Posted on April 23, 2014 at 3:59 pm
I’ll be at Ebertfest through Sunday and will update when I can. Tonight I’ll be at the opening event, a screening of “Life Itself,” the crowd-funded documentary about festival founder, Roger Ebert.
Posted on April 4, 2014 at 9:28 am
A year after his death, some of the writers Roger Ebert encouraged remember him with words and pictures. And the love of his life, Chaz Ebert, writes movingly about her year without him.
Posted on March 26, 2014 at 10:00 am
The filmmakers behind “Life Itself,” a documentary about Roger Ebert’s life and legacy, are giving guest hosts control of their @Ebertmovie Twitter account. The hosts will be sharing their memories of Roger Ebert, their favorite reviews, and much more! This morning is my turn. At 8:30pm Eastern/7:30 pm Central I’ll be on twitter as @ebertmovie, tweeting some of my thoughts about Roger and answering questions with the hashtag #ebertchat. Please join me!
Posted on January 29, 2014 at 8:00 am
Flavorwire has a very intriguing list of “abandoned screenplays” by famous writers like Robert Towne (“Chinatown”), the Coen brothers (“Fargo,” “Inside Llewyn Davis”), Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane”), and Kevin Smith (“Clerks”). The one I most wish had actually been made is the film written by Roger Ebert for the Sex Pistols, to be directed by Russ Meyer. I’d say I could only imagine, but I am sure my imagination cannot do justice to what that combination of talent would have produced. The script is here, so you can imagine for yourself.
Posted on January 20, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Rogerebert.com editor Matt Zoller Seitz spoke to Steve James, one of Roger Ebert’s favorite filmmakers, and the man behind the crowd-funded documentary about Ebert, based in part on his autobiography, Life Itself: A Memoir
It seems fitting that two decades after Roger helped breathe commercial life into “Hoop Dreams,” James would return the favor by adapting Roger’s memoir “Life Itself,” and that it would premiere at Sundance, a festival that Roger’s attention helped legitimize.
In addition to telling the story of one man’s life and career, “Life Itself” recounts the decay of Roger’s body in the final months of his life, after the cancer he’d battled for years returned with a vengeance; it includes medical scenes of great frankness, filmed with the encouragement of Roger and his wife Chaz, this site’s publisher. The result is a testament to the fragility of flesh and the transformative effect of love. More than anything else, it’s a record of Roger’s generosity, the effects of which are still being felt.
The interview is a treat to read. My favorite part is when James, one of the people behind the extraordinary “Hoop Dreams,” talks about what he loves about documentaries.
art of the reason that I love doing documentaries is that you start with ideas—and you hope good ideas—about what it’s about and who you’re following and all of that, but if it’s a really great experience it always deviates and deepens as it comes, and is more interesting than anything you could imagine. Because if I could imagine that well, then I should be doing more fiction than docs.
