INT: How have you seen the Guild change, if you've seen the Guild change at all?

RK: Well I've seen some real leaders of the Guild disappear. And that's been very sad, John Rich, Gil Cates. And to see these people vanish is sad because they had so much history and they knew so much about what had happened. Elliot Silverstein had, knew so much about the Guild's past. These people had such histories and they were so connected to the Guild and the past. And to see that all gone is very sad and I'm glad that the Visual History Program is happening because it's such an amazing collection of work and the thoughts and ideas of Directors that's like nowhere else. So I'm super proud to be part of this.

INT: Did, you know, this issue of aging and particularly this business. What's your feeling about it? Aging on, first of all, you don't age, Dorian but, you know.

RK: No but, you know, it's, the “New Kid in Town”. Remember the lyrics of that? The Eagles' song. It's very true. I mean when you, when you're starting out and you're the hot new thing the world is your oyster and everything opens up. But there's always a new kid in town and that happens. It's a cycle. I mean I remember talking to Robert Wise and he couldn't get a job near the end. I mean Taylor Hackford, I believe, gave him his last directing job called ROOFTOPS or something like that. Yeah. And if Taylor hadn't stepped up to the plate I don't think he, Bob, would have gotten the chance. George Cukor, after an amazing career like his, couldn't get anything going. I mean he did RICH AND FAMOUS because of Jacqueline Bisset. [INT: Billy Wilder, how about that?] Billy Wilder couldn't. Who else? There was some... Oh, Orson Welles. I mean look at that. So yes, there's definitely a youth oriented concentration in this business. And it's a tough, tough job to direct. The hours, the tension, the, what it takes out of you. And so everyone says it's a young man's job. [INT: Do you think that's true?] I think for some people. I mean I know I can still do it. I'm hoping to continue. It's, I stay in shape. I keep exercising. You have to be in shape to be a Director. That's another thing that Nina [Nina Foch] was always talking about. You know, you have to keep up your body 'cause if you don't have that you can't do the tremendous amount of tension that's dropped on you every day. [INT: You know, there's, because of the shift in people's ages and their, in many cases, their health, it, there seems to me, and I may be wrong about this, but the possibility of, you know, media for elders made by elders. Not that a, you know, a 25 year old can't make a movie that a 90 year old is gonna love, but maybe a 90 year old can make a movie of the experience of being 90 that everybody else who's 90, who's sitting at home could watch. And I wonder--] I'm sure you're right because the Baby Boomers are a big crowd, you know. And for sure. I think that's a good point. I hadn't thought of that. [INT: And it's interesting that you talk about your own health and keeping it up just in terms of where you are and understanding that that's, I remember Arthur Hiller talking about it when I asked him, you know, I asked him, "What are the quality, what makes a Director?" And one of the first things he talked about was stamina.] And a good pair of shoes. [INT: And a good... What do you wear?] Tennis shoes when I direct. Or barefoot for some of the movies. [INT: If you're lucky.]

INT: If you were thinking about advice that you would give to somebody who is in the process of becoming a Director, what would you recommend?

RK: A lot of them already know this and that's, my advice to all young Directors is to make lots of short videos that show a range, comedy, drama, documentary, any of that, very short pieces; put it on a website or YouTube channel; get a card with your face on it and your name and your website or whatever it is and just hand it out to everyone you meet. And that's my advice.

INT: Some people say all life is meeting. Some people say if you want to actually accomplish anything you better be willing to meet. Where are you on this?

RK: I think that most of the things that have happened to me career wise have been through meeting people at parties, screenings, just, and another thing Nina [Nina Foch] said was, "Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep meeting people." And personal contact, along with your work, are the two things that make it happen. [INT: If the person you're talking about is more introverted, what can you, you know, I'll use an adjective, shy, what can you recommend for that individual? And do you think, in fact, you can be "shy" and do this job?] For people who are shy and want to be filmmakers, they need to find a partner who isn't shy who can push them. And in film school, that's one of the great things about film school is that you connect with other people that you can go through your career with, like I did with Basil Poledouris. The fact that I am still friends with John Milius and George Lucas all happened because of film school. And they, people can help each other that way. And so a shy person should definitely find a type A friend and go forward. [INT: That's a really good piece of advice. Anything else?]

INT: What do you think a Director needs to know about life?

RK: How people work. How to, you have to know how to expose yourself, not literally but emotionally because if you share things personal about yourself other people will react 'cause everybody has similar feelings. And... [INT: You've made movies that have had serious emotional content like IT’S MY PARTY. GETTING IT RIGHT has some of that as well, certainly, will you get moved on the set?] Yes, yes. [INT: And how will you express it?] Well I mean I've teared up on the set before. And even when I look at the movies years later I can because I know where they came from and the experiences that I'm writing or making movies about are real. And that's what I think, if a Director can take real emotions that they've experienced and get them across to an audience, the audience will click with him, ‘cause they, everyone's, basically, has the same feelings. [INT: So for you though is one of the goals, if you're directing a scene, for you to be moved?] Well there's so much technical stuff going on that it's rare that that happens. But if everything is in place and is running smoothly, then you can get into that. But most of the time you're thinking, is the framing right? Are we on schedule? When are the lunches coming? So, you know, it's hard to get to that point on set. [INT: When have you had the experience where you were moved and then when you looked at either the dailies or even the cut and said, "No. We have to do..."] I haven't had that experience. The only time I've been moved is when it really did work. And it came through with gangbusters. [INT: Got it.] Yeah.

INT: And if you, and this, you know, the classic end question here is the best and the worst.

RK: Oh yeah. The best experience, I think the best experience for me was making GETTING IT RIGHT in England because I was surrounded by fantastic British Actors who were doing amazing work and it was a project that I had come up with to emulate the school, films I saw in film school in the '60s [1960s]. They were all, there was a whole rash of these British films and I wanted to make one like it. And the fact that I was able to and have it come out and it was just, that was a great experience.

INT: We haven't talked about that [GETTING IT RIGHT], the making of that movie. Talk a little bit about it.

RK: It was a book that I, or it was a book I found called GETTING IT RIGHT, written by an English author and it reminded me of those movies I saw in USC: MORGAN, ALFIE, DARLING. They were all a series of movies in the '60s [1960s] about misfits in London. And this was a similar story. And I wanted to shoot it in the style of those movies and use some of the Actors from those films. And I was able to do that. So it was this wonderful feeling of accomplishment and creativity. And so that... [INT: Had you spent time in that city before?] Never. I had not, but I got to work with Sir John Gielgud and Lynn Redgrave and Helena Bonham Carter, just a great cast. And it was just an amazing experience. [INT: Now was that all on location?] Yes. Well we did build one or two things but mostly it was on location. So that was the best, probably. [INT: Did you find working with these Actors who had, some of them, serious English acting training any differences? And what were they?] Well with John Gielgud it was aim and shoot because he was just hitting every beat and came up with things on his own that were terrific. With Lynn Redgrave, my training with Nina [Nina Foch] helped because she would come up to me and ask at certain times, "What am I doing here?" I'd just look at my action list and tell her, you know. And Helena Bonham Carter, I didn't think she was right for the part of an anorexic lady but, 'cause I'd seen her do all these posh movies. And she said, "No, I can do it. I can do it." And I said, "Well I don't know." So she came in and read and showed me that she could. And it was against type and that was fun, you know. All these great, great moments on that movie.

INT: You've worked with various Crews from various countries. [RK: Yeah.] Any differences?

RK: Sure. The thing I was impressed about with the British Crews is that on the weekends they were talking about what theater they were gonna go see or their, what books they had read. And in America, they're usually talking about going water skiing on the weekend or something like that. But the worst experience I think might have been in, on WHITE FANG when I came down, I ate some bad shellfish and came down with hepatitis. And I was, it was horrible to try to function as a Director when you're totally drained and you're suffering from that. And I remember we were shooting at night around firelight, all this stuff with wolves and 40 degrees below zero and I had hepatitis. And the sun came up and everyone's skin turned a regular color and mine stayed yellow. And they said, "There's something wrong here." And, so they flew me down here and I, it took me a couple of days to recover and they shot second unit and then I went back up. But just trying to push through a shoot day is hard enough under those conditions. But when you're really sick, yeah, that was the worst experience.

INT: When you say, "It's a wrap" what's that been like?

RK: Oh, it's been great! What a feeling of accomplishment you get at the end of every movie when you say, "It's a wrap." And if it's been a good experience everyone cheers. If it's been a bad experience everyone breathes a sigh of relief and runs for the door.

INT: All right, I'm saying, you get to say it. [RK: That's a wrap?] You, don't ask me as a question. You're the Director. So...

RK: It's an honor being interviewed by you, Jeremy. I've always said that you're the best interviewer at the DGA ever.

INT: My name is Jeremy Kagan, today still is September 5th, 2018. I just conducted a remarkable interview with the remarkable Randal Kleiser for the Directors Guild Visual Histories Program and we are at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles.