Documentary: “The Film School Generation”

From The Film Stage:

As introduced by a very reverent John Lithgow, the hour-long documentary “The Film School Generation” — made in 1995 as part of an omnibus TV project entitled American Cinema — is currently available to watch on YouTube. Revolving primarily around five directors from that most famed group of young filmmakers — Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg — the film, while mostly dealing in broad, well-established narratives of the era, still provides some useful background on the men behind such recent or upcoming releases as Passion, Twixt, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Along with the aforementioned band of artists, other interview subjects include: Peter Biskind, author of the popular 1998 book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls; Lynda Myles, co-author of the 1984 book The Movie Brats; USC alum John Milius, the writer-director of Dillinger and Big Wednesday, as well as an Oscar nominee for Apocalypse Now; legendary film editor and sound artist Walter Murch, a key early collaborator of Lucas and Coppola (his work with the latter has persisted all the way to Tetro); and, of course, Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader (whose own directorial work of the time period, rather unfortunately, isn’t discussed).

Part 1

For the rest of the documentary, click More.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

For The Film Stage post, go here.