by Frank Calvillo
Are there really that many filmmakers on the same level as Brian De Palma who have succeeded in making one stirring and dynamic film after another? Highly doubtful. No other director, to my knowledge anyhow, springs to mind as having borrowed so heavily from artists of the past while putting his own unique stamp on his work, branding it unmistakably DePalma. In the recently-released documentary De Palma, the filmmaker engages in an open recollection about his personal life and his legendary work for a film experience which will delight many a cinephile.
The project began rather simply in 2010 with filmmakers Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow simply wanting to sit down with De Palma and record him telling various anecdotes as a way for the two to test out a new digital camera. What resulted is now an in-depth look at the iconic director’s vast library of titles and his unorthodox and eye-opening approach to filmmaking.
Like most documentaries, De Palma begins with his early childhood and upbringing in an upper-middle class family which details his parents’ tumultuous marriage, his college education, and the way he discovered a knack for directing through his love of cinema.
However it’s the moments throughout De Palma which see the film’s namesake divulging the inspirations behind his most treasured technical secrets where the film really comes alive. Touches such as split screens and long tracking shots have become the director’s trademarks, and hearing him talk about his own ideological approach to each one is never anything short of fascinating. De Palma has spent most of his career being compared (in differing ways) to the legendary Alfred Hitchcock in terms of theme and technique. Here, De Palma more than acknowledges the comparisons full on and explains how he’s infused such influences with his own brand of storytelling.
The most surprising element of De Palma for me was not the juicy and interesting behind-the-scenes info that accompanied every film the director revisited during the course of the interview. Instead, it was how much of an affable personality he turned out to be. Although I’ve seen him interviewed numerous times before, this was the first time the director presented himself in such a comfortable and relatable way. Perhaps it was because he was surrounded by two young filmmakers he respected and admired that he felt relaxed enough to let down his guard, but it was a surprising joy to discover that the helmer of Scarface and Carrie is actually an accessible genius.
On the surface, De Palma is not the most interesting of documentaries unless you are a cinephile who has lovingly poured over all of the subject’s work as Baumbach and Paltrow so clearly have. There are no interesting angles, not much in the way of music, and aside from the actors seen in clips of his films, De Palma is the documentary’s only commentator. And yet, for lovers of film who have followed and admired the director’s career, hits and misses alike, there will certainly be no other documentary this year that will rival the joy and power of De Palma.
Please enjoy ten selected highlights of the many behind-the-scenes stories told by the director himself.
The Wedding Party– The director recalls how an uninteresting shot featuring the main characters standing in front of a shrub helped open his eyes to the many different technical ways to tell a story.
Phantom of the Paradise– De Palma shares how the film might have been more successful had he not had to fork over a substantial amount of licensing fees for some of the material used throughout the film.
The Fury– The exciting prospect of name actors such as Kirk Douglas, a bigger budget, and a major studio made De Palma feel like a kid in a candy store, despite the fact that he wasn’t overly excited about the plot.
Body Double– Beyond being an exercise in voyeurism, the director talks about his interest in making a mainstream film about porn and capitalizing on the music video craze at the same time.
Casualties of War– De Palma talks about the mental anguish over the film’s subject matter as well as Sean Penn’s volatile attitude towards Michael J. Fox, which included whispering the words “television actor” into his ear during one take of a crucial scene.
The Bonfire of the Vanities– The most visible bomb of his career happened, the director insists, because of the decision to make the central character a likable guy. However, De Palma insists the movie works if you haven’t read the famous novel its based on. Agreed.
Raising Cain– The director talks about switching gears during filming by focusing on John Lithgow’s madman storyline over Lolita Davidovich’s romantic one midway through, resulting in a fascinating film.
Mission: Impossible– Dueling screenwriters proved the bane of De Palma’s existence with original writer David Koepp favoring plot and subsequent writer Robert Towne going for character, with compromises being made up until the film’s final finale.
Snake Eyes– The sacrificing of the director’s proposed original ending featuring a massive tidal wave (shown in this documentary) for a more serviceable, if less thrilling, one brings fans of the film to tears when it’s realized what could have been.
Redacted– De Palma shares the story of the film’s actress Zahra Zubaidi and the immense backlash she faced from her country as a result of appearing in his film, which inspired the director to bring her to America and put her through school in an effort to help her achieve her goals.
