SEX, MURDER AND CELEBRITY: An interview with Auto Focus director Paul Schrader and stars Greg Kinnear and Willem Dafoe. By Warren Curry 10/08/02   Part 2 of 2

The teaming of Kinnear and Dafoe in the film's central relationship proves to be an effective juxtaposition of opposites. The movie's handling of their bond brings into focus the ever-changing nature of the often-strained friendship, which was fraught with tension, but also completely co-dependent. Both actors, of course, bear the stigma of being perceived in a certain way by the public due to the films that appear on their respective resumes. "I hear (Greg) interviewed now and I sort of bristle for him," comments Dafoe. "If I'm saddled with this, 'You're so dark,' he's saddled with, 'Oh, you come from television. You're so light, how can you get so down and dirty like this?'" Dafoe is fond of the working relationship he developed with Kinnear. "Greg is just really good to work with. He's very different than me, and it's good to come towards something together."

As for Crane's horrible and mysterious demise, the film doesn't author a definitive theory, although it suggests a culprit. John Carpenter, who passed in away 1998, was the only person ever to stand trial for the crime, but was found innocent (much of the crime-scene evidence had been lost by the time Carpenter was arrested in 1992) in an Arizona court. Does the man who plays Carpenter feel his character was responsible for Crane's death? "Not for me to say," responds Dafoe when posed with the question. "He's a pretty good suspect, but there are other people who could have done it, and it's hard to know because I've been living with this story for so long. The main thing is that it's not so important. This isn't what the movie's thrust was. It's very much about the arc of this career of Bob Crane, his compulsion and the sort of disintegration of his personality, and secondarily, his interesting, co-dependent relationship with this guy that brought him this video equipment, which started them on this fabulous adventure."

Although Crane appears to be an inherently tragic figure, who was doomed from the start, Kinnear isn't so sure that the man's fate was predestined. "Paul and I have differed on this issue. He believes that Bob was probably always the guy that he was and the hypocrisy just fell away (when he became famous)," says Kinnear. "I believe that, you know, your lifestyle choices have ramifications in your life, and I think that some of the behavior Bob chose to participate in had real consequences. I do believe that by taking some of those early steps that he took, it led him into deeper and deeper water and eventually he was trying to swim." Kinnear is sure of one thing about Crane, though: the man was in the wrong profession. "It's like an alcoholic working as a bartender," he states. "It was that fame that allowed him to indulge in a lifestyle he may have otherwise not been able to indulge in. Once he did that, the nature of addiction took over and it ended up the way that it did."

Although most would consider Auto Focus to be a sexually explicit film, Schrader actually feels quite the opposite and points to the MPAA ratings board as being a primary reason why. "You know, this is a relatively conservative film in that way. I thought I was acting under an R when I was shooting it, but it turned out I had to make some more cuts and changes than I anticipated," notes Schrader. "I had to blur out some images and so forth in order to get the R from the ratings board. They are more conservative than I had thought. "

Auto Focus, which also stars Maria Bello (as Crane's second wife, Patricia) and Rita Wilson (as Crane's first wife, Anne), adds to the long list of dark, powerful work on Schrader's filmography. As is his custom, the director successfully takes conflicted characters and daring material, which could so easily be exploited by lesser artists, and deals with them in a very respectful and accessibly intellectual manner. When Schrader, who is next planning to direct a prequel to The Exorcist (the director's first studio project in 20 years), is asked to almost impossibly speculate about what Crane may have thought of the film were he still alive, the filmmaker concisely and very sensibly answers, "I don't know. I haven't even gone there."

(Read Ryan Kugler's review of Auto Focus.)

Home

Reviews

More Articles

IndieSpeak