Waldo Salt (1914-87) weathered more than fifty years as a screen-writer in Hollywood and his credits include successes such as Midnight Cowboy, Serpico and The Day of the Locust. This profile, which includes archive footage of Salt himself, uses film extracts and interviews with Jon Voight, John Schlesinger, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford to probe the subtle art of his writing and the joy he found in the collaborative process of film-making.
Martin Scorsese Directs
From the violent realism of Taxi Driver to the poignant romance of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More and the burning controversy of The Last Temptation of Christ, Scorsese’s uniquely versatile vision has made him one of cinema’s most acclaimed directors. The life and career of this pre-eminent American film-maker are explored in this documentary, which includes an in-depth interview, exclusive footage of him working on Good Fellas and a wealth of clips.
Russell on Russell
Ken Russell’s tongue-in-cheek biopic – entitled Portrait of an Enfant Terrible – is his critique of his own career. The controversial film-maker traces his own life, covering his beginnings as an infant prodigy, his finest hours in the Battle of Britain and his life in entertainment. Lavishly illustrated with clips, the programme displays all the idiosyncracies viewers have come to expect from Russell: irreverence, theatricality and an ever-surprising visual inventiveness.
Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries’ creations, Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, remain two of comedy’s most popular figures. In this programme, the elusive comedian talks at length about the early influences that led him into his extraordinary career. There is library film of Mrs. Everage’s early television performances in Australia, as well as footage of Dame Edna on stage and, naturally, the antipodean superstar appears in person to comment on her alter ego.
David Lean and Robert Bolt
Film director David Lean (1908-91) and screen-writer Robert Bolt (1924-95) collaborated on some of the cinema’s greatest successes, including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor
Zhivago and Ryan’s Daughter. This film was made in 1989 when Bolt, having recovered from a massive heart attack, was working with Lean to develop a feature based on Conrad’s Nostromo. They talk frankly about their working relationship and their friendship, which survived the strains of thirty years in the film business.
Robert Altman
This programme looks at the work of one of American cinema’s most individual and innovative film-makers. Altman is seen on location in Holland working on his film, Vincent and Theo, and talking about his distinctive style and working methods as well as his often difficult relationship with the American film industry. The programme also includes extracts from M.A.S.H., McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Secret Honour and Tanner ’88.
Istvan Szabo
In an interview filmed in his native Hungary, one of Europe’s leading directors, Istvan Szabo, talks about his beliefs, his background and his career. His vision is illustrated with extensive clips from his work, from the early award-winning Father to Hanussen. Lighting cameraman Lajos Koltai talks about his collaboration with the film-maker, as does actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, who was critically acclaimed for his performances in Szabo’s Oscar-winning Mephisto and Colonel Redi.
The Sundance Institute
Sundance is a unique film development unit founded and run by Redford at his ski resort in the Utah mountains, an area he is striving to conserve. Each year, young film-makers are invited to work with professionals in an environment which encourages experiment and is free of the commercial pressures of Hollywood. This programme follows two film-makers during their time at Sundance and shows prime-mover Redford taking part in proceedings as ‘Ordinary Bob’.
Ben Elton
Ben Elton is one of Britain’s most prolific purveyors of TV comedy both as a performer and as a writer, with series such as Blackadder and The Young Ones to his credit. In interview, Elton talks about his career, examining the influences and motivations which drive his writing. The programme includes clips from his comedy shows and his to-camera routines, as well as dramatised extracts from his first novel, Stark.
Lenny Henry
Black comedian Lenny Henry is one of the most popular and successful entertainers in the UK today. He has built up an incredibly broad audience, uniting both young and old, black and white in appreciation of his particular brand of humour. This film takes Lenny back to his home town of Dudley in the West Midlands and uses specially-written comedy sketches, featuring his favourite characterisations, to explore his unique comic talent.