The Exorcist
was rereleased, to much fanfare and box office. Does it help your career when your last movie is the rerelease of yourBilly Wilder had a variation on that saying. He’d say it privately, but he probably said it publicly, too, because whatever Billy said in private he also said in public. He’d say, “You’re only as good as yourmovie.” And Billy had to believe that, because he was still making movies in the seventies. Were they as good as? Maybe not, but he kept working.
My approach, no. Certainly my tastes went more in that direction. And these last two films I made were written by Tracy Letts, whose worldview I share. I think he’s probably the best American playwright today, as well as being a terrific actor. I directed another of his plays,, at the South Coast Rep. My ideas of what I wanted to see and what I wanted to direct have changed in the sense that they’re not obviously commercial films.