Fred Schepisi

In the New Yorker, Stephen Schiff has described Fred Schepisi (b. 1939) as probably the least-known great director working in the mainstreamAmerican cinemaa master storyteller with a serenely muscular style that can make more flamboyant moviemakers look coarse and overweening. Schepisis launch in Australia during the countrys film renaissance of the 1970s and his ongoing international work have rightfully earned him a reputation as an actors director. But he has also become a skillful stylist, forging his own way as he works alongside a talented team of collaborators. This volume includes twenty interviews with Schepisi andtwo with longtime collaborators, cinematographer Ian Baker and composer Paul Grabowsky. The interviews trace the filmmakers career from his beginnings in advertising, through his two early Australian featuresThe Devils Playground and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmithto his subsequent work in the United Statesand beyond on films as various as Plenty, Roxanne, A Cry in the Dark, The Russia House, Six Degrees of Separation, Empire Falls, Last Orders, and Eye of the Storm. Schepisis films are diverse thematically and visually. In what is effectively a master class on film direction, Schepisi discusses his creative choices and his workwith actors and collaborators behind the scenes. In the process, he provides a goldmine of insights into his films, his filmmaking style, and what makes him tick as an artist.