Errol Morris: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) [Paperback]

Livia Bloom (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 17, 2009 | Series: Conversations with Filmmakers

Errol Morris: Interviews is an irreverent and humorous collection of conversations with the acclaimed documentary filmmaker. Morris (b. 1948) has created some of America's most innovative, lasting cinematic works. Generations of filmmakers, scholars, cinephiles, and film fans turn again and again to such works as The Thin Blue Line; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control; Academy Award-winner The Fog of War; and Standard Operating Procedure.

Throughout his career--which has included stints as a private eye, film programmer, and commercial director--Morris has honed a unique formal and technical cinematic approach. A Morris film is characterized by intense personal interviews; dramatic re-creations; a haunting, modernist musical atmosphere; and a keen sense of complexity, irony, and black humor. With each new film, Morris challenges and redefines what a documentary can be. This volume features startling interviews from throughout his career, as well as intimate, never-before-published discussions.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Interviews with the creator of The Thin Blue Line; Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control; The Fog of War; and Standard Operating Procedure

About the Author

Livia Bloom is a film curator and a contributor to the collection Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary. Her writing is published regularly in Cinema Scope .

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (December 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160473373X
• ISBN-13: 978-1604733730
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #851,261 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roger Ebert has said, "After twenty years of reviewing films, I haven't found another filmmaker who intrigues me more...Errol Morris is like a magician, and as great a filmmaker as Hitchcock or Fellini."

Morris' films have won many awards, including an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, an Emmy, the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, the Silver Bear at Berlin International Film Festival, the Golden Horse at the Taiwan International Film Festival and the Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America. His documentaries have repeatedly appeared on many ten best lists and have been honored by the National Society of Film Critics and the National Board of Review. His work was the subject of a full retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1999. Morris' latest documentary, Tabloid, is now in theaters.

Believing is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography is Morris' first book as sole author. Since 2007, Morris has been writing on issues in photography for The New York Times website. His blog was the winner of a Cliopatria award from the American Historian Association.

About photographs Morris writes: "With the advent of photography, images are torn free from the world, snatched from the fabric of reality, and enshrined as separate entities; they become more like dreams. It is no wonder that we really don't know how to deal with them."

Morris has received five fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship. In 2007, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a graduate student at Princeton University and the University of California-Berkeley.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A valuable resource for any Errol Morris fan, February 16, 2010

By 

J. Weston (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Errol Morris: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers) (Paperback)

While not being perfect, this book is nonetheless an extremely interesting collection of interviews and Q & A's with filmmaker Errol Morris. It is clear that Morris is extremely well-spoken and well-read and he provides many interesting tidbits about the making of his films as well as theories and notions about film-making and life in general. The only downside to this book is that it is simply a collection of interviews from throughout his career. So there is a small amount of repetition - you hear some of the same canned responses to questions, but not enough to get in the way of it being a great read. The most valuable section of the book, and indeed Morris's favorite interview, is the most lengthy (if somewhat typo-ridden) interview in the book (66 pages) with Paul Cronin. It made me think that Cronin should continue with this work, and flesh out an entire book on Morris. Also included is a very interesting discussion between Morris and Werner Herzog, both filmmakers being equally difficult to define in the the cinematic lexicon. Overall, a must for any Morris fan.