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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
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- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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Tag Archives: Dog Day Afternoon
All About Al podcast: Discussing Dog Day Afternoon
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the release of Dog Day Afternoon. I can say, without exaggeration (for once), that Dog Day Afternoon changed my life. I was 13 when I first saw it – on network television ! – … Continue reading
A Personal Memory: or: What Dog Day Afternoon Means to Me
When I was 12 or 13, I saw Dog Day Afternoon one night while I was babysitting, and it changed the course of my life. This is not hyperbole. It is partially responsible for me being who I am today, … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon, Sidney Lumet, Stanley Kramer
9 Comments
Sidney Lumet: Excerpts from Making Movies
It’s Sidney Lumet’s birthday. Here are many excerpts from his classic and invaluable film-making handbook Making Movies: In Murder on the Orient Express, I wanted Ingrid Bergman to play the Russian Princess Dragomiroff. She wanted to play the retarded Swedish … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Al Pacino, Dean Stockwell, Dog Day Afternoon, Faye Dunaway, Ingrid Bergman, Jane Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Marlon Brando, Network, Paul Newman, River Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Running on Empty, Sidney Lumet, William Holden
15 Comments
Peter Labuza Interviews Me for The Cinephiliacs Podcast: We Discuss John Cassavetes’ Opening Night
I had a great time talking with Peter Labuza for his wonderful Cinephiliacs podcast. You can download the episode here. We get into it! We talk about actors, movies, movie stars, John Wayne, Elvis, Judy Garland, gesture – and then … Continue reading
“I am really happy the doc is even getting out on DVD. Y’know, for a forty minute short to come out on DVD is not an every day occurrence.”
A wonderful interview with Richard Shepard, director of the HBO documentary I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale. Five films. Is it possible that John Cazale only made five films? I have written before (here and elsewhere) about the … Continue reading
R.I.P. Dede Allen
Without exaggeration, I can say that Dede Allen changed my life (without me even knowing who she was), and contributed to me making the choices I did. I was always a movie fan, even as a kid, and always into … Continue reading
The Books: “Baby Doll” (Carroll Baker)
Daily Book Excerpt: Entertainment Biography/Memoir: Baby Doll: An Autobiography, by Carroll Baker When I was about 12 years old, I first saw East of Eden, around the same time that I saw Dog Day Afternoon, a movie I didn’t really … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books
Tagged Actors Studio, Al Pacino, Baby Doll, Carroll Baker, Dog Day Afternoon, East of Eden, Eli Wallach, Elia Kazan, entertainment biography, Karl Malden
3 Comments
Fall 1995: Acting Notebook
Going through all these old notebooks – I came across the notebooks I kept during grad school. At first they start out all work, no play … which is interesting in and of itself – but the notebooks I kept … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Personal, Theatre
Tagged Al Pacino, Anton Chekhov, Brian De Palma, Chinatown, Christopher Walken, Dog Day Afternoon, Elia Kazan, Faye Dunaway, Harold Pinter, John Guare, John Strasberg, Johnny Depp, Lee Strasberg, Lili Taylor, Mickey Rourke, Network, Nicholas Mosley, Nijinsky, Olympia Dukakis, Sanford Meisner, Tennessee Williams, Two-Character Play
11 Comments
Four Things
I can’t remember, first of all, where I found this – and I also can’t remember if I’ve done it or not. Oh well. This blog sucks. But it’s fun. Four things I f*cking hate: 1. Coconut/applesauce (right, Tom?) 2. … Continue reading