Conversations with John Schlesinger

October 31, 2005
How does an accomplished historian of Asia (Inventing Japan
) come to write about an Oscar-winning director? Buruma, it turns out, is Schlesinger's nephew—as a small child, he even had a brief cameo in one of his uncle's earliest short productions. Their personal rapport creates a leisurely pace, so it isn't until a third of the way through that the conversation turns to Schlesinger's first major directing effort, 1962's A Kind of Loving
. The veteran director has amusing behind-the-scenes anecdotes about actors like Jon Voight and Laurence Olivier, but a debilitating stroke (Schlesinger died in 2003) ended the talks before he could discuss his final films, including the Madonna vehicle The Next Best Thing
(not, Buruma suggests, that he would have had anything good to say about the experience). Schlesinger feels his limitations keenly—"I've never been a critics' darling," he admits—but offers perceptive insights into the reception of his frank treatment of controversial subjects. In fact, he believed, his most famous film, Midnight Cowboy
(1969), couldn't get made in today's Hollywood, its treatment of homosexuality and male hustling too raw for skittish studios. A fuller consideration of Schlesinger's work is still needed, but these informal dialogues will do until then. Photos.

January 1, 2006
John Schlesinger was the critically acclaimed director of " A Kind of Loving, Billy Liar, Darling, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Far from the Madding Crowd, Midnight Cowboy Marathon Man, The Falcon and the Snowman " and " The Day of the Locust, " starring such acclaimed actors as Alan Bates, Julie Christie, Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, and Laurence Olivier. Buruma, his nephew, talked with him about the movies, growing up Jewish in World War II Europe, and being a gay artist in 1950s London. He asks penetrating, thoughtful questions and is notably good at getting Schlesinger to open up. The book's six sections are respectively concerned with childhood, getting started, breaking in, Schlesinger's British films, liberation, and the director's Hollywood years. In one particularly insightful exchange, Schlesinger contrasts Hoffman's and Olivier's acting styles--Hoffman's physicality versus Olivier's studiousness. A stroke silenced Schlesinger before the final conversations planned could be recorded, and Buruma's last few pages discuss the final poignant moments he shared with his famous uncle. A must for the movie shelves. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)