HBO’s Faye Dunaway doc sheds light on her difficult popularity

Superstar documentaries are a bundle of money at the moment. However superstar docs that do not lend themselves to a celebrity as an infomercial are uncommon. “Faye,” Laurent Bouzereau’s HBO documentary about Faye Dunaway, is a kind of unusual superstar documentary.

In exchange for Dunaway’s rescue from the demons, Bouzero dives into them. In the first part of the documentary, Dunaway asks the director, “Can we shoot? We have to shoot. I’m here now. Let us go. I would really like to shoot.” Minnes’ upcoming Bouzero cuts to the infamous “Tonight Show” clip where Johnny Carson asks Bette Davis who she wouldn’t want to work with again and she replies, “Faye Dunaway.” “Whoever you put in this chair will tell you exactly the same thing.” (Dunaway and Davis co-starred in the 1976 TV movie “The Disappearance of Amy”.)

This is a refreshing start to the celebrity-driven doc. What makes the 90-minute film truly extraordinary, though, is Dunaway’s candidness about the entirety of everything from her popularity to her bipolar illness to her iconic business.

The actress learned that director Arthur Penn insisted on casting her in “Bonnie & Clyde” despite Warren Beatty’s hesitation. Dunaway also explained why she walked off the set of Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” and why her co-star in the film, Jack Nicholson, nicknamed her the Frightened Dunaway or “Dread.” The famous Terry O’Neill photo of the superstar posing at a Beverly Hills resort after winning an Oscar for her performance as Diana Christensen in “Network” is said to have originated at the property. There’s even 1981’s camp vintage “Mommie Dearest,” about Joan Crawford, who nearly destroyed Dunaway’s possession.

As well as her profession, Dunaway talks about her alcoholic father, her own alcohol addiction, the adoption of her son Liam Dunaway O’Neill, and her love affairs with men such as Peter Wolf, Terry O’Neill and Marcello Mastroianni. Explains clearly.

In addition to Dunaway, “Faye” features interviews with several people who are friends with or worked with the actress, including Sharon Stone, Mickey Rourke (her co-star in “Barfly”), director James Gray (“The Yards”). Have done. ), Jerry Schatzberg (“Puzzle of a Downfall Child”) and Howard Koch (Associate Director of “Chinatown”).

Bouzereau, who additionally directed HBO’s “Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind” doc, worked with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners on “Fay,” which will be released July 13. The film premiered in May during the Classics section of this year’s Cannes Movie Competition. ,

How did you decide to unveil the film when it wasn’t easy to start shooting the film with Dunaway?

Bowzero: I wanted the public to understand, first of all, that Faye was completely relaxed about being filmed all the time and I also wanted people to understand that this was not an egotistical thing to say about Faye Dunaway. Just before that month of intensity with her, I wanted to clarify after the interview so that you can hear that side of her and make a decision on that, but you have to look even deeper. That was the venture of the film. You come full circle on her and start to understand why she is the way she is. And by the way, James Gray, who was interviewed for the film, said he knows of male actors who have had it just as difficult as Faye, who haven’t been classified the way they’ve been classified. Has been done

We haven’t heard from Dunaway’s reaction to the Bette Davis clip. Why?

When I experience a heavy week like Faye or like Natalie Plank, I’m very conscious of not committing to being perfect anymore because if you do that, then the movie loses its focus. And loses its spine. So, I think occasionally alluding to something like a Bette Davis quote gets into the thematic without really revealing what happened on the whole set and all that stuff.

Mickey Rourke is interviewed in the film. Did you get to work with any of his alternative co-stars like Warren Beatty or Jake Nicholson?

One set of opportunities for illness is timetable and proximity. Sadly, this is not always known. So, that’s what happened.

Dunaway’s career was almost ruined after doing ‘Mommie Dearest’. Is that why the film was sinful or was it a victim of gender discrimination?

“Mommie Dearest” is not a well made film. I believe Faye’s efficiency is bizarre. Truth be told, everyone’s acting in the film is superb. I just don’t believe it’s a well-thought-out movie. It is very flat. However around that time there was a group of male actors making terrible movies. Just keep in mind “Ishtar” with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty, directed by Ellen Maite. Did it become as overwhelming a task as Faye Dunaway doing “Mommie Dearest”? Disagree. If truth be told, no one is talking about “Ishtar”. It didn’t spoil the reputation of everyone involved, and Faye has made this a movie, and it deserves to be in this place. So, definitely, I think he’s been treated unfairly. The phase of this film was really to turn that wonderful life of the seventies when the best filmmakers were entering cinema, and the most productive films were being made there, Faye was with them all. Movies reach such a level that without them, it would never have been on top.

‘Fey’ premieres July 13 at 8PM on HBO.