Interview: James Ivory on "Call Me By Your Name" and the Merchant Ivory Legacy

by Nathaniel R

Highlight of 2017: Meeting one of my true gay heroes, James Ivory.

They say you should never meet your heroes. But "they" haven't met James Ivory. The legendary director, currently nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars for Call Me By Your Name (2017) is 89 years old but you wouldn't know it. He's sharp and talented and thoughtful as ever. It's his fourth nomination in a rich career that extends way back to the late 1950s though he's best know for the popular costume dramas he made in the 1980s and 1990s with his producer and life partner, the late Ismail Merchant (1936-2005).

I had the pleasure of meeting with Ivory at the Middleburg Film Festival earlier this season.  I didn't quite intend to begin gushing but it couldn't be helped. He was deeply formative in my life, one of the first two or three directors that made me fall in love with the medium that became my whole life. I groused about his lack of an Honorary Oscar and I eagerly told him about a couple particularly memorable trips to see his movies with my parents. He shared a few amusing stories he's heard from other fans. Then we settled in for our discussion of his rich career, the restoration of some of his films, and Call me By Your Name. Our interview is after the jump...

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Smackdown '17: Allison, Laurie, Lesley, Mary and Octavia

Presenting Oscar's Chosen Supporting Actresses of the Films of 2017. 

THE NOMINEES 

Two mothers with combative relationships with their daughters (Janney and Metcalf). One sister/business partner (Manville). One mother struggling with oppressive farm life (Blige). And one cleaning lady (Spencer) whose coworker/friend is mute and in love with a fish crea... listen, it's a long story!

But here's a beautiful thing that's too little remarked on this season: they're all actually supporting characters. No leads masquerading as support for once! 

THIS MONTH'S PANELISTS  

From top left: Andrew Carden, Chris Feil, Candice Frederick, Erica Mann, Kevin O'Keeffe, and Nathaniel R

Here to talk about these five nominated turns, are in alpha order: Andrew Carden (Awards Connection / Gold Derby) Chris Feil (The Film Experience), Candice Frederick (Reel Talker), Erica Mann (NYC Film Chick), Kevin P O'Keeffe (Into) and your host Nathaniel R (The Film Experience). And now it's time for the main event... 

2017
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN 

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The Smackdown is Coming. Meet the Panelists

It's almost time for another Smackdown. As is the brief tradition, we'll be looking at this year's nominees for Supporting Actress in our February edition (just as we did last year). We'll be talking Octavia Spencer, Laurie Metcalf, Lesley Manville, Mary J Blige, and Allison Janney. The Smackdown and its companion podcast will arrive this coming Monday, February 26th.

It's time to meet the panelists. Please welcome...

FIRST TIME PANELISTS

Andrew Carden
Andrew Carden is a contributing writer at GoldDerby and writes about all things Oscar on his blog, The Awards Connection. When he's not on Twitter, lamenting Thelma Ritter's 0-for-6 record in Best Supporting Actress, Andrew works in Massachusetts politics.

His #1 of 2017: Mudbound
[Andrew on Twitter]

Candice Frederick
Candice Frederick is a freelance TV/film critic living in New York City. She has written for Vice, The Daily Beast, The Mary Sue, /Film and others. You can find more of her work here.

Her #1 of 2017: Wonder Woman
[Candice on Twitter]

Erica Mann
Erica is a writer and film critic based in New York. Creator of The NYC Film Chick blog in 2012, she has covered film festivals such as Tribeca, New York Film Festival, and TIFF. When she is not working, tweeting, or fighting the patriarchy, she freelances as a film coordinator and producer.

Her #1 of 2017: Mudbound
[Erica on Twitter]

RETURNING PANELISTS

Though we never repeat an exact panel, we do like to welcome voices back. The following two men have done smackdowns before (the 2016 fivesome and the 1995 brilliance, respectively) so we're welcoming them back.

Chris Feil
Chris Feil lives in Columbus, Ohio and is a contributor to The Film Experience. You can easily beetlejuice him into your conversations by talking about soundtracks (shameless plug for his weekly column Soundtracking), RuPaul's Drag Race (further shameless plug for his recaps), and WALL•E. He is remembering to notice the collateral beauty around him. Chris has also written for Paste and Decider.

His #1 of 2017: Lady Bird
[Chris on Twitter]

Kevin O'Keeffe
Kevin O'Keeffe is a writer, editor, and RuPaul's Drag Race herstorian. Currently, he writes about that show, as well as other film and TV, for the LGBTQ+ magazine INTO. He's still mad Tiffany Haddish wasn't nominated this year.

His #1 of 2017: Call Me By Your Name
[Kevin on Twitter]

... and your host

Nathaniel R ... but you know me already.

The Smackdown will be up on Monday. And if you'd like to get started early on your viewing for future smackdowns we're doing 1970 and 1994 sometime in the spring after a wee Post-Oscar break. Stay tuned!

Oscar Presenters Named Thus Far...

For your infotainment the Oscar presenters named thus far and our theories as to why they were invited. We don't need to mention diversity because that would probably read snarky when we don't mean it that way at all; we're thrilled Hollywood is making an effort! So we'll name the other possible reasons for the names. Presumably these choices are agonized over and debated at length behind the scenes since they're always so carefully representative of a wide range of celebrities appealing to all kinds of mainstream moviegoers from kids to grandparents to sophisticated cultural mavens to soccer moms. Etcetera.

Just about the only audience they don't cater to on the regular, probably because they'll watch anyway, are cinephiles and Old Hollywood loving film buffs. The Oscar producers often do a very crappy job of that (especially given how many elderly showbiz legends are still alive! I mean come on give us some Poitier, Lansbury, Rowlands, Connery, Redford, Belafonte, or Andrews or something). It's always a welcome shock when they actually do think about their rich industry history and throw us a Kim Novak for example.

The celebrities thus far (in alpha order)... 

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Podcast: Pre Oscar Grab-All

The gang gets back together as Oscar approaches. Nathaniel R, Nick Davis, Katey Rich, and Joe Reid discuss what they've been watching as they prep for Oscar night. How many movies do YOU still have left to see? (Or are you not a completist?)

Index (41 minutes)
00:01 What we still haven't seen
02:30 Loving Vincent & Animated Feature
08:40 Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless, Russia's nominee
12:00 Short Film categories
15:00 A Fantastic Woman & Foreign Film
20:00 Acting Categories
23:00 Lady Bird, actressy movies, messy trivia
29:30 Preferential ballot theories
33:00 Director/Pic splits and The Shape of Water
37:00 Who will present Best Picture?
38:30 RED ALERT: NICK IS GOING TO THE OSCARS !!!
40:30 The End

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Grab-All Oscar Talk