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The Lost Interview: John Cassavetes
Two decades after his death, a 1985 interview with the grandfather of modern independent cinema reveals new truths
Illustration by Emmanuel Polanco
Author’s Note: Note: Back in 1985, I wrote the preceding interview—greatly expanded from a piece I originally wrote as film critic for The Houston Post—as a spec freelance article. At the time, unfortunately, no one was buying what I was selling. One editor informed me that Cassavetes was “yesterday’s news,” while another admitted to actively disliking the man’s work. So I consigned the manuscript to my archives, where it remained until I unearthed it, and slightly revised it, as a memorial tribute to mark the 20th anniversary of John Cassavetes’ death.
It is early 1985 and John Cassavetes, somehow both casual and intense, sits at a cluttered desk in his office at Burbank Studios, surrounded by blown-up stills from his current effort, Big Trouble. The movie, a comedy now in post-production, is planned as a major summer release by Columbia Pictures. Its stars, many of them in photos surrounding Cassavetes’ desk, include Alan Arkin, Peter Falk, Beverly D’Angelo, Charles Durning and Robert Stack. Cassavetes is smiling, clearly enjoying himself. The assistants who drift in and out of his office with reports on looping and editing are smiling. And, if you can believe the advance word dribbling in from studio people who have seen the rushes, Columbia is smiling a great big corporate smile.
What is wrong with this picture?
After all, this is John Cassavetes, the first Angry Young Man of cinema, the gray eminence of American independent moviemakers, a virtual deity to every film school student who dreams of making a splash outside the Hollywood mainstream. Here is the creator of such rough-edged, defiantly unpolished, semi-improvised dramas as A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Opening Night (1977) and Love Streams (1984), pictures in which life is served up like steak tartare: Raw and not appealing to every taste.
This is the maverick director who never walks near a studio backlot, except when he takes an acting job to supplement his meager production budgets. Here is the iconoclast who, along with his wife and frequent star, Gena Rowlands, has gone deeply into debt many times, to the point of mortgaging his West Coast home, to pay for his handmade projects.
Now this same man is wrapping up work on a Hollywood comedy. No kidding.
As he drives to the St. Moritz in Studio City, seeking a break from post-production and a quiet place to talk, Cassavetes grins wolfishly as he considers his atypical assignment as a Hollywood director for hire. “Well,” he begins, dividing his gaze between the windshield and his passenger, “Peter Falk is a real good friend, for one thing. They called me in the middle of the night and said, ‘How would you like to do this? The producer-writer-director [Andrew Bergman] is exhausted. He finds it too much for him to do all these things. It will be kind of fun if you come on for five weeks and have a good time with Peter and everybody.’ And I said yes immediately, because I wasn’t doing anything else.
“But as it’s turned out,” the legendary indie adds as he pauses for a traffic light, “This is my seventh month. It’s a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.”
But not as difficult as convincing Columbia you were the man for the job, right? Not really, Cassavetes replies. He has worked in the past with the studio, which released his movies Husbands (1970) and Gloria (1980). Despite all the stories of his epic battles against the Hollywood system, he has more than his fair share of supporters and admirers among the production powers that be.
“Oddly enough,” he says, “I grew up with most of the people who are heads of studios. And while they don’t like my kinds of films, when I make ’em, I really never had too much trouble getting a job in a more commercial area. I just don’t want that, usually.
“But this appealed to me,” he continues. “I thought it’d be fun. I’ve never done a comedy before. In fact, they were a little shaken when I told the actors, ‘Look, I’ve never done comedy before—so let’s cut all the laughs out.’ I said, ‘Laughs are easy to come by. Let’s push the story.’”
Bergman’s original screenplay was sort of a comic take on Double Indemnity, with Alan Arkin as a hard-working insurance salesman drawn into a high-stakes scam by a brassy femme fatale (D’Angelo) and her con man “husband” (Falk). Hoping to collect on a special clause in an accidental death policy, the plotters match wits with a straight-laced, ultraconservative insurance executive played by Eliot Ness himself, Robert Stack.
“So far,” Cassavetes says as the restaurant comes into view, “I think the studio likes the picture a lot, oddly enough. I think they have a lot of respect for me. And I have a lot of respect for them in that they’ve gone along with me. They’re rooting for me to be able to accomplish this.
“I’m not saying it’s not dangerous. It is dangerous, because I’m greedy. I don’t want a film that could be my last film—as all films could be—that would be something that could be pigeonholed. I want it to be funny, but I want it to be truly funny. I want it to be something that could happen to somebody.”
Could Big Trouble really be Cassavetes’ swan song as a director? The very idea brings a slight chill to the conversation, causing a frisson that cannot be blamed on a blast of air conditioning as we enter the St. Moritz. Cassavetes remains jocular while we’re at the bar, speaking with mock gravity about the car we left outside with a parking attendant. (“I don’t know if this place really does have valet parking. Maybe that was just some guy who took my keys...”) Then he orders a Coca-Cola, instead of the expected pre-lunch cocktail. (This is in deference to the cirrhosis that already has ravaged his liver and bloated his stomach, and will kill him four years hence. —JL)
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Mr. Peel on 1/29/09 at 4:52 pm
Great article. And since I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with BIG TROUBLE--part of my blog name even comes from it--it’s great to learn a few things about its making. I still enjoy that film, flawed as it is. Thanks for letting me learn a few things about Cassavetes while he was making it.
- Comment by j oliveri on 3/05/09 at 12:41 am
Great interview with a great director, and quite ironic, this being his last. What a talent Mr cassavetes had. Truly a genius.
- Comment by denver criminal lawyers on 6/02/09 at 10:22 am
John Cassavetes is one of my Hollywood idols as he is not only a great American actor but also one of the most accomplished screenwriters and filmmakers.Thanks to the author for posting his image and article that define his personality.
- Comment by netbook cases on 7/14/09 at 7:08 pm
I only wish that people when commenting would stay on topic. It’s out of respect people. Web 2.0 is about contributing not about posting a bunch of useless comments. Please be more considerate of MM. It’s a great site.
- Comment by Mark Ewans on 2/09/10 at 11:11 am
This is just another reason why I like your website. I like your style of writing you tell your stories without out sending us to 5 other sites to complete the story.
car insurance directory- Comment by Handmade rugs on 3/12/10 at 12:32 am
Cassavetes was indeed an American master. His films can be unrelenting, the scrutiny he brings to bear on his living, breathing characters absolutely ruthless and unsentimental. I think it’s wrong to say that he was looking to recreate reality in his films (that’s too facile for a man of his intellect and aesthetic maturity). But his films are filled with more real MOMENTS than anyone else. Some of the scenes and exchanges within Cassavetes’ oeuvre are so intimate, there is an uncomfortable, voyeuristic sensation one experiences while watching them. “Woman on the Verge…” is an entrancing, horrifying film. Cassavetes makes us endure the anguish Gena Rowlands’ character feels every waking moment of her life. It demands its toll, its pound of flesh…and at the end of the movie (many of his movies) there is a sense of being PURGED…
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This story was published in the Winter 2009 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
The Lost Interview: John Cassavetes / Two decades after his death, a 1985 interview with the grandfather of modern independent cinema reveals new truths
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