Filmmaker Ivory reflects on work, life
Director to look back (and forward) in talk
James Ivory had been in the situation he faced in 2017 three times before, waiting in the audience at the Academy Awards and wondering if his name was about to be called. Those first three times he had been nominated in the Best Director category, but in 2017 at the age of 89 he was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay.
“When my name was announced I immediately thought of my friends Ismail Merchant and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, my two partners who were no longer alive, but they were with me that night,” said Ivory from his home in Claverack.
In 1961, Ivory and Merchant co-founded Merchant Ivory Productions and, until Merchant’s death in 2005, the pair along with frequent screenwriter Jhabvala were responsible for 44 films such as the classics “A Room With a View” (1986), “Howard’s End” (1993) and “The Remains of the Day” (1994).
Ivory is the oldest recipient of an Academy Award, and he received it for the film “Call Me By Your Name.” He said he was very proud to win the award for screenwriting. “Writing has always been central to all our films. The best films give us something to feel and hopefully it’s a feeling we may never have felt before.”
Ivory will take part in a conversation with fellow filmmaker Stephen Soucy, a University at Albany graduate, on Friday, Feb. 4 with the New York State Writers Institute. Visit nyswritersinstitute.org for more information.
Merchant Ivory films were known for their lavish sets, usually taking place in the late 1800s or early 1900s in England, and starring some of the finest English actors of the time: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Helena Bonham Carter.
“We enjoyed working together as long as we could,” Ivory said. “The kind of films we made at the time would probably be made for a 10-part TV series today. No one’s going to the theater anymore, and movies that are costing $25 million to make are only bringing in $6 million today. We were happy making individual films, and then moving on to something completely different. I would not have been happy making a 10-part series.”
Architecture and beautiful scenery have always been central to the Ivory’s films. “From the time I was a young child I’ve always been fascinated with buildings. I even went to college and studied architecture, not with the intention of becoming a builder of places. I wanted to get into filmmaking and figured I could use some of that background to find the perfect sets and locations for the films I wanted to make.”
Ivory loved filming on location. “My early films were all set in India, which is an extraordinary country. I visited when I was young and impressionable, and I liked the people. I got along very well with them. It’s a beautiful country, and when I first went there I knew nothing about India and by making my early films there I learned about its history and culture.”
Last November, Ivory published a series of essays consisting of his memories and reflections on his life and work titled “Solid Ivory” (Farrar Straus Giroux). “Most of these essays were published in one form or another through the years. I’ve written a lot about growing up in Klamath Falls, Wash. I have a very good memory and can remember clearly all sorts of things, places, feelings, times of day, what people were wearing, the weather.”
He wonders if part of this ability is that he always hoped to become a filmmaker and at a young age realized if you’re going to be an artist it was essential to reflect on the experience of your life. “That’s what your art is about,” Ivory said. “It comes out of your lived experience. It’s important to constantly reflect on where you are and how you got there. Reflection can bring out great sadness and joy, two important elements of story.”
In the book, he gives some advice for prospective film directors such as the importance to hire talented people and let them do their job. “The writer, the camera person, the set designer and all the actors are fellow artists, and I’ve always let them show me the plan they have on achieving their task. I’ve given them a job. They’ve done this work before, and it would defeat the purpose of hiring such accomplished people if I didn’t allow them to show me their ideas.”
Part of the book is about Ivory growing up in a place and a time when being gay was rarely if ever discussed. “When I was young there was no such thing as gay life. No one knew much about it, and I chose not to live a secretive life about who who I was. As an adult I lived an open life, but I did move to New York City, which was a good place to be gay and in your 20s.”
Ivory said he never experienced terrible problems so many gay people had at that time trying to deny or hide their sexuality. “I have many friends today who are not gay and have adult children who are announcing they are gay, and my friends, instead of collapsing in horror simply say, ‘My child is gay.’ It’s not such a big deal today. This is a whole new world.”
In 1975, he and Merchant bought the Van Rensselaer Mansion which was built in 1805 in Claverack. “I discovered the Hudson Valley by accident, but I have grown to really love it here. It’s a quiet place with excellent restaurants and beautiful scenery. This is where the three of us planned out and worked on many of the films we made.”
At 93, people often ask him what the secret is to living such a vibrant life for so long. “I think it really comes down to my genes. I’ve rarely been sick my whole life. I’ve always slept well and had a good appetite. I just finished writing a screenplay. Some days I wake up excited to work, and some days I have no purpose to my day, and that’s OK.”