It’s really fun talking about the movies with William Kennedy. Couldn’t fit it in the piece, however, since this was the part of the interview where I talked a lot about articles and ephemera from Riding the Yellow Trolley Car, a greatest-hits journalism compilation that plays, in its own way, as a fascinating autobiography of a writer.
William Kennedy: “Ingmar Bergman thought Citizen Kane was stupid - he hated the way people were made up, that hairline, that bald wig on Welles. Bergman was a man of faces.
He said we could come see the rehearsals on King Lear. He had just finished Franny and Alexander and I saw a 5 hour cut with a wicked hangover.
Said hangover was the result of Aquavit.”