Peter Bogdanovich’s Cold Turkey

peter bogdanovichWriter, director and actor Peter Bogdanovich is best known for directing film classics like “The Last Picture Show”, “Paper Moon” and “What’s Up Doc?”.   He’s also given memorable performances as an actor, most notably, in the HBO series, “The Sopranos.”  He recently stopped by the SiriusXM studios to sit down with Ron Bennington and talk about his newest film, “Cold Turkey.” Excerpts from the interview appear below. You can hear the interview in its entirety exclusively on SiriusXM satellite radio.

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Peter Bogdanovich Talks About Thanksgiving When He Was Young

Ron Bennington:  This is an extraordinary little film. It’s really really…to me, Thanksgiving has always been the tensest of all holidays.  (Peter laughs)  It’s the one that my family always got back together for. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  My family didn’t celebrate it because my parents were immigrants. And I was always left alone on Thanksgiving. They went off with some friends and had dinner. But I usually stayed alone or went to a movie or something.

Ron Bennington:  Went to a movie by yourself? That sounds fantastic. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yeah. We never made much about Thanksgiving. Now we do. Now my daughters and I make something out of it.

Ron Bennington:  Well, it’s actually become a bigger holiday through the years, right?

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yeah, I think so.

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Peter Bogdanovich Talks About His Early Days Acting 

Ron Bennington:  One of my favorite things to see you do as an actor because everyone knows you as a filmmaker first, a director and a writer – but you started as an actor, right? 

Peter Bogdanovich:  I started as an actor professionally when I was 15, believe it or not. I went to Traverse City, Michigan for the Summer. I spent the whole Summer there acting in Summer stock – which doesn’t exist anymore really. Summer stock. It used to be wonderful.

Ron Bennington:  Well, I guess TV eventually killed that out too, right?

Peter Bogdanovich:  I guess so. I started acting when I was 15. And when I was 16, I lied and said I was 18 and started studying acting with Stella Adler. The legendary Stella Adler. Marlon Brando’s teacher. She was a great woman.

Ron Bennington:  So, you were here in New York in the 50s?

Peter Bogdanovich:  In New York. Oh yeah, sure. I grew up in New York.

Peter Bogdanovich Talks About New York In The 1950s And Hollywood In The 1970s

Ron Bennington:  To me, New York in the 50s seems like the most electric time.

Peter Bogdanovich:  Well, there was a lot of great theater. Tennessee Williams was at his best and (Arthur) Miller and William Inge and some great directors. Yeah, I saw a lot of great shows in New York.

Ron Bennington:  I always think though, even the kind of thinking that was going on – I mean the same time that that was happening, jazz was happening. You had this pre-civil rights mixing of people and ideas. And I kind of felt like the 50s in New York is what exploded across the rest of the country in the 60s. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Probably you’re right. You’re probably right, yeah.

Ron Bennington:  But at the time, did it feel like that way? Did it feel like there’s a change taking place?  

Peter Bogdanovich:  I think when you’re in the middle of a change, you never really feel it. You never notice it. You’re too busy living it. I remember people talking about the 70s in Hollywood and how everything changed. It’s not really true. The 70s really began around 1966 and ended around 1975. It’s not exactly the 70s. But I was right in the middle of that. I had made some pictures then. I was very much spending a lot time with old Hollywood because I was enamored of some of the older directors that weren’t working as much anymore, but they were more interesting to me than my contemporaries. So, I had one foot in the new Hollywood and one foot in the old Hollywood, but didn’t really notice that it was all shifting. But now, you look back on it and you say – wow, that was a big seismic shift actually.

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Peter Bogdanovich Talks About The End Of Hollywood’s Golden Age

Ron Bennington:  We tend to look back about the films that were made there in the early 70s as being somewhat of a peak. But at the same time, there were bad movies made in the 70s and there were good movies made in the 80s and 90s.

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yeah. It’s been diminishing returns, I think. The golden age of Hollywood sort of came to an end around 1962. That’s when I measure it. The last great film of the golden age was John Ford’s “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”. That’s the way I picture it. And that was the year that Bugs Bunny was killed off. They stopped making Bugs Bunny cartoons. I thought if it’s the end of Bugs Bunny, it’s the end of the whole thing. (laughs) Then there was sort of a dark period. And the new Hollywood started to happen around ’66.

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Peter Bogdanovich Talks About Working On “Cold Turkey”

Ron Bennington:  But how much fun is it for you to get an opportunity to do a film like “Cold Turkey”?

cold turkeyPeter Bogdanovich:  Oh great. I loved it. They sent me the script. There was nobody in the cast yet and they sent me the script and I read it and they said they didn’t have much money. We asked for something. They said they didn’t have that much. So, we asked for a little less and we got it. And then, I said – alright, I’ll do it. It was 2 weeks.

Ron Bennington:  Just 2 weeks.

Peter Bogdanovich:  We filmed the whole thing in 2 weeks. I just thought the script was good. It was good part for me. And I don’t get offered leading roles that often. It was terrific. I loved the part. And I loved doing it. It was a lot of fun. The director’s a very hip kid. Will (William) Slocombe. He wrote it too. And it’s based on his own family life, I think to a degree. I asked him if he would let his family read it. He said – not yet with trepidation. (laughs) But he did a good job I thought.

Ron Bennington:  Well the fact that the father is such a shadowing figure for all these kids growing up. And then, as they get older, they find out he’s human. He’s a guy.

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yeah, he’s a guy. A screwed up guy.

Ron Bennington:  And that, I think, is the beginning of maturity. That’s the first stages where you stop acting like your parents were gods that held this thing over you. And you said – these were just people. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yeah, with their flaws and troubles.

Ron Bennington:  To me, those are always the best kind of films. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Well, I thought it was a good picture. It’s very much in the Cassavetes mold. Digging deep into family secrets and troubles. And of course, John Cassavetes was brilliant. He was one of my favorite people.

Ron Bennington:  It was amazing when you go back and you see the work that Cassavetes just went off and did by himself. For years and years and years, before other people starting thinking – wait, this is a way to work. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yes. His films like “Faces” and “Husbands” and “A Woman Under The Influence”, they’re extraordinary. And I think they’ve had an amazing impact on today’s filmmakers.

Ron Bennington:  Well, that’s the beauty of it. Those films can still be accessed. Probably more than when they came out, I would imagine. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yeah. That reminds me of something Orson used to say toward the end of his life. I’m remember one time we were talking and he said – God, how they’ll love me when I’m dead. And it did happen that way.

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Peter Bogdanovich Talks About Criticism In America

Ron Bennington:  I guess that takes us back to American life. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Well, we haven’t got much respect for artists in America.

Ron Bennington:  Well, we’ve kind of made snark into an art form – where the bitchy person who complains about everything, it’s considered much more acceptable than someone who has an open heart and is willing to say – I love this art for what it is. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yeah. It’s the same with critics. Critics make a name for themselves by attacking. Not by extolling the virtues.

Ron Bennington:  And criticism has obviously now that it’s on the internet, almost anyone with a computer…

Peter Bogdanovich:  Everybody’s a critic.

Ron Bennington:  Everybody with a computer…

Peter Bogdanovich:  …is a critic. You get blogged to death.

Ron Bennington:  Yeah, blogged to death and they have 2 kind of attitudes – either “awesome” or “sucked”.  (Peter laughs)  This is as far as the thinking process goes. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  I know. It’s terrible.

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Peter Bogdanovich Talks About His Latest Book

Ron Bennington:  Well, I also just wanted to get the opportunity to thank you. Just reading your books alone as always been such a great experience. And I remember being younger going – okay, this is the way I want to think. I can’t think the way that Peter Bogdanovich thinks right now. But this is what I’m aiming towards. The way I want to look at life and art.

Peter Bogdanovich:  Thank you very much. Yeah, I wrote a few books. I’m working on one now. It’s a long bastard.

Ron Bennington:  What is it about? 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Well, it’s based on a diary I kept. I only kept a diary for a very short period of time – from the middle of 1965 to the middle of 1971. And during that time, I had a lot of things happening. I had just moved to California. I got to make my first several films, including “The Last Picture Show”. I had 2 daughters. I fell in love with Cybill Shepherd. My marriage fell apart. All of that happened. My father died. A lot happened in that period. So, I put a book together based on my diary. Kind of a memoir in which I quote from the diary and also make comments on the diary. It’s sort of interesting.

Ron Bennington:  Well, it should be very interesting because you’ve lived an extraordinary life, not just with your own art, but the other artists that you’ve known throughout your life. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  Yes. Those were all in there. I talk about John Ford and Howard Hawks and Cary Grant and John Wayne. I sometimes pinch myself that I really actually knew those people.

Ron Bennington:  It’s stunning. You knew those style of people throughout every generation. Still working with fantastic people. Still interacting with fantastic people. And of course, you’ve been with some of the most beautiful women of your generation. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  I got lucky.

Ron Bennington:  I don’t know what more anyone could want out of a life. Peter Bogdanovich, thank you so much. “Cold Turkey” is out. It’s the perfect Thanksgiving movie. Watch it before you go see your own family. Maybe you’ll feel lucky. On Demand and digital platforms. Opening in LA this weekend and then the Cinema Village, November 22nd in New York. Thank you so much Peter.

Peter Bogdanovich:  Thank you so much.

Ron Bennington:  And I’ll see you next time coming through, my friend. 

Peter Bogdanovich:  I look forward to it.

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For more information go to coldturkeymovie.com.

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You can hear this interview in its entirety exclusively on SiriusXM satellite radio.  Not yet a subscriber?  Click here for a free trial subscription.

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You can learn more about Ron Bennington’s two interview shows, Unmasked and Ron Bennington Interviews at RonBenningtonInterviews.com.