This is a raw-footage version of a group interview for some unspecified TV station at a restaurant from 1978 with Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Seymour Cassell and Paul Stewart on the occasion of Opening Night being released.
John Cassavetes essentially invented independent film making. He made the films he wanted to make, hired the people he wanted to hire, worked with the people he wanted to work with, wrote the scripts he wanted to write, etc.....privately financing everything himself. When he ran out of money, he would shut down production, go back to work, make more money...only to resume shooting / production down the road.
Thank you so much for uploading the whole interview! Here is some context on it, from 'Cassavetes on Cassavetes' by Ray Carney: ❝ Prior to the theatrical opening, Cassavetes took out large-scale newspaper ads (some of which were illustrated with a drawing of Myrtle done by Peter Falk). Opening Night opened at the Fox Wilshire on Christmas Day. In the end, the press-packs, the ads and the television appearances were all for nothing. Opening Night fared as poorly as, or even worse than, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie had, playing to almost completely empty houses. In a last-minute effort to get some people into the theater, Cassavetes called up a local Los Angeles television station and told them that he could produce Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Paul Stewart, Seymour Cassel and himself for a group interview if they would agree to do it. The station sent an interviewer and a camera crew, and the five of them sat in a restaurant and talked about Opening Night for almost an hour. Near the end of the session, in anger and frustration, Cassavetes launched into a tirade about the pusillanimity of the city, its viewers and its critics. He was not smiling by this point; his voice was laced with contempt, disgust and weariness. (...) In confirmation of what Cassavetes had said, the interview was never broadcast. Opening Night never got beyond the Fox Wilshire. It closed in mid-February, after seven weeks of playing to almost empty houses in a single theater. Cassavetes simply could not afford to keep advertising and playing it. In bitterness, he vowed that he would never work in Los Angeles again. ❞
Loved watching this interview, but I was surprised that there was no mention of Zohra Lampert's character -- the wife of Ben Gazzara's director character -- one of the key roles in the film.
Yesterday there were artists today there are celebrities, and almost no-one does movies that matter anymore. These people could have been my grandparents and still I believe they are more modern than my own generation and the younger ones as well.
Cassavetes was always so funny in interviews. He would have been a great stand up comedian. His film Rosemary's Baby played up his sense of humour albeit in a dark way.
Mr. Cassavetes is a great actor director who is universal. He touches every element of film entertainment. He is a brilliant screen performer. He is a Silver Screen Idol. He is very real, a blatant realist, a magnificent brilliant medical doctrine of psychiatrist of film making and screen production. His films are of true emotion. His brilliant Film 📽️🎥 making is emotional moving! He is a film icon to be remembered and respected! You are the greatest!
Thank you so much for liberating this whole interview. I know the legend of this U-Matic being rescued from the TV station’s dumpster. The owner of this sole copy was charging extortionate rates for copies - fair enough for certain uses - thus the burn in titles. Got to see the hollywood sucks excerpt at one of Ray Carney’s presentations, always wanted to see the whole thing. Thx again
Wow. I’m just hallway through and this just makes me appreciate and enjoy their work even more. We need people like this today, they are rare. Also, is the interviewer the same interviewer from Film Courage? It sure sounds like her.
I'm surprised Gazzara had time for any engagements between 'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie' -- which he'd done with Cassavetes in 1976 -- and 'Opening Night.'
An accident… A way of saying something that might be different than the normal, conventional, boring way of saying something…because they are dull in their own lives. Nobody’s gonna go to the picture.🎥 Male love ❤️ Love of one’s self. The rotten parts and the good parts. Paul should’ve answered Gena. Needed more respect. He was in “poor taste”. John showed more honesty. Well, that’s not up to us. It’s up to the young ladies. ♥️Say something about a person that was more than, to me than just a face or a figure or a mother or a homemaker or an actress… Like most of us, couldn’t comprehend exactly the meaning of someone that loves you.💔 John is not at all like any man… Take all of your experiences from life…(with John’s writing & filming) I take my experiences from acting to Life♥️ I love speaking for someone else.😁 He knew what the Matrix was……. …was doing something to me that hadn’t been done since the time I worked with Welles. Orson works that way. Even if it’s bad, he says it’s beautiful❤️ John whispered, “Don’t speak, let her start.”
THE FREUDIAN COUCH IN BAR-POSITION ...the unholy trinity of slurred supremacy ...not incoherent, just oblique & opaque. A part of their mystique of unintended obfuscation ...not sure if that s a merit or an oratorial lia/e(?)bility
