The latest in a series of penetrating talks with great directors, edited by Lloyd Sachs.
Out now from the University Press of Mississippi via Amazon and other reliable sites. Read all about the offbeat career of the great Scottish director Bill Forsyth, the making and afterlife of the much-loved “Local Hero,” “Gregory’s Girl,” “Housekeeping” and other charmingly original films.
“With one unexceptional exception, Bill Forsyth has not made a feature film in more than thirty years – a remarkable development for an artist who made his name knocking out four comic gems over five years in his native Scotland and then adding three Hollywood productions to his resume,” writes Sachs in his introduction. “Over the decades, Forsyth has been asked so frequently why he “went dark” that it would be understandable if he disappeared into the Highlands and was never heard from again.
“Did his disillusionment with Hollywood, where people in authority made “purely emotional decisions instead of interesting rational ones” (as he says in the interview with American critic Gerald Peary) sour him on the business? Were the demands of directing under pressure too much for someone who was more comfortable writing scripts? (“I’m ten times happier not making films than making films,” he told The Times.) Did he raise the white flag out of frustration with viewers’ inability or unwillingness to look beneath his “skew-whiff comic sensibility” and appreciate the deeper themes in his work? “I’ve always had a much darker side than most people have perceived,” he says.
Learn about all the dimensions of this singular artist. Learn how he hooked up with Dire Straits star Mark Knopfler, who did the music for “Local Hero.” Learn why landing Robin Williams as the star of “Being Human” did not prove to be a ticket to Hollywood stardom.
LLOYD SACHS 