It’s no surprise that the TIFF Bell Lightbox decided to celebrate filmmaker Nicholas Ray this fall with a retrospective of his work [Hollywood Classics: The Cinema Is Nicholas Ray]. Best known for the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause, Ray, who died of lung cancer in 1979, was, and still is, one of the most influential filmmakers to come out of the Hollywood system. His filmography, which also includes revered titles like Bigger Than Life, Bitter Victory, and King of Kings, makes him very relevant and poignant in our current society too.
As part of the series, which runs until December 13, Susan Ray is screening her new documentary Don’t Expect Too Much at the Lightbox on Saturday, October 29 at 4 p.m. The doc is a portrait of her late husband during the making of his film We Can’t Go Home Again. She’ll also be introducing and speaking about Bitter Victory on Sunday, October 30 at 1 p.m. followed by a screening of We Can’t Go Home Again at 4 p.m.
Criticize This! spoke with Susan Ray over the phone from her home New York City about her life with Ray, how the doc came to be, and why retrospects like the one at the Lightbox are important. Read our Q&A below.
Brian McKechnie: What was Nicholas like in his private life?
Susan Ray: Pretty much the way he was behind the camera. He was a complex guy and had many moods and faces. In his personal life he was probably more vulnerable at times and playful. We frequently had a playful relationship. We fought a lot but we played a lot too.
BM: Was it difficult living with him and his celebrity?
SR: It was difficult living with him because we are both difficult people [laughs]. Yes, it’s not easy being the “great man’s wife” and people basically want to get you out of the way to get to the great man. It was sometimes a challenge.
BM: What do you think his greatest achievement was?
SR: I know that most people won’t agree with me, but personally I feel his greatest achievement was his inner journey. He was a genuine seeker. He was concerned with his own truth and human nature and life, and he was a pretty aware guy. To my observation that awareness expanded until the day he died and that’s a great achievement in my book.
BM: Why make a documentary on him and We Can’t Go Home Again now?
SR: I wasn’t going to make the documentary. I had asked someone else to do it. I felt that the background for the making… so many assumptions have been made about Nic and We Can’t Go Home Again that are just patently false. I wanted to clear that up a bit and I wanted to open some questions that I consider relevant today that were raised by the film.
BM: Was it difficult for you given the subject matter?
SR: Not because of the subject matter. It’s been over 30 years since Nic died. I love the guy and will until the day I die, but I’m not emotionally attached in that way now. That wasn’t the difficultly, the difficulty was time and money.
BM: Are you happy with the response the film has received?
SR: I don’t know what the reception has been. I have no way of gauging it. What really matters to me is if I’m happy with the film or not. I’m glad that people seem to want to see it. That’s a start.
BM: This is your first film. Do you have the directing bug now?
SR: Yes! I don’t know if I’m going to get the chance [to direct again] as it’s pretty late in the game for me. If I were somehow to see an opening I would really like to do it and I have an idea for a narrative film.
BM: Was there any concerns from other people close to Nic with you making the film?
SR: I’m sure I have many detractors out there, but I don’t think too many would challenge my right to speak of his life. I knew him pretty well.
BM: How do you think Nic would feel about the current state of the film industry?
SR: I think he’d be pretty discouraged. He was discouraged with what he was seeing 35 years ago. Not that there aren’t some good films out there, but the amount of money spent on making bad films would break his heart.
BM: Do you think he would embrace digital technology at all?
SR: He was embracing it back then. He would embrace whatever worked. He foresaw some difficulties with technology. In a scene that was cut from the documentary [shot 40 years ago] he says: “This new technology is creating a generation of perpetual adolescent consumers rather than people who know how to say hello to each other.” As with everything it’s how it’s used.
BM: Do you have a favourite film of his?
SR: I have favourite films of his. One of them is Bitter Victory. By his own assessment it was an imperfect film and not how he wanted it, but it moved me very deeply. I love The Savage Innocents and Wind Across the Everglades. I love Party Girl. They’re all so different in some ways. They all address some full bodied theme and the themes are different yet carry his signature.
BM: How important is it to have his work celebrated like the retrospect at the TIFF Bell Lightbox?
SR: It’s important and I’m really happy the work is getting attention, but not because it’s his work. This is something that’s hard for people to understand. I am doing this project because I think it’s a wellspring of critical information of all kinds. About who we are, where we are, what film is, how the mind works, how an innovator works, and about Nic himself. All those things. I’m doing it because I believe in the content of this project.
For more information on Hollywood Classics: The Cinema Is Nicholas Ray, and to purchase tickets to any of Susan Ray’s engagements this weekend, visit tiff.net.
Top image: Nicholas Ray in a scene from Susan Ray’s documentary Don’t Expect Too Much. Courtesy TIFF.
