Close-Ups on the Outcasts
Arthur Penn discusses the first “revisionist” Western and Bonnie & Clyde’s link to the genre.
By: Henry Cabot Beck 05/01/2008
Which calls into question, the nature of fame.
It certainly does. A very dubious state, I think.
And still, you played in that sand pit?
I can say, not entirely willingly, and I’ve never really quite accepted it.
Your fame, or the fame of those you worked with?
My own fame. The people I worked with deserved their fame. They were actors who wanted to be recognized and known. I was rather less desirous of prominence.
But you earned your fame as well. I remember as far back as Mickey One. Your work separated you from many directors and gave you a degree of creative freedom.
That was the intention. I’d had enough already of orthodoxy and I wanted to kick up my heels. I thought we needed a dose of the freedom the Europeans had.
The work you were doing then worked its way into Bonnie & Clyde.
Yes it did. [Robert] Benton and [David] Newman wrote that and brought it to Francois Truffaut who was interested and then not interested. He suggested Jean-Luc Godard, who said he’d make it in two weeks, which scared the hell out of them. So they showed it to Warren Beatty, who read it and bought it.
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