Ricky, My Hero

While I've known about Richard Leacock - the legendary documentary filmmaker and co-founder of "direct cinema" - and his films for years, I'd never heard him speak publicly before (mainly because he's lived in France with his sweetheart since the '80s). Recently, he returned to Stinky Town for a little show-and-tell and all of his disciples were in attendance, from D.A. Pennebaker and Al Maysles to Michael Moore in the back row. Much like my experience attending a Werner Herzog Q&A a few years back, I gained so much more respect for the person upon hearing them (this was especially wonderful because, of course, it more often turns out for the worse and your heroes turn out to be frauds or complete assholes).

In between screenings of a few of his (shot by or directed) short films - Toby and the Tall Corn, Happy Mother's Day and Jazz Dance - I was introduced to Leacock's amazing, brutally honest and revealing commentary on this so-called industry:

On the airing of one of his early films on television: "It was on... then it was gone... it was weird! Having something on TV is like tossing a feather into the Grand Canyon and waiting to hear an echo. Nothing!"

On pitching doc ideas to television execs today: "The assumptions of professional film-making are bizarre. You must have a "subject." Well in a sense, yes. When Piazzetta sketched his wife, his daughter... one day in the late 18th century, he had a subject, but would it have persuaded the producer of a major TV network that it would grab the undivided attention of a portion of his 15,000,000 potential viewers? And besides, this producer only deals in one hour slots. (Like the psychiatrist's hour it is actually less, say four 13 minute segments)."

On making documentary film, and himself: "I have been starting to think about documentary filmmaking instead of just doing it, and I think that for a long time I have been teaching things that I don't really believe in. My thinking has changed a lot... I think that for me I'm beginning to pay more attention to what I want and less attention to what people want me to do. In many respects I begin to think that most of my live I have filmed the wrong things and more and more I am beginning to regret it."

Equally cranky geezer and eloquent author, Leacock gave me hope for growing old while making fun things that just won't sell.