Author Foster Hirsch on his new bio of Otto Preminger

(Courtesy Preminger Archives)




Foster Hirsch's new biography Otto Preminger, The Man Who Would Be King (knopf) is a supremely researched work (over 100 new intereviews with family members and co-workers) on one of the most controversial directors of Hollywood's Golden Age. The work charts Preminger's work and career arc and makes a strong case for a re-appreciation of Preminger's work and status as one of Hollywood's stronget and most creative craftsmen. Author Hirsch was kind enough to correspond with FSW about his work and the legacy of Preminger the Director and iconoclast.


FSW: Preminger's films were noteworthy for breaking taboos, with language, situations and the like. Was this a reflection of his viewpoint, or was it merely a way to court controversy?

FH: "Preminger's taboo-breaking came from two sources: his personal convictions about freedom of speech and his instincts as a showman. He courted confrontations with the Production Code Administration because he knew they would be good for business but also because he objected to censorship. At the time his moral sincerity was widely questioned, but that was not an accurate or fair response. Preminger knew the consequences of censorship -- he had looked on in horror at what happened to Austria, where he had been raised, once Hitler took over in 1938, and as a naturalized and patriotic American he fought for Constitutional rights and principles."

FSW: Preminger's scores are some of the most noteworthy in film history (Laura, Anatomy of a Murder), etc. Was the musical aspects of his films something he was involved in closely? Also, it appears that he never worked with the same composer more than once. Did this signal that he liked to work with a variety of artists and performers rather than have a reliable, familiar group around when he worked on a film (like Hitchcock)?



FH: "Preminger regarded scores as of integral importance to his films, and he obviously had a good ear and very good taste. Unlike most directors, he expected his composer to be on the set throughout shooting, so, as he said, the composer could "breathe the film." He did use one composer David Raksin, several times during his years at Fox; in fact, Otto preferred having the same crew, and despite his tantrums many of the same personnel returned for project after project."

FSW: Many of Preminger's best work was done from popular literary works. Did screen adaptations suit his best instincts and talents in some particular way?



FH: "Preminger's taste in bestsellers has often been criticized -- by snobs! Otto was a commercial, mainstream filmmaker at the same time that he was an artist, and he had strong instincts about the kinds of stories that would be congenial to filming. He resisted literature in favor of potboilers, and the results of this adaptations were almost unfailingly positive. The one or two times he adapted works of genuine literary excellence -- Shaw's SAINT JOAN and Nelson Algren's MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM -- the results were disappointing. Working on potboilers like ADVISE AND CONSENT, ANATOMY OF A MURDER, THE CARDINAL, and EXODUS he made excellent films."


FSW: Preminger's best work seems to have been behind him by about 1965. Is there any easy explanation for this drop in his work?

FH "There is no easy explanation for Preminger's decline. Partly it was choice of material, partly aging (he began to suffer from Alzheimer's perhaps as early as the late 1960s, partly plain bad luck, partly mistiming. The late films, which have their following, by the way -- revisionist critics are eager to rehabilitate them -- are by no means without interest. Only TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON, risible on every level, is beneath consideration; the others all have merit and are the work of a clearly talented, if misguided, cineaste."

FSW: Preminger had a couple of noteworthy film roles, did he enjoy acting?

FH: "Otto began his career in Vienna as an actor, but he was not really a very good actor: the voice lacks color and shading, the eyes are too veiled. And he really was effective in only one part, that of a Nazi. As as Otto quipped, explaining his retirement from acting, 'How many Nazis can you play?' Once he determined, at age 19, that he wanted to be a director, he lost his interest in acting, and he only acted when he was talked into it."

FSW: Do you see Preminger's influence in any films or filmmakers in contemporary cinema?

FH: "Influence is very hard to determine or gauge, but I would say, reluctantly, that Preminger's style -- long takes, few closeups, smooth camera movement, objectivity -- is not in favor in contemporary Hollywood. Filmmakers addicted to fragmented editing should study Preminger's best films to see how to make movies!"