AFI 'Conversations' with great moviemakers

If you ask 25 different filmmakers why they became a director, you're sure to get 25 different responses.

For William Friedkin, the man who helmed the 1971 Oscar winner "The French Connection" and the 1973 fright-fest "The Exorcist," the answer was simple: "An actor wants to be controlled; the director wants to control."

That should give you a rough idea of the honesty that plays a leading role in "Conversations at the American Film Institute With the Great Moviemakers: The Next Generation," George Stevens Jr.'s remarkable compendium of 32 interviews conducted at AFI seminars with directors ranging from Steven Spielberg to Nora Ephron, as well as renowned actors (Gregory Peck, Meryl Streep), screenwriters (Neil Simon, Robert Towne) and cinematographers (Janusz Kaminski of "War Horse").

The book is a sequel for Stevens, son of Oscar-winning director George Stevens and a successful producer-director in his own right. Volume One was made up of conversations with directors from "Hollywood's Golden Age"; here most of the focus is on post-1950s filmmakers. The result is a work that will entertain the most avid movie buff and also serve as essential reading for anyone thinking about entering the film industry.

Arthur Penn, for instance, gives a first-rate lesson on the business side of getting a movie made, as well as a peek into the minds of studio heads. He recalls how one Warner Bros. exec stated, in terms too colorful for a family newspaper, that the best place for "Bonnie and Clyde" was the toilet. "It wasn't until the picture had an identity and a life of its own that they acknowledged it was a legitimate child of the Warner Bros. operation," Penn said.

George Lucas, likewise, details his troubles getting the green light for "Star Wars." After being turned down by several studios, 20th Century Fox producer Alan Ladd Jr., who admitted he didn't understand the story, took a chance because he liked Lucas' "American Graffiti." Even with Ladd's OK, Lucas was given a budget of only $10 million.

Naturally, there are tales of drama on the set, such as Peter Bogdanovich's trials on "Paper Moon." Tatum O'Neal's lack of focus -- before shooting the carnival scene, she'd head for the popcorn and cotton candy stands, then be sick to her stomach when it was time to shoot -- was bad enough, but dad Ryan O'Neal's temper was worse. "I had to keep Ryan from killing her," Bogdanovich says, because she couldn't remember her lines.

By contrast, drama queen Joan Crawford was not only compassionate toward Spielberg on his first directing job (a segment for the TV movie "Night Gallery"), but taught him about lighting and staging scenes.

The interviews with actors are equally entertaining. Peck details his days struggling as an actor in New York, where he spent many a night sleeping on a bench in Central Park. Sidney Poitier, after his first audition, was told to forget about acting and get a job as a dishwasher. And Jack Lemmon talks about working with director Billy Wilder, who never liked to have a script completely written when filming started so that the movie was always a surprise for the actors as well as for him.

Given the surprises and revelations that pop up throughout "Conversations," Wilder would surely approve.

CONVERSATIONS AT THE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE WITH THE GREAT MOVIEMAKERS: The Next Generation, From the 1950s to Hollywood Today, edited by George Stevens Jr., Alfred A. Knopf, 737 pp., $39.95.