FILM COMMENT INTV AHEAD OF LAST NIGHT'S 'CARLITO'S WAY' @IFC; W/ ZACHAREK POST-SCREENING
I hadn't heard anything about this beforehand, but last night, a 35mm print of Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way screened to a sold out crowd at the IFC Center in New York. After the film, editor Bill Pankow was interviewed on stage by special guest host Stephanie Zacharek, whose Sight & Sound blurb accompanies the IFC event description: "One of the ten best films of all time." The film's description on the page also begins by noting, "Named the Best Film of the 1990s by Cahiers du Cinema."
Meanwhile, in anticipation of the screening, Film Comment's Violet Lucca interviewed Pankow last week, and posted it online yesterday. In this terrific interview, Pankow talks about editing two great set pieces in Carlito's Way: the pool hall scene, and the Grand Central sequence. He discusses working with actors such as Pacino, being attuned to their subtle nuances and physicality. He talks about how the split screens in Snake Eyes and Femme Fatale were very carefully planned beforehand. He talks about working with De Palma as the ideal working method, and De Palma's skills as a visual sotryteller. He talks about getting the right sound for the crowbar to the head wielded by Sean Penn's character in Carlito's Way ("That’s very giallo," jokes Lucca). He talks about working with Jerry Greenberg, and how he really came into his own during the editing of The Untouchables-- and how he made De Palma laugh with his initial cut of Sean Connery's death scene. Go read the interview now-- it's great stuff.