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Alan J. Pakula on ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN
Alan J. Pakula, 48, grew up in New York and majored in drama at Yale with "semi-usual fantasies about becoming an actor." Later, he directed plays at Hollywood's Circle Theatre, including Anouilh's Antigone. As a production apprentice at MGM, Pakula spent eight months reading scripts and writing synopses for writer-producer Don Hartman, a veteran of Danny Kaye comedies and the Road series, who then became head of production at Paramount. At 22, Pakula went along as assistant head of production.
At 28, he began to produce a series of films directed by Robert Mulligan (the only director Pakula produced for): FEAR STRIKES OUT, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER, BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL, INSIDE DAISY CLOVER, UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE, and THE STALKING MOON. In 1969, he began directing with THE STERILE CUCKOO, then KLUTE, 1971; LOVE AND PAIN AND THE WHOLE DAMN THING, 1973; THE PARALLAX VIEW, 1974; and ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, 1976. He considered a career as a psychoanalyst, but did not pursue it. He describes himself as "an analytic buff."
The interview took place in June and August, 1976, in Pakula's offices at MGM where he is preparing his next film, COMES A HORSEMAN WILD AND FREE, original screenplay by Dennis Lynton Clark. Set in Montana in 1946, the film will star Jane Fonda and James Caan.
See also these key interviews: Sight and Sound, Spring 1972; Positif #136, March, 1972; Movietone Nezvs, nos. 26 and 27, October and November, 1973. I am grateful to Richard Jameson and Howard Suber for suggesting key questions - R.T.
When I came onto ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, there was a first draft of the screenplay by William Goldman, and Bob Redford and Dustin Hoffman had been cast. Bob Redford was the producer.
Had Redford cast himself?
Bob had no choice. He wanted to see this film made.
Why?
Bob's interest was on a lot of levels, I think. He's an activist in terms of things outside the industry - ecology, for example. I'm sure the triumph of the individual over the vastness of the government appealed to him; that's the extraordinary appeal of Woodward and Bernstein's story. I had just made a...