No, really. I wouldn’t call myself a Jerry Lewis fan (his brand of humor had already gone out of fashion by the time I was born), but he did do an excellent job in The King of Comedy (which is, I can assure you, not the film you want to watch while you’re depressed). Anyway, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in here, even if you take his claim of banging Marilyn Monroe with a grain of salt. I was unaware he had written a highly-praised book on directing, or taught directing classes attended by Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas. He also seems to be a remarkably astute businessman, since he made the studios promise to give all the rights to his movies back after 30 years.
Anyway, it’s an interesting piece, even if you’re not particularly a Jerry Lewis fan.
Tags: Comedy, George Lucas, Jerry Lewis, Movies, Stephen Spielberg
Lawrence, there’s an odd & oddly charming fun fact in today’s Guardian obit for the actor John Wood, which mentions how much Wood claimed he learned from Jerry Lewis. Who knew?? (Not me.)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/aug/11/john-wood-actor
Funny, I’ve seen several of the movies Wood was in (Wargames, the McKellan Richard III, etc.), but I don’t actually remember him clearly. The curse of the character actor…