You really can’t argue that filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich is one of best directors of his era. Responsible for films like “The Last Picture Show,” “Paper Moon,” and “What’s Up, Doc?” to name a few, the director has experienced the highest highs that Hollywood has to offer. And of course, he’s also experienced some of the lowest lows, particularly in his personal life, which is covered extensively in a new Vulture interview.
The interview covers Bogdanovich’s entire career, as well as his storied personal affairs with various actresses and other women. If you’re only familiar with the filmmaker’s actual career output, then clearly you only know about a tenth of the whole story.
In one line, the filmmaker is able to sum up the bulk of the interview, when he says, “Well, I like women. I don’t know if I’m particularly good at women.”
Many of Bogdonavich’s films have had strong female characters, with some of the best actors ever on screen. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the filmmaker is the best at understanding women, which he readily admits.
Speaking about one of his early affairs, with actress Cybill Shephard, you can see why there has always been drama surrounding the filmmaker’s personal life. “I was very attracted to her,” said the director about his “The Last Picture Show” star. “The first shot in the movie theater, when she comes up the aisle and in her close-up she says, ‘What are y’all doing back here in the dark?’ — just before that, we had been sitting in the theater, and she was in the row ahead of me. I said to her, ‘I don’t know who I want to sleep with more, you or [Shepherd’s character] Jacy.’ She actually blushed, and they said, ‘Okay, we’re ready, Cybill,’ and that shot was done right after that moment.”
If you think it’s surprising just how he made a pass at Shepherd, it’s even more interesting when you hear how he came to cast her. You see, Bogdanovich was married at the time and used his then-wife to find out who this young girl was that he saw on the cover of a magazine.
“[Bogdanovich’s ex-wife Polly Platt] took credit for things she had nothing to do with,” says the director. “What happened was I went to a supermarket to get some toothpicks because I was trying to quit smoking cigarettes, so I would just chew toothpicks. So at the checkout, there was a copy of Glamour, a magazine I had never heard of. On the cover was this girl, and she had a shirt on that said I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU.”
He continues, “But I thought to myself the look on her face belies the sentiment. She doesn’t look like she really loves me in the picture. So I bought the magazine and gave it to my assistant Mae Woods, and I said, ‘Find out who this girl is, would you?’ She was Cybill Shepherd. She gave it to me typed out, and I thought ‘Cybill’ spelled C-Y-B-I-L-L is a bit much.”
What followed was a torrid love affair, which, much like a good deal of Bogdanovich’s relationships, ended badly. And after Cybill Shepherd, there was a litany of women that would come and go from his life. However, one woman that never had a romantic relationship with the filmmaker is Cher. And when you hear him describe his “Mask” star, it’s clear why not.
“Well, she didn’t trust anybody, particularly men. She doesn’t like men,” he said. “That’s why she’s named Cher: She dropped her father’s name. Sarkisian, it is. She can’t act. She won Best Actress at Cannes because I shot her very well. And she can’t sustain a scene. She couldn’t do what Tatum [O’Neal] did in ‘Paper Moon.’
He elaborated, “She’d start off in the right direction, but she’d go off wrong somehow, very quickly. So I shot a lot of close-ups of her because she’s very good in close-ups. Her eyes have the sadness of the world. You get to know her, you find out it’s self-pity, but still, it translates well in movies. I shot more close-ups of her than I think in any picture I ever made.”
If you want to read more about Bogdanovich’s hit-or-miss (but mostly miss) love life, the interview has many, many, MANY more details.
On the film side of things, the director does confirm that he was offered some of the biggest films of all-time, but turned them down, including “Chinatown,” “The Way We Were,” “The Exorcist,” and “The Godfather.” In regards to the latter film, the director said, “No, I didn’t feel I made a mistake. Paramount called and said, ‘We just bought a new Mario Puzo book called ‘The Godfather.’ We’d like you to consider directing it.’ I said, ‘I’m not interested in the Mafia.’”
Bogdanovich gets a little emotional towards the end of the interview when asked if he has had any regrets in his life, where he said, “A lot. I should’ve known more about a lot of things, but I didn’t know things. I just, I don’t know. It’s too sad to talk about.”