This is my 500th blog post.

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.

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. 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.

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 to The Fog of War 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.

If you haven’t seen Fast, Cheap, you should: immediately. If you haven’t seen his web site, ditto. And his latest series of postings on the NY Times blog site is remarkable.

Here’s the interview. Thanks, Errol–for everything.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (19.1MB)