirely performed on a synthesizer (Moog). He was nominated for a 1989 BAFTA Award for Best Score for tonight’s films. He has composed for 32 films and television, some of which are Listen Up Emily (2016, Short, completed),

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—3

Nabokov on Kafka (1989, TV Short), The Lemon Sisters (1989), Leader of the Band (1987), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Zelig (1983, music composed by), French Quarter (1978), Bernice Bobs Her Hair (1976, TV Movie) and Search for Tomorrow (1951, TV Series). He has also served as the musical arranger or writer on Whatever Works (2009, arranger & performer "Auld Lang Syne”), The Whole Shebang (2001, writer: "Brooklyn Heights Stroll"), Soft Toilet Seats (1999, writer: "Summer Vacation", "Soho Stripper"), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), Radio Days (1987), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985, writer: "One Day at a Time" - uncredited) and Stardust Memories (1980). DAVID WATKIN (b. March 23, 1925 in Margate, Kent, England—d. February 19, 2008, age 82, in Brighton, East Sussex, England) was a fan of classical music as a child and originally wanted to become a pianist despite the lack of support from his religious father. Watkin served shortly in World War II before finally beginning his career in cinema. His break into the film world arrived when he shot the memorable title sequence for the film Goldfinger in 1964. Being an innovator in cinematography, he was known as having an artistic technique- almost picturesque. His most famous works are the TV Mini-Series, Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Moonstruck (1987), and Out of Africa (1985), for which he won the 1986 Oscar for Best Cinematography. Known as a Pioneer in cinematography with soft and bounced light, he also is notorious for sleeping on the set. When asked about his habit he replied, "Well, it's the one thing you can do on a movie set that doesn't make you more tired!" Watkin has been the cinematographer or DOP on 76 films and TV shows including Lover's Prayer (2001), Tea With Moussolini (1999), Gloria (1999), Critical Care (1997), Obsession (1997), Jane Eyre (1996), This Boy's Life (1993), Used People (1992), Hamlet (1990), Memphis Belle (1990), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1988), Masquerade (1988), Sky Bandits (1986), Out of Africa (1985), White Nights (1985), Return to Oz (1985), The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), Yentl (1983) Endless Love (1981), Chariots of Fire (1981), Cuba (1979), Hanover Street (1979), Jesus of Nazareth (1977, TV Mini-Series), Joseph Andrews (1977), Robin and Marian (1976), Mahogany (1975), The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge (1974), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Homecoming (1973), The Boy Friend (1971), Catch-22 (1970), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), How I Won the War (1967), Marat/Sade (1967), Mademoiselle (1966) and Help! (1965). He also worked on 6 documentary shorts: The Travolators (1961), Blue Pullman (1960), Under the River (1959), Under Night Streets (1958), The Long Night Haul (1956) and Men on the Mend (1956).

CHER (b. May 20, 1946 in El Centro, California) is superstar entertainer who has well surpassed the four-decade mark while improbably transforming herself from an artificial, glossy "flashionplate" singer into a serious, Oscar-worthy, dramatic actress ... and back again. With more ups and downs than the 2008 Dow Jones Industrial Average, Cher managed to rise like a phoenix from the ashes each time she was down and counted out, somehow re-inventing herself with every changing decade and finding herself on top all over again. As a singer Cher is the only performer to have earned "Top 10" hit singles in four consecutive decades; as an actress, she and Barbra Streisand are the only two Best Actress Oscar winners to have a #1 hit song on the Billboard charts. Cher’s father left the family when she was young, and she was raised by their mother, who had aspirations of being an actress and model herself, paid for Cher's acting classes despite her

daughter having undiagnosed dyslexia, which acutely affected her studies. Frustrated, Cher quit Fresno High School at the age of 16 in search of her dream. At that time, she also had a brief relationship with actor Warren Beatty. Meeting the quite older (by 11 years) Sonny Bono in 1962 changed the 16-year-old's life forever. Bono was working for record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood at the time and managed to persuade Spector to hire Cher as a session singer. As such, she went on to record backup on such Spector classics as "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and "Be My Baby". The couple married on October 27, 1964. At first Cher sang solo with Sonny behind the scenes writing, arranging and producing her songs. The records went nowhere. Sonny then decided they needed to perform as a team so they put out two songs in 1964 under the recording names of Caesar and Cleo ("The Letter" and "Baby Don't Go"). Again, no success. The changing of their names, however, seemed to make a difference and in 1965, they officially took on the music world as Sonny & Cher and earned instant rewards. The now 19-year-old Cher and 30-year-old Sonny became huge hits following the release of their first album, Look at Us (1965), which contained the hit single "I Got You Babe". Between 1965 and 1972 Sonny & Cher charted a total of six "Top 10" hits. The Sonny and

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—4

Cher Comedy Hour (1971) was given the green light as a summer replacement series and was an instant sensation when it earned its own time spot that fall season. The show received numerous Emmy Award nominations during its run and the couple became stars all over again. Behind the scenes, though, it was a different story. A now-confident Cher yearned to be free of husband Sonny's Svengali-like control over her life and career. The marriage split at the seams in 1974 and they publicly announced their separation. The show, which had earned Cher a Golden Globe Award, took a fast tumble as the separation and divorce grew more acrimonious. Eventually they both tried to launch their own solo variety shows, but both failed to even come close to their success as a duo. Audiences weren't interested in Cher without Sonny, and vice versa. Not one to be counted out, however, the ever resourceful singer decided to lay back and focus on acting instead. At age 36, Cher made her Broadway debut in 1982 in what was essentially her first live acting role with Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Critical notices for her performance earned her the role in the film version in 1982. Cher then won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win for her portrayal of a lesbian toiling in a nuclear parts factory in Silkwood (1983), starring Meryl Streep and Kurt Russell. This in turn was followed by her star turn in Mask (1985) as the blunt, footloose mother of a son afflicted with a rare disease (played beautifully by Eric Stoltz). Once again Cher received high praise and copped a win from the Cannes Film Festival for her poignant performance. Fully accepted by this time as an actress of high-caliber, she integrated well into the Hollywood community. Proving that she could hold up a film outright, she was handed three hit vehicles to star in: The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Suspect (1987), and Moonstruck (1987), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Along with all this newfound Hollywood celebrity came interest in her as a singer and recording artist again. "If I Could Turn Back Time” (#3) and the Peter Cetera duet "After All" (#6) placed her back on the Billboard charts. 1998 saw a high and low point for Cher as Sonny Bono was killed in a freak ski accident in the same year she had her biggest musical hit with her song “Believe”, which reached #1 in 23 different countries. This single also earned her the title of longest gap between #1 hits ("Dark Lady" (1974), "Believe" (1999), and at 52 years old, she holds the record for oldest female artist with a #1 hit for "Believe". Having little to prove anymore to anyone, Cher decided to embark on a "Farewell Tour" in the early part of the millennium and, after much stretching, her show finally closed in 2005 in Los Angeles. It didn't take long, however, for Cher to return from this self-imposed exile. In 2008, she finalized a deal with Las Vegas' Caesars Palace for the next three years to play the Colosseum. Never say never. Cher then

returned to films, co-starring opposite Christina Aguilera in Burlesque (2010). Little known trivia fact: she was offered the role of Thelma Dickinson in Thelma & Louise (1991), which she turned down, and the part went to Geena Davis. In addition to the above, Cher has acted in Zookeeper (2011), Stuck on You (2003), Tea with Mussolini (1999), Faithful (1996), The Player (1992), Mermaids (1990), Chastity (1969), Good Times (1967), and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1967, TV Series).

NICOLAS CAGE (b. January 7, 1964 in Long Beach, California) is the son of comparative literature professor August Coppola (brother of director Francis Ford Coppola) and dancer/choreographer Joy Vogelsang. Initially studying theatre at Beverly Hills High (though he dropped out at 17), he secured a bit part in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) -- most of which was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career. But a job reading lines with actors auditioning for uncle Francis' Rumble Fish (1983) landed him a role in that film, followed by the punk-rocker in Valley Girl (1983), which was released first and truly launched his career. Cage is known for his edgy, intense personality both on and off the screen, as well as for his passion for method acting. He is said to have had two teeth pulled for his role in Birdy (1984), slashed his arm for Racing With the Moon (1984) and swallowed a live cockroach for Vampire's Kiss (1992). He is also alleged to have destroyed a street vendor's remote-controlled car in a fit of rage while preparing for his role as a mobster in The Cotton Club (1984). After this film, Cage began to see steady work, in Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), the Coen Brothers' comedy Raising Arizona (1987), Moonstruck (1987), David Lynch's bizarre Wild at Heart (1990), and the comedy Honeymoon in Vegas (1992). By 1994, Cage was valued at about $4 million per picture, but agreed to star in Mike Figgis's Leaving Las Vegas (1995) for only $240,000 because of the strength of the role. It paid off- his portrayal of the alcoholic screenwriter earned him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor. Since 1995, Cage has made a series of action thrillers, including The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), John

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—5

Woo's Face/Off (1997, opposite John Travolta), and Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes (1998). In December 2002, Cage launched his directorial debut, the $5 million independent film Sonny, about a male gigolo who struggles to free himself from his madam mother. That same year, Cage also starred in Adaptation, playing both ill-tempered screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and twin brother Donald. The busy actor also starred in director Jon Turteltaub's 2004 holiday blockbuster National Treasure, playing an archaeologist-historian who believes a treasure map is hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. This series (and its subsequent sequel) has brought Cage his biggest box office numbers in recent years. An avid comic book fan, Cage took his acting surname as a tribute to the famous superhero, “Luke Cage” (sadly, Cage did not have a cameo in this year’s stunning Luke Cage Netflix series). We also have Cage to thank for Johnny Depp, as he was responsible for getting the young actor his first job. Some of Cage’s other 85 acting jobs include work in Southern Fury (2017, post-production), Inconceivable (2017, filming), Vengeance: A Love Story (2017, post-production), Army of One (2017), USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016) Snowden (2016), Dying of the Light (2014), Left Behind (2014), Outcast (2014), Rage (2014), Joe (2013), The Croods (2013), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), Drive Angry (2011), Season of the Witch (2011), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010), Astro Boy (2009), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), G-Force (2009), National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007), Ghost Rider (2007), World Trade Center (2006), Lord of War (2005), Matchstick Men (2003), Windtalkers (2002), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), City of Angels (1998), Kiss of Death (1995), Guarding Tess (1994), Red Rock West (1993), Wild at Heart (1990), Time to Kill (1989), Never on Tuesday (1989), and Best of Times (1981, TV Movie). VINCENT GARDENIA (b. January 7, 1920 in Naples, Campania, Italy—d. December 9, 1992, age 72, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an actor, known for Moonstruck (1987), Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and Death Wish (1974). When he was 2, his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Brooklyn, where his father founded an Italian-language based acting troupe. Vincent first appeared on stage with this company at age five, playing a shoeshine boy. His first English-speaking stage role was in the 1955 Broadway play In April Once. Beginning in the mid-1950s, he played a wide variety of roles on the New York stage, but he was best

known for his comic turns in the Neil Simon plays God's Favorite (1974), California Suite (1976) and The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971). This last play earned him a Tony Award for his performance as Peter Falk's brother. At the awards ceremony, he paid tribute to his father's acting company by giving his acceptance speech in Italian. In 1960, he won an Obie Award for his performance in Machinal as a fatuous husband who is murdered by his wife. A second Obie came with the play Passing Through From Exotic Places (1969). He was nominated for a Tony for his work in the Michael Bennett musical Ballroom (1978), after which he appeared in the role of Shelley Levene in David Mamet's play Glengarry Glen Ross (1984). His film career began inauspiciously with a small part in Cop Hater (1958), but over the years he became a reliable and welcome presence on screen. His many films include The Hustler (1961), Little Murders (1971), based on the Jules Feiffer play in which he had appeared on Broadway in 1969, The Front Page (1974), Heaven Can

Wait (1978), Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and The Super (1991). He continued to work in television, playing Archie Bunker's neighbor in All in the Family and J. Edgar Hoover in the mini-series Kennedy (1983). He also appeared in the series Breaking Away (1980-81), and more recently in L.A. Law. In 1990, he won an

Emmy Award as best supporting actor for the HBO special Age-Old Friends. In 1974, he was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actor for his role as Dutch, the baseball manager in Bang the Drum Slowly (1974). He received a second Oscar nomination for his performance as Cher's philandering father in Moonstruck (1987). Gardina is highly effective in choleric or exasperated roles, and noted on screen for his comic portrayals of New Yorkers, particularly in The Front Page (1974), or as Cher's father in tonight’s film. In Brooklyn, New York, 16th Avenue, where he grew up, (between Cropsey Avenue and Shore Parkway) has been renamed Vincent Gardenia Boulevard to honor his memory. Some of his additional acting credits include, The Ray Bradbury Theatre (1990, TV Series), Skin Deep (1989), Honor Thy Father (1986, TV Movie), The Twilight Zone (1985, TV Series), Kennedy (1983, TV Mini-Series), The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (1980), The House by the Edge of the Lake (1979), Home Movies (1979), Heaven Can Wait (1978), House of Pleasure for Women (1976), Lucky Luciano (1973), Love, American Style (1972, TV Series), McCloud (1971, TV Series), Little Murders (1971), Mission: Impossible (1967-1968, TV Series), N.Y.P.D. (1967, TV

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—6

Series), The Fugitive (1967, TV Series), The Defenders (1962-1965, TV Series), East Side/West Side (1964, TV Series), The Untouchables (1961, TV Series), The Hustler (1961), Mad Dog Coll (1961), Parrish (1961), Murder, Inc. (1960), Naked City (1959, TV Series), Cop Hater (1958) and The House on 92nd Street (1945).

OLYMPIA DUKAKIS (b. June 20, 1931 in Lowell, Massachusetts) has long been a vital and respected stage actor. However, Dukakis did not become a household name and sought-after film actress until age 56 when she turned in an Oscar-winning performance as Cher's sardonic mother in Moonstruck (1987). Since then, her adaptability to various ethnicities (Greek, Italian, Jewish, Eastern European), as well her versatility in everything from cutting edge comedy to stark tragedy, has kept her in high demand for the past 30 years. As a student, Dukakis majored in physical therapy at Boston University, where she graduated with a BA. She practiced as a physical therapist during the polio epidemic. She later returned to her alma mater and entered the graduate program in performing arts and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. She made her Broadway debut as an understudy in The Aspern Papers at age 30, followed by very short runs in the plays Abraham Cochrane (1964) and Who's Who in Hell (1974). In 1999, she premiered a one-woman play Rose, at the National Theatre in London and subsequently on Broadway in 2000. The play earned her an Outer Critics Circle Award and Drama Desk Award nomination and she continues to tour the country with it. Olympia married Yugoslav-American actor Louis Zorich in 1962 and the New York-based couple went on to co-found The Whole Theatre Company in Montclair, New Jersey, which ran for 19 years (1971-1990). A good portion of her successes was launched within the walls of her own theater company, which encouraged the birth of new and untried plays. Making an inauspicious film debut in a bit role as a mental patient in Lilith (1964), she tended to gravitate toward off-the-wall films with various offshoots of the ethnic mother. She played mom to such leads as Dustin Hoffman in John and Mary (1969), Joseph Bologna in the cult comedy Made for Each Other (1971) and Ray Sharkey in The Idolmaker (1980). Interestingly, it

was her scene-stealing work on Broadway in the comedy Social Security (1986) that caught director Norman Jewison's eye and earned her the Moonstruck (1987) movie role. Playing Cher’s mother earned Dukakis an Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actress as well as awards from the American Comedy, Los Angeles Film Critics, and Golden Globes. However, Her Best Supporting Actress Oscar statuette was stolen from her home kitchen in 1989. The burglar left only her nameplate. An ardent liberal and Democrat, she is the cousin of one-time presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. Moreover, she is a strong advocate of women's rights and environmental causes. Olympia published her best-selling autobiography Ask Me Again Tomorrow: A Life in Progress in 2003, an introspective chronicle full of her trademark candor and wry humor. Dukakis has acted in: The Infiltrator (2016), 7 Chinese Brothers (2015), A Little Game (2014), The Last Keepers (2013), The Misadventures of the Dunderheads (2012), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2011, TV Series), Birds of a Feather (2011), In the Land of Women (2007), Upside Out (2006), Jesus, Mary and Joey (2005), Charlie's War (2003), The Simpsons (2002, TV Series), Brooklyn Sonnet (2000), Joan of Arc (1999, TV Mini-Series), Mafia! (1998), Picture Perfect (1997), Touched by an Angel (1996, TV Series), Jerusalem (1996), Never Too Late (1996), Mr. Holland's Opus (1995), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), Look Who's Talking Now (1993), Over the Hill (1992), Look Who's Talking Too (1990), Dad (1989), Steel Magnolias (1989), Look Who's Talking (1989), Working Girl (1988), Walls of Glass (1985), The Wanderers (1979), The Rehearsal (1974), Death Wish (1974), Stiletto (1969), Lilith (1964), Twice a Man (1964) and Search for Tomorrow (TV Series). DANNY AIELLO (b. June 20, 1933 in New York City, New York) was born to a working class family during the Depression. His father having abandoned them, he found it necessary as a child to deliver papers and shine shoes in Grand Central Station. Aiello dropped out of high school, and served in the Army. By his mid-30s, he had been with Greyhound for 10 years, and was elected president of Local 1202 of the Amalgamated Transit Union. He lost his union post after an argument with the union's national office over an unauthorized "wildcat" strike. After that, he said, he did not know what to do: "I had my success, and then I was floundering with nothing." In 1972 he was working as a bouncer at a night club when one night he filled in as emcee for a comedy competition one night when the regular master of ceremonies didn't show up. He began introducing the performers regularly, and singing occasionally. A friend convinced him to try acting, and although he had never even seen a play, Aiello made his acting debut in Lamppost Reunion, which garnered him a

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—7

Theatrical World Award for Best Debut. He worked steadily in theater after that, and made his film debut in 1973's tearjerker for men, Bang the Drum Slowly. He mostly plays Brooklyn born Italian-Americans, in films like Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Cher's Moonstruck (1987) and Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989), which earned him a Best Supporting Actor nod. He also played the father in Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" video, which he later regretted, deciding that the song promoted single motherhood. In 2004 Aiello realized a dream when he released his first album, I Just Wanted to Hear the Words. The 70-year-old Aiello released his first single, "All of Me," in March of 2004, and followed it a month later with an album of standards. He continues to sing on tour with an eight-piece jazz band. Of starting so late in the business, Aiello (who often gets typecast as a tough-talking Italian) has said, “I was 40 when I did my first movie. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. My interpretation of acting at the time, because I didn't know how to build a character, was pure energy. People call me an instinctive actor. I used to consider that an insult early on, only because I had never studied. Now... I love it.” Some of his other 95 acting credits are Reach Me (2014), Henry & Me (2014), Stiffs (2010), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Mail Order Bride (2003), Off Key (2001), Wilbur Falls (1998), City Hall (1996), Ready to Wear (1994), Léon: The Professional (1994), Mistress (1992), Hudson Hawk (1991), The Closer (1990), Jacob's Ladder (1990), White Hot (1989), The Pick-up Artist (1987), Radio Days (1987), Lady Blue (1985, TV Movie), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Fort Apache the Bronx (1981), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), Defiance (1980), Bloodbrothers (1978), Fingers (1978), Hooch (1977), The Front (1976), and The Godfather: Part II (1974).

Norman Jewison from World Film Directors, Vol. II. Edited by John Wakeman. The H.W. Wilson Co., NY, 1988 Canadian director and producer. “I was born in Toronto, the son of a third generation Canadian father and an English mother. My father ran a drygoods store and my grandfather and his father were farmers, so it was only natural that I should enter the arts, as an actor.

“I began performing at the age of six years, giving poetry readings of Robert Service at various Masonic lodge meetings. After serving briefly in the Canadian navy toward the end of World War II, I attended Victoria College at the University of Toronto, graduating in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and an honour award for writing and directing many college productions. I also discovered at this time that I definitely wanted to change the world. Since no one else was particularly interested in that fact I began driving a cab in Toronto. After earning enough money for passage, I sailed for England in the hope of learning something about a powerful new medium called television. “After nine months of struggle as an actor-writer I managed to get some work with the BBC. Two years later I left the unheated Bayswater London flat for Canada, having received an invitation to join a TV training program at CB. The atmosphere was excellent for creative work in a new medium, and the next six years provided a most exciting and productive time for me. In 1958 my television work caught the attention of Mike Dann, then the program chief for CBS. He brought me to New York to revitalize the Hit Parade. I remained in American television for the next four years, staging such spectacles as The Broadway of Lerner & Loewe, The Fabulous Fifties and spectaculars with Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Danny Kaye, and the legendary Judy Garland. These shows won three Emmy awards and made it possible for me to move to Hollywood under contract to Universal Pictures as a director in 1961. “My first film, 40 Pounds of Trouble, starring Tony Curtis, launched me as a motion picture director and I have remained in the industry ever since. Every film I make must have a raison d’être, a reason for being there. As well as being an entertaining story it must have something valid to say about life, that reflects my own private fears or joy. Even though I know it is a futile and impossible task, I still want to change the world. Well, a little bit!” As his account makes clear, Jewison’s career really began in 1952, when, after the hardships of his two years in London, he joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s television training program. He rose very rapidly at the CBC and within a few years was directing and producing such major variety programs as Showtime, The Big Revue and Wayne and Shuster. Moving to CBS in New York, he rethought and restaged the fast-fading Your Hit Parade with such effect that it reclaimed its former prominence in the ratings. According to Current Biography, it was the effect of the ratings wars on the quality of television programming that disillusioned Jewison and sent him to Hollywood as a director for the big screen. His first feature film 40 Pounds of Trouble (1963), is one of the four screen versions of Damon Runyon’s story “Little Miss Marker.” Tony Curtis plays the manager of a Las Vegas casino who has no time for women until he finds himself in loco parentis to a little girl (Claire Wilcox) abandoned in his lobby by her heartless father. David Thomson wrote that Jewison had “turned a potentially sentimental picture about a knowing child into a very funny study of Tony Curtis,” and the film, garnished with a climactic twenty-minute Disneyland chase, was such a success at the box-office that Universal signed Jewison to a seven-picture contract.

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—8

In fact Jewison completed only three more movies for Universal. The Thrill of It All (1963), scripted by Carl Reiner is a Doris Day-James Garner matrimonial comedy in which the hero finds fame and freedom on Television but turns back to the domestic cage in the last reel. It was one of Universal’s greatest hits, and was followed by another Day vehicle, Send Me No Flowers (1964), in which her husband (Rock Hudson), convinced that he is terminally ill, tries to insure that she will be happy though widowed. A very mildly black comedy, it was regarded in 1964 as something of an affront to good taste. The Art of Love (1965) stars James Garner as an unprincipled writer in Paris who persuades his painter friend (Dick Van Dyke) to hasten the arrival of posthumous fame and fortune by playing dead, and is then accused of his murder. Angie Dickinson, Elke Sommer, and Ethel Merman are also involved in this “sumptuously vulgar fashion show.” By this time Jewison was tired of manufacturing what he called “innocuous Hollywood comedies” and eager to spread his wings. Finding a loophole in his Universal contract, he escaped through it and took over the direction of MGM’s The Cincinnati Kid, originally assigned to Sam Peckinpah. Tautly scripted by Ring Lardner Jr. and Terry Southern from a novel by Richard Jessup, and set in New Orleans during the Depression, it tells the naturally dramatic story of the setting up and playing out of a marathon game of stud poker between the reigning champion and a brilliant young contender. Steve McQueen plays The Kid and Edward G, Robinson The Man, whose supremacy is as much a matter of character and will as of technique. Almost all of the reviewers pointed out its resemblance to Robert Rossen’s The Hustler (1961), in which Paul Newman had played a similarly ambitious young pool shark, and most thought it inferior, but it was welcomed and praised all the same for its performances, its tension, and the richness of its atmosphere and detail. Jewison finally achieved the complete artistic control he sought with The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (United Artists, 1966), which he produced as well as directed. The picture was adapted by William Rose from Nathaniel Benchley’s novel The Off-Islanders. A Russian submarine is accidentally beached on a New England island and a small scouting party is sent ashore. This is parlayed by Cold War hysteria into a full-scale Russian invasion, to be met by the local hawks with heroic if wildly incompetent resistance. Brian Keith, Paul Ford, and Tessie O’Shea are among the natives, and the Russian disaster-prone spokesman is Alan Alda, here making his movie debut (and stealing the picture). The picture won the hearts of both the United States Senate and Pravda. Robert Alden wrote that “by personalizing a dangerous confrontation between Russians and Americans, it reveals, through broad farce, the good and bad in both, the strengths and weaknesses of people under stress and the

fundamental fact that, after all, Russians and Americans….share basically human qualities. And not one whit of this lesson is accomplished by preaching.” The English critic Derek Prouse called it “one of the most engaging American comedies for a long time”—the work of an imaginative director with a strong instinct for casting actors effectively. And Jewison followed this hit with what for many people was an even more cogent, timely, and welcome fable about another crucial issue. In the Heat of the Night (United Artists, 1967) is set in a small town in Mississippi, where the indolent and bigoted police chief(Rod Steiger), faced with a murder mystery, on general principles arrests a black stranger. He turns out to be Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), a high-powered big-city detective from the north, who teaches the police chief his business and earns his grudging respect. In the Heat of the Night won Oscars for best film, best

actor (Steiger), best screenplay (Stirling Silliphant), best editing (Hal Ashby), and best sound (Walter Goss). It was also chosen as best picture of the year by New York film critics and there was much praise for Haskell Wexler’s photography, which makes almost tangible the dust and heat and claustrophobia of the little town. At the box office it was somewhat overwhelmed by the simultaneous release of Bonnie and Clyde, but it is much revived and has inspired two sequels by other directors. A number of serious critics were angered by the superficiality of its approach to the problem of racism, but most seemed content to enjoy it as a “warm, worthwhile” fantasy—an almost irresistibly entertaining of piece of wish fulfillment. Faye Dunaway, who skidded to stardom in Bonnie and Clyde as a robber of banks, changed sides for The Thomas Crown Affair (United Artists, 1968). She plays a steely insurance investigator equally dedicated to the pursuit of high fashion and the pursuit of Steve McQueen, a young tycoon who

masterminds a bank heist out of boredom. Filmed in Boston the movie was dismissed by most critics as “an animated color supplement,” weak in plot and characterization, and fudged up with “some tentative but not overly significant use of multiple screen images.” However Pauline Kael chided her colleagues for their sniffy response to the picture, maintaining that it was “pretty good trash…like lying in the sun flicking through fashion magazines and, as we used to say, feeling rich and beautiful beyond your wildest dreams.” Gaily, Gaily (United Artists, 1969) is based on an autobiographical novel by Ben Hecht, who had started out as a journalist in Chicago in the early years of the century. Beau Bridges plays the Hecht character, Melina Mercouri the madam who takes this small town Candide under her wing, and Brian Keith the very yellow journalist who teaches him his trade. A slapstick bildungsroman, offered by the director as “an American Tom Jones,” it seemed to some reviewers heavy-handed but was enjoyed by many for its wit, exuberance, and nostalgic charm.

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—9

Jewison’s next two movies were both adaptations of very successful stage musicals. His $9 million version of Fiddler on the Roof (United Artists, 1971), filmed on location in Yugoslavia, and with the Israeli actor Topol in the lead, picked up Oscars for best cinematography (Oswald Morris) and best sound and scoring (John Williams), and grossed $45 million. Some reviewers thought it was a lumpish series of set pieces, some loved it and the voting was equally divided on Jesus Chris Superstar (Universal 1973), which also won a number of awards and made a lot of money. In 1970, meanwhile, Jewison had served as producer of the satirical comedy The Landlord, directed by his former editor Hal Ashby, and in 1973 he produced Ted Kotchoff’s offbeat Western Billy Two-Hats. Jewison has also continued to produce most of his own movies, including Rollerball (United Artists, 1975), scripted by William Harrison from his own short story. The setting is a not very distant future in which giant multinationals have eliminated war, crime, pestilence, overpopulation, freedom, and fun. By way of a safety valve for surviving atavistic urges, the faceless executives in charge have provided rollerball, a game played by roller-skating gladiators with spiked gauntlets while equally lethal motorcycles run interference. Rollerball stars earn the adulation of multitudes but are soon maimed or killed and replaced by others. The plot turns on the emergence of one (James Caan) who survives long enough to become the object of something like worship, and thus threatens the authority of the corporation men. The rules of the game (such as they are) are suspended to ensure the eradication of this potential Spartacus in a climactic match that becomes a bloodbath. John Housman plays the sardonic chief executive, Ralph Richardson the nutty scientist in charge of a computer that is the last repository of the worlds’ knowledge. Many critics found the film exploitative and morally repugnant, while admitting that it was also “compulsively watchable.” It was said that some sports promoters had seriously considered instituting rollerball contests. After this equivocal essay on the power of the great corporations, Jewison turned his attention to the labor movement. F.I.S.T. (United Artists, 1978) studies the rise to power and its corruption of Johnny Kovak (Sylvester Stallone), leader of the Federation of Interstate Truckers, a mythical union not unlike the Teamsters (Although Jewison resolutely denies that his film is modeled on the career of Jimmy Hoffa). In spite of Lazlo Kovacs glowing cinematography and Jewison’s attention to period detail, the movie was a flop, condemned as a long-winded piece of “slick , predictable agitprop” and “history as romance.” The next American institution to come under Jewison’s scrutiny was the law. And Justice for All (1979) has Al Pacino as an idealistic Baltimore attorney straining every nerve to secure an even break for suckers and villains he defends, seriously handicapped by a berserk partner, a girlfriend who is

investigating his legal ethics, and judges who are either suicidal maniacs (Jack Warden) or sadistic rapists (John Forsythe). For many critics, this black funny film was Jewison’s best since In the Heat of the Night, though some found it equally superficial in its approach to the issues it raises. In Best Friends (1982) Jewison explores the relationship between two Hollywood scriptwriters (Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn)—a relationship that changes once they decide to get married. Nick Roddick described the movie as a “good old-fashioned character comedy,” “and in its familiar and engaging way, “ he added, “it works.” Richard Corliss felt that the movie was essentially a vehicle for Reynolds and Hawn to “display their easy strengths: Burt’s shrugged-off sexiness and decent vulnerability,… Goldie’s ditzy charm and daredevil comic timing.” But David Ansen found Best Friends “peculiarly sober” for a funny picture. Jewison’s “morose, rather moralistic comedy,” he remarks, “slowly finds its way to a happy ending [but] the journey requires patience and the

willingness to suspend your expectations of what a Burt and Goldie movie ought to be.” An “uncertain sense of how serious or light to keep the story” seemed to Pauline Kael the root problem. In A Soldier’s Story (1984), Jewison turned to a wholly different subject, requiring a different cinematic style. The movie was adapted by Christopher Fuller from his play, A Soldier’s Play, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981, and

is set at an army base in Louisiana in 1944. A black master sergeant (played by Adolph Caesar, who had performed the role on Broadway) is found shot dead on a country road near the base, and a black Harvard-trained military attorney (Howard Rollins, Jr.) is assigned to investigate. The film quickly becomes a mystery in which clues to the identity of the murderer accrue through a series of flashbacks. A martinet mercilessly hard on all the men in his all-black unit, Sergeant Waters becomes a tragic figure, entrapped by an obsession with racial stereotyping from which he cannot break free. By and large, critics were impressed by the picture, which Tom O’Brien described as the “most trenchant study of racism in recent film.” He felt, however, that an overreliance on flashbacks “wrecks the film’s balance in it second half.” At first the flashbacks “work to heighten the mystery and surprise,” O’Brien noted, “but They become bulky and overlong…[and too] predictable. “ David Edelstein complained of an “impersonal picaresque [directorial] style “that neuters the material” and muffles the “explosive rage it’s meant to contain.” But Pauline Kael admired Jewison’s “highly entertaining kind of craftsmanship.…What's surprising about A Soldier’s Story is how enjoyable it is despite its limitations, and how well–shot it is.” Jewison’s film version of John Pielmeier’s play Agnes of God (1985), adapted by Pielmeier himself was received with less enthusiasm. Comparisons were made between the play and the film, and it was frequently noted that what had worked on stage did not work as well in the new medium. The stage

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—10

production had been carried by truly outstanding performances. Lawrence OToole commented that, by comparison, none of the film’s principals seemed quite right. Anne Bancroft’s Mother Superior was “too cute”; Jane Fonda’s chain-smoking psychiatrist lacked the requisite “bristly drive”; and Meg Tilly, as the radiant young novice who attributes her dead baby to a miraculous conception, was considerably overshadowed by Amanda Plummer, her predecessor in the role. But if the play’s assets were absent, its defects unfortunately were not. Agnes of God, Stephen Harvey wrote, made him long for Sisters Ingrid and Loretta and “nun movies of yore….Those movies were smug and synthetic, but at least they refrained from toying with conundrums that have stumped mystics and rationalists alike for the last two millenniums.” Norman Jewison set out “to change the world” with independently produce films that have addressed themselves in a whole series of undeniably important issues. If the critics have sometimes seemed ungrateful, it is because, as one of them wrote in Variety, “Jewison often has a way of taking esoteric concepts and making them play in Peoria, as it were, which doesn’t go down well with heavy thinkers. However, it goes down very smoothly with the mass audience, whose members have their bread and circus while being exposed to some ideas.” The director is the founder and co-chairman of the new Canadian Center for Advanced Film Studies. He ha been married since 1953 to the former Mary Ann Dixon and has two sons and a daughter. The Jewisons lived in London throughout most of the 1970s but have now settled on a farm near Toronto, though they retain a home in Malibu and offices in London. An ebullient, confident, and enthusiastic man, Jewison is fond of gardening, skiing, and sailing.

Alex Simon, “Norman Jewison: In the Eye of the Storm,” The Hollywood Interview, December 2000 Norman Jewison was born July 21, 1926 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The son of a shopkeeper, Jewison got his

BA at Victoria College, University of Toronto, and after moving to London, where he wrote scripts and acted for the BBC, he returned to Toronto and directed live TV shows for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation(1952-1958), then musicals and variety in New York (including much-heralded specials for Harry Belafonte and Judy Garland), before embarking on a film career. Jewison's initial offerings were harmless pieces of fluff like Forty Pounds of Trouble (1963), The Thrill of It All (1963), Send Me No Flowers (1964) and The Art of Love (1965). Suddenly in late 1965, the 39 year-old director decided to get serious, replacing the legendary Sam Peckinpah on the dynamite Steve McQueen vehicle The Cincinnati Kid, the story of an itinerant poker player in New Orleans. Jewison's work kept growing from there. He followed Kid with the political satire The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! in 1966, then made what some consider still to be his finest film. In 1967 the United States was a very different place than it is today. No other film captured this quicksilver moment in time better than In the Heat of the Night, the story of a Philadelphia detective (Sidney Poitier) reluctantly recruited by a redneck southern sheriff (Rod Steiger, Oscar-winner) to aid him in a murder investigation. The film broke more racial and social taboos than can be listed here, and ushered in a new genre in American film, one where African-Americans took center stage, where black was beautiful. Although it helped give birth to the blaxploitation genre of the 70's (which many critics revere), In the Heat of the Night's influence can also be felt in the films of Spike Lee, and many other filmmakers who, over the past 30 years, have dealt with race, culture clash, and the socioeconomic realities which create an underclass in our society. It also spawned a highly-successful TV series, and won five Oscars, including Best Picture. Jewison followed this landmark film with another classic, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), again starring McQueen, this time with Faye Dunaway as his love interest. Gaily, Gaily (1969) was writer Ben Hecht's story of his apprenticeship on a Chicago newspaper. Jewison then brought two landmark Broadway musicals to the screen: Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), scoring big hits with both. These were followed by the science-fiction classic Rollerball (1975), starring James Caan, and the fictionalized Jimmy Hoffa biopic F.I.S.T. (1977), starring Sylvester Stallone and written by a first-time screenwriter named Joe Eszterhas. Jewison next helmed two scripts written by another young tyke named Barry Levinson (and his then-wife Valerie Curtin).... And Justice for All (1979) with Al Pacino, and Best Friends (1982) with Burt Reynolds and Goldie

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—11

Hawn. Jewison scored another breakthrough when he dealt with the race card once again, bringing Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play to the screen as A Soldier's Story (1984). Starring Howard E. Rollins, Jr. (who also played the Poitier role in the TV series of In the Heat of the Night) as a black army officer investigating the murder of a sadistic sergeant at the tail end of WW II. It co-starred many new faces, including Robert Townsend, David Alan Grier, and this kid named Denzel Washington in a pivotal role. We'll come back to him later... Jewison brought another play to the screen brilliantly with Agnes of God in 1985, followed by another triumph with the romantic comedy Moonstruck in 1987, an Oscar winner for Best Actress (Cher), supporting actress (Olympia Dukakis) and screenplay (John Patrick Shanley). Next came In Country (1989), a post-Vietnam drama starring Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd, another play adaptation in 1991 with Other People's Money, starring Danny de Vito, the romantic comedy Only You (1994) with Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey, Jr., and the fantasy Bogus (1996) with Whoopi Goldberg and Gerard Depardieu. 1999 brings Jewison full circle, completing his film trilogy about race in America. The Hurricane stars that kid Washington we mentioned earlier, in the true story of former boxing champ Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who was wrongly convicted on a trumped-up murder charge, and served more than 30 years in prison. The Hurricane marks a welcome return to the cinema of social consciousness that Jewison helped give birth to 33 years ago. The story is so fantastic, it's almost hard to believe that such a miscarriage of justice occurred not only in this country, but in this day and age. Denzel Washington delivers his finest performance to date as Rubin Carter. Mr. Jewison, who possesses an energy, an appearance, and an enthusiasm that run counter to his 73 years, still makes his home in Canada, and has remained active in his homeland. In 1986, he established the Canadian Centre for Advanced Film Studies in Toronto, where he works with

young Canadians learning the craft of filmmaking (much like our own AFI). Although he was only in the States a short time to promote The Hurricane, he gladly extended our allotted interview time so we could keep talking. Along with The Hurricane, many of your films have a very strong social conscience. Where does this come from? Norman Jewison: I think we're all products of our environments, where we grew up, what we read, what was inculcated into us. Also, I had the opportunity to be in the Canadian Navy at the end of WW II. When I was on leave, I hitchhiked across the United States. Canadians are always interpreting the United States for the rest of the world because we share the longest undefended border of any two countries in the world. I think it's a fascination, a love-hate relationship. It was my first experience with

apartheid when I hitchhiked all through Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. I saw people who couldn't sit on the same bus, drink from the same fountain, go get a cup of coffee at Woolworth's, and yet they were being asked to give their lives for their country in defense of this society. And I didn't think that was fair. Also, I grew up with people calling me "Jewie" and "Jewboy" and found out I wasn't Jewish! (laughs) But

I've been searching for my own Jewishness all my life, and wound up in Yeshivas in Israel, and interpreting Fiddler on the Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar, trying to explain to the rest of the world what it's like to be Jewish! (laughs) Like Topol said, I know more about Judaism than most Jews. We're all products of our own history, as people. When you're attacked, or you're pushed, you push back, and you start studying why, and how. I wanted to make The Hurricane 10 years ago, when I read about it in Sports Illustrated. I think that the reason that maybe this film can work now, is because I didn't think anyone was going to come see In the Heat of the Night, or A Soldier's Story. I didn't know how I was going to tell this story or how it would work. As Bobby Kennedy once told me, "Timing is everything" in life, in art, and in politics. This story says to me: "Hate got me in here. Love's gonna bust me out." Hate breeds prejudice, which breeds war, which breeds murder. Now there's nothing new about that. That's what God was saying, that's what Christ was saying, that's what Gandhi was saying, that's what Martin Luther King was saying, that's what Malcolm X was saying, that's what

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—12

Krishna Murdhi was saying, and that's what Rubin Carter is saying! So maybe the time is right for us to analyze that again. It was refreshing to see a socially conscious film again. Well, we've moved away from that, unfortunately. The only reason this got made is because of Beacon Pictures. Universal released it, but it's an independently made film. Universal wasn't really that excited about it, otherwise they would've made it themselves. These sorts of films aren't easily made. Every studio in town passed on A Soldier's Story until I said I'd do it for nothing! We only made it for about $5 million, shot it in Arkansas. We also had the benefit of then-governor Bill Clinton who got me 600 African-American National Guard troops for the marching scenes. I never could have afforded that number of extras. He said "Don't worry about it. We'll call out the National Guard and send the white boys home." (laughs) So President Clinton helped me get that film made because he believed that it was important socially. So I'm politically motivated as a person, but I also did The Hurricane because I think it's a wonderfully dramatic, compelling story. I try to make my films as entertaining as possible. If I wanted to make messages, I'd do documentaries. This is the second time you've worked with Denzel. Could you talk about what it's like collaborating with him? It was wonderful working with him again, because I've always admired him as an artist. But he really wanted to do this picture and for a director, there isn't anything better than having an actor who is totally committed to film, not for his career, not for the money, not doing it for any other reason than he has to do it. He has to play that part! So the two of us really had a great time making this film, because we were both really committed to Rubin. It was amazing because, especially with the scenes in jail, Denzel even started to sound like Rubin, in addition to looking like him. He just became him! He even had Rubin's fighting style down. Denzel has a great gift. I think Denzel is at the peak of his talent in this picture, and it wasn't easy. We were reaching for some pretty difficult moments. You mentioned Bobby Kennedy earlier. How well did you know him? I met Bobby skiing in Sun Valley when I was young. I

supported his campaign here and was supposed to meet with him at 10:30, the night he was assassinated. I had Melina Mercouri with me, whom he very much wanted to meet. So we were on our way down to meet him at John Frankenheimer's house when we heard. It was part of the reason I left America in 1970. I spent the next eight years working out of London, making films in Yugoslavia, Israel, and Germany. Then, in 1978 I moved back to Canada. Let's talk about your background. I was born and raised in Toronto. My dad ran a clothing store and post office. I had one older sister. I was always performing, poetry readings and things like that, from the time I was about six. I don't know why, either. I always loved dramatic storytelling. Was there one film that really grabbed you as a kid,

where you said "This is for me"? Well, I started in the theater, as an actor, then got into live television with the BBC in London, so television was like a miracle to me. But when I was a kid, I used to go to the movies for 10 cents on Saturday, then I'd act out the whole movie for a penny! (laughs) I guess it was an obsession with storytelling. I remember Gunga Din as one of the great movies for me. And I

also remember Rose-Marie, with Nelson Eddy playing a Mountie! I thought that was so romantic and wonderful! I guess we're all searching for those things that touch us. As you get older, you get a little more particular. I think directors are a little like orchestra conductors. We get better as we get older, as long as you still have all your marbles and are still committed. But I don't know if they believe that in Hollywood. (laughs) Who are some of the other filmmakers that influenced you as you got older. All the works of David Lean, John Huston. William Wyler was my great idol, because he could take a bad script and make a mediocre picture. He could take a mediocre script and make a good picture. He could take a good script and make a great picture! This guy could never miss. His ability to tell a story on film was unparalleled. Willy told me that there's no difference between genres. In a musical you're telling a story where you're being helped by the music, and if you can make it believable, that the person who's singing the song is really feeling those emotions, then all you've done is taken the musical form and added it

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—13

to the story. But he didn't believe that there was any big difference between comedy and drama, except that comedy was more difficult because it required a greater discipline on the part of the actors and the director. Willy had a confidence that really impressed me. I think Howard Hawks had it, too, and I think Frank Capra had it, George Stevens had it, William Wellman had it, Billy Wilder had it, and Fred Zinnemann had it. I came in contact with all these people when I was very young, and learned from them. I sat at Willy Wyler's feet, because I was coming to film from the outside, coming from live television, so it was important for me to spend as much time as I could with the giants. A lot of this business is about passing down. And collaboration. Absolutely! As a director, you get a lot of help, like I did from (cinematographer) Roger Deakins on The Hurricane. I had to tell Roger how I saw this story in order for him to make that happen, because only he can make that happen. Directors stand back and watch the cameraman make it happen. I really believe that films are made by writers, directors, cameramen, and editors. Those are the key storytellers, because all of them are involved in telling the story. The closer those four people work, the more they become one. If you take hands and form a circle, you are now one. That's what the North American Indians said, because there's something about becoming one. The tribe, the family. Making a film requires the individual artists to take hands, and form this circle, and become one with the work, because the work is what's important, so the film is the result of this closeness. And the look, and image and vision of the film has to come from the director, but he's only a part of the circle. How much actual direction do you give? It depends on the actor. Certain actors know exactly what they want and what they're doing, certain actors don't. But again, it all comes down to believability. If they're believable, leave it alone. If they're not, then maybe youíd better take them aside, and whisper to them. And maybe you can help them, who knows? Maybe you spotted it. But there are no rules. You got to work twice with Steve McQueen. Tell us about him. He could string you out there. He was street smart. He was shrewd. He wasn't highly intellectual. He was Peck's Bad Boy. I used to call him "Spanky." (laughs) Steve was

always looking for a father. I told him "I can't be your father, but I can be your older brother, who went to college. And I'll look out for you. And I want you to believe that I'll look out for you. So you continue to take apart the Volkswagen engine over there, and I'll look out for you." He looked at me and said "You're twistin' my

melon, man!" (laughs) I never knew what he was saying, he was so hip! (laughs) I got him to the point where he never looked at the dailies and he trusted me. I think it was a relationship of trust. I didn't want him for Thomas Crown, you know. He convinced me that he was right for it, and as a result, brought a lot of interesting stuff to that part. He'd never worn a tie in a film, and here he was playing a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of

Dartmouth, a Boston Brahmin with beautifully tailored English suits and he'd never done that before. He was very easy to direct, too. The problem was, if he would see that you were insecure about something, he'd go in for the kill. He was always looking for weakness, so I made sure I was very secure around him. Did you see the remake of Thomas Crown? No, I couldn't bring myself to. But I like John McTiernan's work and I heard it was very good. The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! is a great film, both as a straight comedy and a very pointed political satire. It's the only film I've made that's become part of the congressional record, as a plea for coexistence at a time in history when the word "détente" wasn't even being used. It's also the only film I've made where its first screening was for the Vice President of the United States, and this huge group of diplomats and dignitaries, and its second two weeks later, was screened at the Soviet Film Workers Union in Moscow, and I couldn't even get back into the country after I went to Russia! (laughs) I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be there. I got my visa in London because I was traveling under a Canadian passport. As a Canadian, I had made this film for Americans and for Russians. Again, as Canadians, we're always the observers, interpreting America for the rest of the world because we're the most like you. Tell us about In the Heat of the Night. Did you know going into it what a groundbreaking film it was going to be?

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—14

No. I think it was an important film for its time. I think the timing was right, as Bobby Kennedy said. He told me, "This is a very important film." I didn't think anyone was going to come to see it. There were newspapers that wouldn’t take the ad in certain cities. When you're making a film that has a social comment, I think it ís important that it be at a time that people want to discuss it, and that you never really know. It's instinct. I was kind of surprised when people reacted to it in such a strong way. Then the nice thing that happened was The New York Film Critics gave it their Best Picture award, and when I accepted the award at Sardi's who was presenting it, but Senator Robert Kennedy, from New York. As he gave it to me, he whispered "See, I told you the timing was right, Norman." But I don't think anyone really knows what the reaction to a film is going to be. With The Hurricane, we showed it for the first time as a work in progress at the Toronto Film Festival. It was agreed that we'd show it there because it has such a strong Canadian connection, but because it was a rough cut, no critics were allowed to attend. So I didn't know how people were going to react. Would you believe we got a six-minute standing ovation?! I was in a total state of shock and panic! I thought maybe it was an aberration because it was a hometown crowd. You actually shot most of In the Heat in Illinois, not the south. Except for three sequences shot in Tennessee: the cotton-picking stuff and the scene in the big southern mansion. Sidney didn't want to go south of the Mason-Dixon line with the political climate being the way it was then. We shot most of it in a little town called Sparta, Illinois. It wasn't easy. Tell us about Rollerball. Rollerball was my first, and only, film about the future, the not too distant future. I tried not to get caught up in the technology too much. I wanted to isolate the areas in which I would work. I found the BMW building in Munich, which was perfect, as our main location. Its design was very ahead of its time. We were the first ones to use identity cards to get into places and all that sort of thing which is quite commonplace today. It was an interesting film to do from a political aspect, because it was a film about a world where political systems had failed and multinational corporations had taken over. It deals with violence used as entertainment for the masses,

which goes back to the Circus Maximus. I think when you use violence for entertainment, you're getting pretty low on the human scale. (laughs) I think it turned out to be a pretty interesting film, very stylized, packed a wallop. In Europe it became a cult film, whereas in America a lot of the critics went after it as being exploitative, of just being about a violent game. Legend has it when the cameras stopped rolling, James Caan and the other actors played rollerball for real. (laughs) Yeah, they kind of got caught up in it. I was always terrified someone was going to get killed. We had a few accidents, so I was frightened all the time we were shooting.

F.I.S.T. was an interesting film. It was Joe Eszterhas' first script. He spent about six years researching the Teamsters when he was at Rolling Stone. The problem is, there weren't that many people interested in the Labor Movement in 1977! (laughs) It was a hard film to sell because of that, but it was a pretty strong picture.

Tell us about Moonstruck. I was kind of tracking a writer named John Patrick Shanley, who we used to call "the bard of the Bronx." He'd written a lot of great one act plays. All his stuff was familial, always Catholic, and very much New York. I don't think there's anyone who has an ear for dialogue like Shanley does. He'd written this script called “The Bride and the Wolf,” and by the time I got it, there were lots of coffee stains on it. It had been around. Lots of people felt it was too much like a play, which it was. So I asked him if he wanted to work on it, which he did. We worked about five or six weeks on it, changed the title, added a little more poetry to it, a little more cinema, and the rest is history. I gave it to Alan Ladd, Jr. at the Toronto Film Festival. Cher was my first choice for the lead. It's probably one of the best-cast films I've done. Every actor I wanted, I got. We shot most of it in Toronto, again. There's lovely use of opera in the film, which I love, of Puccini. In fact, the whole film is a bit like an opera. I love that film, itís full of energy and life. It's so Italian! (laughs) You worked with Judy Garland early on in your career. What was she like?

Jewison—MOONSTRUCK—15

Judy had more comebacks than anyone in show business, and I was there at the last one. It was just called Judy, and was after the Carnegie Hall album. She'd never done television before. I think it was one of my most exciting experiences in live television, because it was like capturing quicksilver. We had to deliver two other stars, or they wouldn't go ahead with the show. So we got Frank Sinatra. I called him, and I was just a kid, I was very nervous, and I called him in Palm Springs and asked him if he'd come to rehearsal. (laughs) So he says "Okay kid, I'll be there." I said, "You know she likes to work at night, so could you come at seven at night?" He laughed and said "I said I'd be there." I said "Bring Dean Martin, will you?" (laughs) And I hung up, and sure enough, they came in the limo, both of them, and they worked 'til midnight. It was a wonderful experience. She had her last big comeback, and

out of that, they wanted to put her on every week, which was a disaster! (laughs) I came in the next year and produced ten of the shows, but it was just too much for her. That was the story of her life. People always pushed her, exploited her. Any advice for first-time directors? Always remember that it's a collaboration between yourself, your cinematographer, your editor, your writer, and your cast. Remember the idea of the circle and try to keep that circle together. Always make a film for the right reason, because you have to. Because you believe in it. Always believe in yourself and your own vision. Never let anyone else tell you that a film can't be done, or that you can't do it, because it can and you can.

ONLY THREE MORE IN THE FALL 2016 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXXIII: Nov 22 Andrei Tarkovsky The Sacrifice 1986

Nov 29 Alfonso Arau Like Water for Chocolate 1992 Dec 6 Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck The Tourist 2010

CONTACTS:...email Diane Christian: engdc@buffalo.edu…email Bruce Jackson bjackson@buffalo.edu...for the series schedule, annotations, links and updates: http://buffalofilmseminars.com...to subscribe to the weekly email informational

notes, send an email to addto list@buffalofilmseminars.com....for cast and crew info on any film: http://imdb.com/ The Buffalo Film Seminars are presented by the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Dipson Amherst

Theatre, with support from the Robert and Patricia Colby Foundation and the Buffalo News.