Robert Benton Interview
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| 04:38:54 21.6 |
Sound Bite: Robert Benton
I had read Alice Burnet’s extraordinary novel about 4 years ago and loved it and ever since Kramer vs Kramer I’ve been looking to do a film that about love but not strictly romantic love and when I read Charles Baxter’s wonderful novel I thought this was it, it was not available and than about two years ago uhm I found that Tom Rosenberg and Gary ? owned it and I had done Human Stain with them and I called about it and they had already assigned the screen play to Alice Burnett and worked with them on it and they sent me a draft I thought he’d done a wonderful job. And he had made certain decisions about the novel that I thought were extraordinary and I said I would like to do it. |
| 04:40:05 92.6 |
Sound Bite: Robert Benton
I think it’s more difficult now to get a story about ordinary people uhm green lit. The advantage of of a place like lakeshore is that they sent say there gonna do it and they do it, they don’t go to 20 other people and they don’t go through a bureaucracy, Tom and Gary make up there mind and they do it and they stand behind there work. (talks) I think, well in the 70’s studios used to do these kinds of movies but now studios don’t do these movies anymore and they are done you know by independence and so that you find that the independent films and the places like lakeshore are the places you go to make movies that are more personal movies. |
| 04:41:11 158.6 |
Sound Bite: Robert Benton
I think the sad thing about movies now is that less and less are there films for actors, more and more are films that are effects driven or action driven and and to have films about character is is is trickier now to get them done (talks) I mean, I don’t know about that, I’m not sure if I mean high profile I mean simply to get to get I, there’s a joke that says that that not is…you couldn’t get Kramer vs Kramer made today and I think that that there’s a an opening to a kind of middle class movie that’s personal, that’s not a movie for the 14-21 year olds a movie for an older audience that uhm I think there’s a market for that, I think the independents have taken that one. |
