Demme had warm feelings for Pittsburgh
Even before shooting what would become one of the most decorated films in Oscars history, Jonathan Demme had his eye on Pittsburgh. The award-winning director died Wednesday in Manhattan from complications from esophageal cancer at age 73.
“One of his best films is the [1983] documentary ‘Stop Making Sense,’” said Chris Sepesy, a professor of film history in the Cinema Arts program at Point Park University. “And of course, one of the members of Talking Heads (which was featured in the film) was from Fox Chapel,” drummer Chris Franz.
“He knew of the city long before he ever starting making ‘The Silence of the Lambs.’ here. He would come back later, openly telling people how much he loved the city, could not say enough about the workforce of this town.”
Mr. Sepesy was a Shadyside resident when some of the film crew set up living quarters at the Shadyside Inn.
“They were just around the corner, and we just struck up a conversation,” he said of his first encounter with Mr. Demme. Although he was working as an aide for Sen. John Heinz, Mr. Sepesy was a huge fan of cinema. They all began hanging out at The Artery, a bar on Ellsworth Avenue.
Although he never asked for a cameo in “The Silence of the Lambs,” which won five Academy Awards (including best director for Mr. Demme and best picture), Mr. Sepesy said he has a very, very brief part in the film anyway.
“If you watch, you can see the top of my head” in the scene outside of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland. “I tell people that was my big part.”
The two kept in touch over the years, and Mr. Sepesy said Mr. Demme “howled” when he learned he’d gotten a job teaching classes in film history. When Mr. Demme returned for a March 2015 appearance at the Carnegie Mellon University International Film Festival, he spoke to CMU and Mr. Sepesy’s Point Park students.
“Jonathan came out of that 1960s idealist period, and it just stuck with him for the rest of his life. He had one of the most innate senses of justice of anyone I’ve ever known, and that shows in his films. It’s almost etched into his DNA,” Mr. Sepesy said.
Beyond the filmmaker’s obvious talent, Mr. Demme was also remembered as a great guy.
Actor Chuck Aber, who was a longtime staple on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” remembers his socalled audition for “Silence.”
“When I was called in, it wasn’t really an audition,” he said, laughing. “He just wanted to talk about Fred Rogers. They were similar kinds of people, just the nicest you’d ever meet.”
One day when Mr. Aber showed up for work, Mr. Demme drew him aside to make sure he’d had breakfast. “I thought, ‘Wow, here’s this big director worrying about me.”
So it was that “Neighbor Aber” on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” paid what might have been the ultimate yinzer compliment: “I remember saying to him, ‘You could be a Pittsburgher.’ He was that nice.”