Jack Garfein

“John Cassavetes, well I had a very interesting experience with him because you know I discovered Ben Gazzara in The Strange One and John used him. John was very concerned because he wanted me to make another film. He loved my film. So I ran into him one day on Wilshire Boulevard and he said, 'Jack, why don't you make another film?' He calls me and he says, 'All my cameras, editing room, it's all available to you, Jack. Go ahead, start making your movie.'”

“Jean Renoir, one of my favorites. I met him, I had dinner with him and we talked about acting. Renoir said to me that he learned the most important thing about film acting from Michel Simon and Louis Jouvet. He said that the actors mustn't start acting, they must discover the character. And they do that by talking and listening to each other and see what emerges. And these films I've never seen, so I'm looking forward to seeing that.”

“Carl Dreyer, one of the great influences on my life. When I saw The Passion of Joan of Arc, what an astonishing film. A silent movie. And then Day of Wrath, which I remember very well. Passion of Joan too and Day of Wrath, one of the great films ever made.”

“And I met David Lean because he directed for the same producer, Sam Spiegel, that did The Strange One. David Lean didn't like him very much. We met, we had dinner one night and we discussed the unhappiness with which Mr. Spiegel put both of us through. In my case, as he said, he would never let him interfere with his work as a director with the actors. But you know I was very young when I worked with Spiegel.”