On August 1, at the age of 77, one of Hollywood’s most impressive filmmakers died. Reports dropped Several websitesbut the news cycle continued and Jonathan KaplanThe name faded from the headings. However, I think his work deserves longer reflection.
IndieWire’s own Anne Thompson joined me to Kaplan’s daughter Molly, who in turn directed me to some of Kaplan’s closest friends and colleagues. Thanks to their participation, I could sew together reminders that better describe Kaplan than a simple obituary or list of credits may accomplish.
However, we are talking about a resume that contains some lively titles – “illegal entry”, “Bad Girls” and a series that you may have heard of called “ER” among them. He was nominated for five Emmys. He directed Jodie Foster to his first Oscar victory on 1988’s ”The accused. “” Love Field “1992, led Michelle Pfeiffer Her third nomination.
“Jonathan really distinguished himself as head of actresses,” producing partner and NYU film Professor Ken Friedman said. “I wondered about the performance he received, obviously, with Jodie Foster in ‘The Accused’ and ‘Heart Like a Wheel’ with Bonnie Bedelia. This is the exceptional work in their careers. He is obviously a good storyteller, but I think he deserves a footnote in the books about books about directors for working with actresses. ”
Friedman’s life first crossed with Kaplans 60 years ago, when the couple were research film students at NYU. He described Kaplan as a hippie and himself as the future avant -garde film.
“We knew each other, but we did not become friends,” Friedman said. “Both (our) films that we worked with won or shared the first prize in the National Student Film Festival, sponsored by Schlitz Beer. We met the way together and had a kind of roadshow where we showed the films (…) and we got to hang on the trip and became really good friends.”
As the time passed, their friendship only became stronger. “We had similar ideas about what makes good movies,” he said. The two would continue to work together on six films, including Friedman’s current favorite, which he admits “changes week to week.”
“As a complete work,” heart like a wheel “stands out. And it really was a good movie. We liked to make” White line fever. “And although it was a lower budget independent – an independent film with Columbia – we were very loving towards film, filmmaking and Westerners and gave us the opportunity to comment on what we love to do,” he said.
Director Allan Arkush Also was a NYU student with Kaplan in the late 60s. “We took a class called American Cinema based on (Andrew) Sarris book,” he said. “The teacher was a 27-year-old Martin ScorseseThe films he drove became a lifetime author Touchstone (for Kaplan). ”
He said Kaplan’s biggest impact was “shock corridor”, “The searchers”, “The Big Heat”, “The Band Wagon”, “Force of Evil”, “Johnny Guitar” and “El Dorado.” Arkush recalled that they later screened some of these classics in their garden of 16 mm for their families. “We drove them for our daughters who screamed at us to stop ooo-ing and ah-ing over films that we had seen at least 20 times,” Arkush said, leaving that the two “often felt like the characters in “Two weeks in another city,” A Vincente Minnelli film about a site photography in Italy.
In a statement to IndieWire, Scorsese himself said:
“For many years now I taught a class at NYU. I had some very talented students, and Jonathan Kaplan was one of the most passionate. He and Allan Arkush, Jon Davison and Joe Dante were the ones with the greatest love for films. Sol Kaplan (and his uncle was Van Heflin), and he lived in Hollywood and his father. As much as a person, and early I could see that he was a pretty filmmaker – his student image “Stanley” was really ironing. Roger Corman Called me to ask if I had any young directors that I could recommend, I immediately thought of Jonathan. He started for Roger with ‘Night Call Nurses’, worked his way up to ‘Truck Turner’ with Isaac Hayes (produced by Roger’s brother Gene), then he continued to make a series of excellent pictures including ‘Over the Edge’ ‘Heart Like a Wheel’ and ‘The Accused’, for which Jodie Foster won a Oscar. It really grieves me to know that Jonathan is gone. He was a very special filmmaker and a wonderful person. ”
“Jonathan was pretty unique in my experience,” Davison, the aforementioned classmate, told Indieview. “He had a hard intelligence and was very funny. He was a folk person and was able to empathize with a variety of his characters who gave his pictures a lot of warmth. His best work is very energetic and not laws. He kept things on the set and on the screen.
Like Scorsese as described above, Kaplan was a wonderful child with old Hollywood roots. He even acted when he was little and worked with legends like Elia Kazan and Elaine May. After his classes at NYU, he moved to Los Angeles, where he became what his daughter called part of “The Roger Corman School of Filmmaking.”
Sneurman director Tim Hunter described Kaplan as a “populist filmmaker”, but said Kaplan would be quick to point out that the description was “not in the Trumpian meaning.”
“He was big-hearted, exuberant, smarter than anyone else and he always knew what felt most real, on and outside a set. Many of his best films are about working and blue collar heroes,” Hunter said. “For a liberal red diaper that grew up in the middle of the blacklist and theater communities in Ny City and went to a progressive school (Walden), in his best films he became a poet in the Western working class -just as comfortable with Blax Ploitation and Redneck -trucker -action as more serious films about underrepresented classes, women.
Hunter also talked about Banger, “Needledrop” sound tracks in movies such as “Over the Edge” and “Heart Like a Wheel”, which includes songs like “You Really Got Me” by Van Halen and “Turn! (To all that is a season) by Byrds. Mellencamp.
“People loved him even when he sometimes blasted on the set – they knew he had his back, was really good, really skilled and knew exactly what he was doing,” Hunter added. “In the same way that he advocated for the characters in his films, he protected his actors and the crews he worked with, and they all knew it, trusted him and loved him.”
The influence he made on these colleagues and friends is undeniable, and Friedman said it had rippling effects on each consecutive generation of prospective filmmakers. “I have taught for 20 years and I would still refer students to Jonathan to get a sense of the business. I think he was extremely generous with his time and his opinions and his care,” he said.
And that love was, of course, gifted to Kaplan from his talented family – especially his father, composer Sol Kaplan. “I think the first recording session I went to was when I was like 4-year-old,” Kaplan told Bobby Wygant 1992. “I think it makes such a strong impression that, you know, now that I look back on it I see that I really had no choice (but to go into filmmaking).”
To close with words from the great director himself, here is the full, absolutely wonderful, interview with Wygant.
Well done, Mr. Chaplain.
