The Golden Director: James Ivory
by Brandon Judell
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If there is to ever be a glossy national magazine spotlighting hot gay
older men, James Ivory would be a good choice as the issue's first
centerfold. Dapper, distinguished, literate, dryly acerbic and solidly
built, this director, now in his 73rd year, has brought more joy to
American filmgoers with library cards than nearly any other helmer
around.
Born in Berkeley, California, educated at the University of Oregon, and
the long-time companion of the delicious producer Ismail Merchant, Ivory
has directed such celebrated films as "Shakespeare Wallah," "The
Europeans,"
"A Room With a View," "The Bostonians," "Maurice," "The Remains of the
Day," and the superb but overlooked "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries."
Now comes his adaptation of "The Golden Bowl," which has had a
phenomenal reception in England.
"This is arguably the best film from James Ivory," crowed The London
Evening Standard. "A sophisticated drama for grown-ups," hailed The
Guardian. And The London Sunday Observer agreed: "Ivory coasts to
another triumph."
Even if you disagree, it might be because Henry James fails to reach
Ivory's heights rather than the other way around.
We sat down with Mr. Ivory in two high-backed chairs in his Essex House
hotel room in New York City recently to discuss "The Golden Bowl" and
other matters.
PlanetOut: According to a Gore Vidal essay on "The Golden Bowl,"
Henry James was very happy when he wrote it. He was living with a
"charming Anglo-Irish man-about-town" named Jocelyn Persse.
James Ivory: Some kind of wishful thinking there or something.
That never happened to Henry James.
PlanetOut: He never had gay desires?
JI: He had many, many. ... He fell in love easily many, many
times as an older man, but he was never writing from any sort of sense of a happy
love affair or a happy life or anything of that kind. ... I mean, that didn't
happen for him.
PlanetOut: Now should we consider Henry James a gay writer? Or,
if you prefer, a writer who was gay?
JI: Well, we've read virtually every scrap of every letter he's
ever written, and we know his feelings. So I think you would have to say he
was certainly gay, but not somebody who could ever realize
those feelings. Here's an interesting thing. I was going through a bunch
of my stuff the other day, old newspaper clippings and so forth, and I
found a very interesting article written for The Advocate
way back in the late '70s or the early '80s. It was about
Henry James' feelings for his own brother, William, and how that
relationship was probably of all the relationships in James' life the
strongest and most compelling. No one
was ever suggesting there was any sort of unsavory thing between them,
but just that the greatest relationship of his life was the relationship
with his brother. I thought that was pretty interesting. I've never seen
any report on it since.
PlanetOut: Besides being an internationally acclaimed director,
you're also sort of an icon in the gay community. You're openly gay, you have a long
lasting creative relationship, and you made "Maurice," which has helped
so many people come out. The film has been such a comfort to hordes of
gays. How does that make you feel?
JI: Well, "Maurice" really is a lovely film, I think. I saw it
the other day again. I know it meant a lot to so many, many people.
PlanetOut: Wasn't it a brave film to make at the time as opposed
to doing it now?
JI: When would it be braver to do, then or now?
PlanetOut: Then. Now there is a gay cinema. The success of your
film and others
like it freed up money to do others. And "Maurice" also showed that
there was a marketplace for films with gay subject matter and also it showed that
heterosexuals could embrace a topic like this. So it was much braver to
make then.
JI: We expected with that film that there would be a lot of
criticism of
it. We expected that it would be attacked maybe. But we were wrong,
because I think it came at just the time when people dared not to
attack, because so many people were dying from AIDS. AIDS
was obviously this tremendous tragedy within the gay community, and I
think the people who might have attacked the film did not attack it
because of that.
PlanetOut: Researching you, I came across a site on the Internet
about gay people who served in the military. There under the title "17
Famous Bisexual or Gay Men Who Served in the Army" are you and Gore
Vidal.
JI: There must be so many other famous people.
PlanetOut: Well, they only list 17, and you are there. Have you
and Gore Vidal ever exchanged war stories?
JI: I've never met Gore Vidal. I've talked to him on the
telephone once. We have mutual friends, but that's it.
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