George Hickenlooper Interviews Dennis Hopper
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( cr a f t ) PHOTO BY: Kate McCallum Kate BY: PHOTO WALKING BETWEEN The Feature Writer as Documentarian George Hickenlooper interviews Dennis Hopper An Interview with Award-Winning Writer-Director George Hickenlooper by Kate McCallum t’s somewhere in the summer of 1988 in and the making of Apocalypse Now. He’s Prior to that, I was scraping by writing Venice, California. I’m standing quietly credited as writer-director on the follow- liner notes for adult films at a company Ibehind my affable Pasadena neighbor, ing documentaries: Picture This: The Times called Image Entertainment. They were a George Hickenlooper, as he interviews the of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City; Monte laserdisc distribution company trying to legendary actor Dennis Hopper for what Hellman: American Auteur; and the feature become legitimate by licensing mainstream will eventually become Art, Acting and the films: The Killing Box, Lowlife, Dogtown, titles from the studios. Having studied at Suicide Chair, George’s first documentary. The Big Brass Ring; and as a director of the Yale and worked on the Yale Daily News, George had asked me to take still photos of features Persons Unknown and The Man I used my journalistic skills to get access the shoot; and, of course, I jumped at the From Elysian Fields. The latter was released to the film directors because the laserdiscs opportunity. Between clicking off shots, I last fall by Samuel Goldwyn Films to spec- in 1987 were a new medium, and directors listened as George questioned this famous tacular reviews. Roger Ebert cited it as being loved them. This was the dawn of ancillary actor, and was very impressed with the one of the best films of 2002. George also material, which is now very common on intelligence of his questions and the ease he produced, directed and edited the short film DVDs; so I knew that if I went to a direc- exuded while he carried on the interview. As Some Folks Call It a Slingblade, which went tor and asked if I could do an interview, I I watched and listened, I had an intuitive on to become the feature film by Billy Bob would get access. knowing that George was going to realize Thornton. His next project is directing the I interviewed people like Oliver Stone, his dreams of becoming a storyteller in the feature Diary for Columbia Pictures. Louis Malle—he even came to my office on film medium. Hollywood Boulevard himself because he CUT TO: scr(i)pt: You started your career writing and loved this technology. They loved the art. Present day. A post-production house, directing documentaries. Was this intentional? I shot Dennis Hopper on video. That was somewhere in the heart of Hollywood. I’m George Hickenlooper: Absolutely not. I the first thing I did, and then, armed with standing quietly behind George once again. fell into it accidentally. I always intended these interviews, I was able to talk Peter George is deep in the mix of his latest docu- to make fictional films. I had made student Bogdanovich into doing the documentary. mentary Mayor of Sunset Strip, a feature- films in high school and college. I came to [The project] was initially meant to be an length exposé examining the history of fame Los Angeles after having graduated from EPK (electronic press kit); but the narra- through the eyes of pop star impresario and Yale and worked for Roger Corman with tive throughline was told from the point radio DJ, Rodney Bingenheimer. the hope of finding a place working in of view of his estranged wife, Polly Platt. It Since that day in 1988, George has fictional film. Through Roger I met Peter turned into a sort of visceral deconstruction been prolific. He authored the book Reel Bogdanovich, and, ultimately, was able to of Peter’s life ... I think much to his dismay. Conversations, has written and directed sort of con my way into doing a documen- That project led to Hearts of Darkness. (and even acted in) several documentaries tary about the making of The Last Picture and features and was awarded an Emmy® Show while [Bogdanovich] was shooting scr(i)pt: How did you get involved with for directing the documentary Hearts of Texasville. [Picture This] was my first fea- Hearts of Darkness? Darkness, the story of Francis Ford Coppola ture-length documentary. GH: Eleanor Coppola had shot all this 24 s c r ( i ) p t scriptmag.com (2003) MAY/JUNE s c r ( i ) p t 25 ( cr a f t ) footage in the Philippines in 1976 while her in the sense that you’re trying to tell a story scr(i)pt: Can you speak about the writing husband was shooting Apocalypse Now. She that emotionally moves people, and at the process for documentaries? had seen my Bogdanovich documentary. She same time is informational. GH: It’s basically like writing a really long didn’t feel that she had the wherewithal to do In a documentary, obviously, you’re taking research paper. I apply my journalistic back- [a documentary] by herself, so I was brought material and you’re creating a story out of ground when I interview a subject. Let’s on by George Zaloom, the producer, who the material. It’s almost like sculpting out of talk about Mayor of Sunset Strip. I was inter- had a company called ZM Productions. clay—whereas making a fictional film is like ested in making a film about this character, having blueprints and building an architec- Rodney Bingenheimer; but I was also inter- scr(i)pt: They had already set up a deal some- tural structure. ested in Rodney becoming a doorway to where? This is my third feature-length documen- exploring a much larger question of celeb- GH: Yes, they had the deal set up at tary, and I find it more creatively intensive rity. Knowing Rodney’s accomplishments, Showtime. Originally, it was meant to be a and very laborious, but rewarding. You really I saw him as a metaphor for American one-hour TV special. Once I got involved, are creating magic out of nothing; it’s like culture at the beginning of the 21st century. we went through all the material; and we sculpting in that sense. You really come to We have become a culture that is completely realized what we had. We talked them into appreciate and understand the power of the obsessed by celebrity, and I wanted to ask: upping the budget and turning it into a medium, the power of montage—which Why is that? I think it has a lot to do with feature. [Hearts of Darkness] was released is really cinema. [Documentary making] is the breakdown of the nuclear family, and theatrically and premiered at the Cannes one of the plastic arts, but montage editing fragmentation of society and religion, and Film Festival. I think it aired on Showtime at is what sets it apart because you’re manipu- all that; but I was trying to address all these midnight one night before it was released. lating time, and also the perception of questions through Rodney’s life. space. You really get a sense of filmmaking’s Through Rodney I had access to all these scr(i)pt: And you won an Emmy for that? strength through making documentaries, as pop stars and celebrities; so I would ask GH: Yes. opposed to fictional film where it’s a little these questions relevant to this theme I was more linear in the process. You start with a trying to deconstruct, and I would interview scr(i)pt: What would you say is the primary script. You shoot the script; and if the script a subject and ask them all these questions difference between documentaries and fictional doesn’t work, then sometimes you have to about the phenomenon of celebrity. That features? apply some documentary methods to make a subject itself is completely relative to any GH: They are both the same, and they are fictional piece work. question about life and death. Such a broad both completely different. They’re the same subject, it’s a sort of function of human exis- (2003) MAY/JUNE s c r ( i ) p t 25 ( cr a f t ) scr(i)pt: Then you and Chris took this project script wasn’t taken as far as it could be, so I to whom for financing? introduced a major character, the Sean Astin GH: A single investor. You never know character. That was my contribution. who you’re going to meet in Hollywood. I was single and going to this bar called The scr(i)pt: Can you talk about the Big Brass Atlantic all the time, and I met Tommy Ring? Perna there, who was bartending. I told GH: It was an unproduced Orson Welles’ him I had this idea for a documentary and script. I loved the original screenplay. he said, “I can get you money.” Tommy My great uncle had been a Senator and introduced me to a very supportive friend of Governor of the state of Iowa, and his his, and he’s been financing the movie over private life was very different from his the last five years. We plan to get distribu- public life, so I was very interested in that tion for it. We’ll finish it and probably have milieu—in the political world where you a premiere this summer at the Hollywood have to be someone completely different Writer-director George Hickenlooper Cinerama Dome. There are a lot of major in the public eye.