William Friedkin talks about 'Citizen Kane' with NPR

[RayKelly]

Speaking with NPR about his favorite films, William Friedkin had this to say about "Citizen Kane."

Citizen Kane

Friedkin's final pick is Orson Welles' famous film inspired by the newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, Citizen Kane.

"There's a lot of controversy about the writing," Friedkin says. "Most of the script was written by Herman J. Mankiewicz, but the vision behind the film is Orson Welles.

"It was his first film. He was 25 years old, and he revolutionized world cinema. You can mark the change in cinema from before Citizen Kane to after Citizen Kane because it synthesized everything in terms of technique that came before, and it pointed the way to the future."

Friedkin says the film continues to reveal new insights with every view.

"I've seen [it] almost 200 times. ... Even though I now know how every shot was made, I continue to see details that I hadn't noticed before. Little touches here and there, almost like those great Islamic tapestries that you see that are filled with so many details, yet you can stand back and look at the overall and be wowed."

Of all the films he mentioned, Friedkin says, it's Welles' masterpiece that inspires him the most.

"I hope to one day — I'm now 76 years old — but I hope one day to make a film that could be mentioned in the same sentence with Citizen Kane."

Rerad all of his picks at http://www.npr.org/2012/07/24/156935341/watch-this-william-friedkins-unlikely-inspirations

[Colmena]

This may be OT,
but in regard to Friedkin I have to say that the scene of the truck driving across the bridge in his "Sorcerer" (a remake of Cluzot's "Wages of Fear") stands as one the most tense and intense action scenes I've ever witnessed on film.

I have not seen it since it came out... and that was many years ago.

[ToddBaesen]

It's nice that Friedkin speaks so well of CITIZEN KANE, but on the other hand I find it rather strange he and Francis Coppola reportedly wouldn't support Peter Bogdanovich in the seventies, when Bogdanovich wanted to get Paramount and the Director's Company to back an Orson Welles film.

With all three principal directors of the Director's Company standing behind Welles, Paramount would have likely gone ahead. But according to then Paramount executive Peter Bart, Friedkin and Coppola said "No" to the projected Welles film.

[Glenn Anders]

Todd: An ironic twist is that, when you, Larry French, and I interviewed Peter Bogdanovich at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, he was supremely confident about at least two things: 1) The legal difficulties around THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND would be cleared away, "in a year or so," and he would edit and steer the picture to a safe berth at Showtime; 2) His next immediate project would be a film adaptation of Tracy Letts' award winning Broadway production of Killer Joe.

Several years later, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND molders in a couple of vaults, but 76 year-old William Friedkin's comeback film of CRAZY JOE, starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsh, Gina Gershon, and Juno Temple opens to smash reviews tomorrow. It is an audacious film, not unlike in some ways the thrust of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, a picture Welles himself might have liked to bring forth today. Welles, of course, would have handled the subject with more taste and humanity.

We live among sad ironies.

Glenn

[Le Chiffre]

An ironic twist is that, when you, Larry French, and I interviewed Peter Bogdanovich at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, he was supremely confident about at least two things: 1) The legal difficulties around THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND would be cleared away, "in a year or so,"
Several years later, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND molders in a couple of vaults

Glenn, I heard Gary Graver say pretty much the same thing about 20 years ago. I stopped waiting a few years after that.

the scene of the truck driving across the bridge in his "Sorcerer" (a remake of Cluzot's "Wages of Fear") stands as one the most tense and intense action scenes I've ever witnessed on film.

I agree with you on that Colmena. SORCERER is a terrific film that was strangely abused for not being quite as great as Clouzot's original. Friedkin paid the price for trying to be a maverick too.

It's nice that Friedkin speaks so well of CITIZEN KANE, but on the other hand I find it rather strange he and Francis Coppola reportedly wouldn't support Peter Bogdanovich in the seventies, when Bogdanovich wanted to get Paramount and the Director's Company to back an Orson Welles film.

Todd, I remember reading an interview with Friedkin around the time THE EXORCIST came out, in which he said CITIZEN KANE was one of his favorite movies, but that he didn't care for any of Welles's other films. He even said that he "couldn't even relate the intelligence that made KANE with the intelligence that made THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS."

Jump ahead 30 years, and Friedkin was cited by Vanity Fair's Ambersons article as being a "card carrying member of the Ambersons fan club", who was obsessed with wanting to track down that Rio print. How things change.

[ToddBaesen]

I always say, Friedkin made a big mistake in not having Bernard Herrmann score THE EXORCIST. It would be considered a classic if Herrmann has scored the film... just look at VERTIGO and KANE and AMBERSONS. Foolishly Friedkin made demands on Herrmann which he would never accept, and of course he didn't write the score. Instead we got Tubular Bells, which must have been the low point for me at the Olympic Games.

[Glenn Anders]

True, I agree, Todd: And as we saw later at SF's Castro Theater (in slightly different parallax views), Mr. Friedkin was not ready to hide his ego or perceived influence at Warner Brothers. Still, three years later, his KILLER JOE, though with some mixed reviews, is receiving praise, especially for his handling of the performances. But we have heard practically nothing more from Peter Bogdanovich, nothing of course about THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.

[Happy Hour at the Granada Hotel, Friday, 4 o' clock?? Preparation for Jason's ("ice cream social") Birthday Bash on Sonday.]