One of the pleasures of doing websites devoted to specific filmmakers is meeting people who come out of the woodwork (or cyberwork or something). Not long after starting Robert-Bresson.com, Trond Trondsen and I were contacted by the UK writer-director Jonathan Hourigan, who had assisted on L’Argent (1983). Jonathan has been a great encouragement to us ever since, and we are proud to announce a new interview with him conducted by Colin Burnett that we have just co-published with the film journal Offscreen. It details Jonathan’s friendship with Bresson and his experience on the set of what was to be the filmmaker’s last project:
“I arrived in Paris in late June 1982. My first day working on L’Argent was Tuesday, 29th June, which I think was the 10th day of Principal Photography. I arrived with the crew working at the photographic shop, located on the Boulevard Henri Quatre. My abiding memories of that first day were the oppressive heat, the apparently slow pace of work and Italy’s 2-1 victory over Argentina in the World Cup, to the great delight of [cinematographer] Pasqualino de Santis and his Italian crew. . . .”
The complete interview may be accessed here.