![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.errolmorris.com\/images\/stopsmiling1.jpg?resize=315%2C292\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This is my 500th blog post.<\/p>\n
To mark the occasion, I’m podcasting an interview I did with filmmaker Errol Morris back in March, 1997. The audio, alas, isn’t very good. I hadn’t planned to put the audio out at all, actually; the tape recorder was there as a backup to my notes, just as it was for the Ken Burns interview I did several years later (and with similarly iffy audio). I’ve cleaned the sound up as much as I could in the time I’ve had to devote to it. I think it’s at least listenable, and that the content of what Errol has to say is worth trying to listen through the bad sound.<\/p>\n
Errol as at what was then called Mary Washington College as the 1997 Distinguished Visitor in Residence. He was with us for about a day and a half, during which time he screened a video copy of the workprint for his new film Fast, Cheap & Out of Control<\/em>. He also spoke in five classes, attended several meals, and allowed himself to be interviewed nearly every moment he was here by a dedicated band of students from my film classes. I hope one day to put some of that material online as well.<\/p>\n For now, here’s the interview I did with Errol. I have far too much to say about this remarkable man and his work to even get started in this post. I’ll leave it at this: from Gates of Heaven<\/em> to The Fog of War<\/em> and beyond, his films have been as important to me as a film enthusiast and scholar as Welles’, Kubrick’s, or Hitchcock’s. I think Errol Morris will go down as one of the finest, most influential filmmakers who’s ever lived. He’s also a generous human being and an unforgettable conversationalist. I hear he can be difficult, too–but I’ve never seen that side of him. Even if I did, I’m sure he’d remain a hero.<\/p>\n If you haven’t seen Fast, Cheap<\/em>, you should: immediately. If you haven’t seen his web site<\/a>, ditto. And his latest series of postings on the NY Times blog site<\/a> is remarkable.<\/p>\n Here’s the interview<\/a>. Thanks, Errol–for everything.<\/p>\n