“This is three films that André Gregory and Wallace Shawn made together. But the only one I’m featuring right now is Vanya on 42nd Street, simply because it was a very important film for me. It just blew my mind because it was the filming of the rehearsal of a play. Like, Wallace Shawn and André Gregory and friends had been rehearsing Uncle Vanya by Chekhov for years. I don’t know if it was even towards the goal of necessarily performing it. They’re just kind of workshopping it. So they did that. Then Louis Malle heard about it and was like, “Why don’t I film you doing this?” And so he films them. And so it’s like a story within a story within a story. So you know it’s not real. And I love films that are open about their artifice. Like, these are not… This is not a Russian landowner. It’s totally Wallace Shawn, who you saw get off the subway and walk into the theater and do the thing. But you immediately forget that because you’re watching Chekhov being directed by André Gregory being directed by Louis Malle. So you’ve got all their stink on it. And it’s just a beautiful, beautiful film that really taught me a lot about storytelling.”
