Paul Cronin founded The Sticking Place with Adam Meggido in 2001, and produces/directs all Sticking Place Films productions. Many websites relating to operations like this often include paragraphs such as the following, (which I found more or less at random): “Seeking to have his company embody his personal values, Ed has been proactive in communicating the company’s mission to enact positive social change. By inspiring others to overcome adversity, combating poverty, advancing education, and taking care of our planet, we can make a living and make the world a better place at the same time.” I must confess that this kind of thing has nothing to do with Sticking Place Films. While I wish Ed the best of luck in his attempts to change the world, I’ll leave such endeavours to him and his colleagues. I’d rather sit in the park, reading and writing, occasionally making films about things that interest me, even if by doing so it sows strife and dissension.
Six films have been made since 2001, including studies of Haskell Wexler‘s Medium Cool, historian and curator Amos Vogel, the teachings of British film director Alexander Mackendrick and two films about Peter Whitehead. Currently in production is A Time to Stir. Incomplete fragments from this piece of visual history about the Columbia University student protests of 1968 were screened at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. For what it’s worth, the Village Voice and LA Weekly reviewer wrote that even in such an unfinished state this “major film about the American Left” was the “most vital movie I ended up seeing” at the festival that year. So you can either (a) imagine how good the finished thing is going to be, or (b) care less what he thinks. The film, which has been in production for a number of years, has a projected length of twelve hours. Thus far four hundred interviews have been filmed and thirty thousand newly-discovered photographs have been archived. At this point I can’t say when the film will be finished. But it will be.
I edited Herzog on Herzog (2002), an interview book with German director Werner Herzog, and On Film-Making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director (2004), a collection of writings by Alexander Mackendrick. I consider the Herzog and Mackendrick volumes to be important works, at least as far as film books go, and certainly when compared to the other publications I’ve put my name to. With one focusing on “agitation of the mind,” the other on film craft, these powerful articulations of two masters are useful resources. If nothing else, I find these very different filmmakers to be exceptionally thought-provoking, and these texts are coherent and, at times, inspiring articulations of their (wildly differing) ideas about the medium. I should hope that people are reading these two books long into the future.
I worked as a researcher and translator on Ray Carney‘s book Cassavetes on Cassavetes (2001) and edited Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age (2006) for George Stevens Jr., a collection of generally interesting interviews drawn from the archives of the American Film Institute (flyer here). A second volume, Conversations with the Great Moviemakers: The Next Generation, most of which I edited, was published in 2012. Some missed opportunities here, but the book does contain some strong material, not least because the focus of AFI seminars has always been on craft. (I did some new interviews to augment archival transcripts, including long conversations Peter Bodganovich and George Lucas, resulting in what I think are two of the strongest interviews ever published with those two.) Over the years I’ve also edited three books (George Stevens, Roman Polanski and Arthur Penn) for the University Press of Mississippi’s ‘Conversations with Filmmakers’ series. Though their imposed structure clearly precludes genuine depth, there is much new material in these volumes, including a new Penn interview and many fresh translations, and they offer functional introductions to the directors in question.
In 2005 I steered through publication a reprint of Amos Vogel’s 1974 book Film as a Subversive Art. Amos’ masterwork, which had long been out of print, is a key text, and certainly worth serious study. It seems to resonate as strongly now, if not more so, than when it was first published. My lengthy (but regrettably unfinished) interview with Errol Morris, conducted over a period of some years, and which Morris told me is “the best interview anyone has ever done with me,” is here (and also appears in the University Press of Mississippi volume). In 2011, Things Fall Apart, my two-volume co-edited issue of Framework, was published. It contains a thousand pages of new academic articles about the life and work of Peter Whitehead, as well as a selection of archival pieces written by the man himself. A little sloppy, but some interesting material, as far as it goes. Take a look here for a counterbalance.
Current projects include Naked Under the Waterfall, a book with triple Oscar-winning production sound mixer Chris Newman, my attempt to honour the craftsmen of the industry, those people who know more about film than anyone I’ve ever met. (An accompanying film – featuring interviews, film clips and footage of classroom work – is also in production and will end up on this website.) I’m also working on a book about Medium Cool (based on primary research done for the documentary, which has recently been re-edited and is now twice the length of Wexler’s own film) and a second Mackendrick volume entitled Words on Pictures: The Interviews and Writings of Alexander Mackendrick. There is much strong material here, most of which has never before been published, including interviews, film treatments and screenplays of both produced and unrealised films, lots of photographs, and Mackendrick’s journal written about his wartime experiences. The book opens with a lengthy introduction that gives context to, among other things, Mackendrick’s time at Ealing Studios and the California Institute of the Arts. The whole project keeps on getting bigger and bigger (entire disciplines need to be mastered, languages learned), and as a consequence I’m struggling to have the book ready for Mackendrick’s 2012 centenary.
In 2013, another of my edited collections of interviews will be published by Mississippi, this one focusing on Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. The book is comprised entirely of newly-translated pieces from France and Italy, and I think will become the definitive English-language interview book with the man. A number of related texts will also be added to this website, and a companion volume entitled Lessons with Kiarostami will be published the same year. This is a book-length essay based on my notes made over a period of years at a series of workshops and interview sessions with Abbas, and will include some of my photographs of him, several of which aren’t too bad.
Other writing projects include an interview book with writer and director David Mamet (a fan of the Mackendrick book), a book based on work done for A Time to Stir (to include an edited transcript of the film, a selection of photographs and key primary documents, an essay about the documentary’s production, an essay about the changes effected at Columbia University after the protests, and a bibliographic essay about the campus events of 1968), a series of long-form interviews with various figures from the world of cinema (including teacher Colin Young and critic Michel Ciment), and also the inevitable: a new edition of Herzog on Herzog (two – perhaps three – juicy new chapters, which take in the most recent films and the Rogue Film School, a much expanded bibliographic essay, a smattering of appendices, and Harmony’s foreword which finally arrived, six years after I asked him for it, all sitting on my desk here). There is also constant fine-tuning of Mackendrick on Film: a never-ending search for more Mackendrick material in archives around the world, new interviews with people who studied and worked with him, and endless reading of books and texts that might be useful for the seminar I’ve been leading regularly since 2005. Also in mind: something like a short sequel to Sooner or Later, a continuing saga of life at the top of the Appalachians, deep in the bowels of West Virginia. Not sure when I’ll get back down there. I miss the mountains.
When I read what I’ve written above I realise just how much I dislike having to sell myself, not least on this website, which I spend far too much time polishing. Pretty much everything I’ve done over the years as a film person is detailed on these pages, which taken together are a key repository of information about Vogel, Whitehead, Medium Cool, Mackendrick and Columbia 1968. It contains material not easily accessible elsewhere, and more documentation and photographs are being added continuously. There’s also still something of a learning curve and the travelling gets me out and engaging with some extraordinary people, which is certainly a positive thing. Memories of drinking beer in Munich with Werner, driving through southern Italy with Abbas, chatting with Amos in Washington Square Park, discovering long-lost manuscripts and photographs with Peter in his archive near London, and supping at Dave’s Pesach table in Los Angeles will be with me for a long while. But there remains a constant battle to seek some kind of balance, and generally I’ve found it’s best to stay somewhat detached. Feh.
So anyway: don’t listen to anyone when they insist you can’t do something a certain way, and listen to them only half the time when they say you have to do it their way. Be fearful of nothing (remind yourself of the Cassavetes quote on the homepage), don’t take criticism of your work personally or compare yourself to anyone, and don’t doubt your abilities (plenty of other people are going to do that for you). Be invaluable to those around you. Keep your friends close, and enemies closer. Remember what Werner Herzog said about money: it’s cowardly and stupid. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing: chase what you want, otherwise it’ll just go away. Nothing worth anything comes easy (don’t spread yourself too thin). “Live to the point of tears.” Let he who has never sinned… Beware of experts. Know your tools. Self-importance is bad (play low-status). Autodidactism is good, and never-ending (read – and then write – and then read some more). Our most valuable commodity is time. “Only the exhaustive is truly interesting.” Always consider the long-term: hard work will pay off. Don’t fold when you can check. Earn the respect of those you respect. (Is there more than one kind of intelligence?) “Never stop fighting until the fight is done.” Be professional when you need to. If not now, when? Learn it all on the job. Expose yourself to everything. The tortoise sometimes wins the race. Do it right or not at all. “Schlafen kannst Du, wenn Du tot bist.” Be informed before you open your mouth (and don’t mumble). (In fact, most of the time just stop talking and listen instead.) “Put up or shut up.” Decide which side you’re on: do it for them or do it for yourself (there is no middle ground). Don’t say it if you don’t mean it. ‘Independence’ is a state of mind. Retain your dignity, even when alone. Stop complaining (enjoy the abyss). Get more exercise. Always challenge yourself. Know your limitations (and when to disengage). Ride a bike. Don’t use ‘myself’ when ‘me’ will do just fine. “Try not to die like a dog.” Live up to your myth. And don’t quit those piano lessons.
If you need a fool’s counsel, I am here: paul.cronin@thestickingplace.com.
