“The American Film Is, For The Most Part, Adapted From Comic Books And Video Games Now”

May 25, 2012 in Excerpts, Film, Urban Studies | Permalink

A couple of questions from William Friedkin’s new Ask Me Anything on Reddit about the differences between filmmaking in the ’60s and ’70s and today:

What’s the biggest change you’ve had to adapt to in your years of film making?

IAmWilliamFriedkin: Really, for all filmmakers. The limited scope of the kind of films that can be made.

When I started making films in the 60s and 70s, it was a much more personal cinema than it is now. The American film is, for the most part, adapted from comic books and video games now. Not exclusively, but for the most part.

It’s not an obstacle, it’s really a change in the zeitgeist. It’s a change of what people are interested in, and a change of what studios want.

There was more of a variety of films being made in the 70s and there was less competition from other media- but today there’s enormous competition.

If you were an aspiring director today how much harder do you think it would be to crack it as a film maker? 

IAmWilliamFriedkin: It’s much easier today to get a film made than it was a while ago. The studios are really run by a lot of young people and they’re more apt to look at films that people post on YouTube or something like a short film done for a festival- then they hire this director to do a major feature.

In the 70s and before, you really had to work your way up through all these ranks. There were these long apprenticeships, but today, someone who wants to make films can go out and buy a camera- shoot something- post it on YouTube and elsewhere and if there’s true talent there, it’s possible that their work can be discovered and they can make that jump into feature filmmaking.”

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