Susan Stamberg

Friedkin, Who Pushed Film Forward, Looks Back

Susan Stamberg — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:03:00 +0000

As a kid in Chicago, director William Friedkin liked to frighten little girls with scary stories. When he grew up, he scared the rest of us with a little girl — Regan MacNeil, who is possessed by the devil in his horror classic The Exorcist.

And in The French Connection, he put knots in our stomachs with one of the great movie chases in American cinema.

When Friedkin directed these films in the 1970s, he was breaking all the rules.

Painting 'Renoir' In Finely Detailed Strokes

Susan Stamberg — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:21:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA4pRAZQY3g

For John Baldessari, Conceptual Art Means Serious Mischief

Susan Stamberg — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:41:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU7V4GyEuXA

For Publicist Marvin Levy, It's All About Eyeballs

Susan Stamberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 05:03:00 +0000

Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln has earned 12 Academy Award nominations, including best picture and best director. Another Spielberg film — the multi-Oscar winning Schindler's List — will be celebrating 20 years since its release. These films have at least two important things in common: Spielberg and publicist Marvin Levy.

Levy started his career in New York writing questions for quiz shows. He wound up in publicity for MGM radio and TV personalities, but was lured to Hollywood in the mid-1970s.

For Film Set Decorators, Tiny Details Count

Susan Stamberg — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 05:05:00 +0000

Picture Rick's smoky cafe in Casablanca, Lincoln's office at the White House of the 1860s, or the Mos Eisley cantina on the desert planet of Tatooine: A production designer came up with the overall look of those movie sets. But the booze on Rick's bar or the pens on Lincoln's desk — it took a set decorator and a crew to make them look authentic and believable.

On a recent chilly winter day in the backyard of a pretty picket-fenced house in Los Angeles, one set decorator is making rosebushes bloom again.