The latest conversation piece for Scorsese is the low-budget, WWII-era horror film producer Val Lewton. Scorsese has produced the new documentary “Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows,” which he also narrates.
Written and directed by film critic, archivist and festival programmer Kent Jones, the film premieres Monday on Turner Classic Movies (8 p.m. EDT) and is followed by a marathon of Lewton’s films.
The documentary came out of casual discussions between Scorsese and Jones, who have known each other since 1991 and have collaborated on other film projects. It’s Jones’ first film as the sole director, but one of many docs for Scorsese.
“We were talking about films and we said, `You know, we should do something about that one day,'” Scorsese says. “We’ve done other things, too, to try to point the way to certain kinds of films that were made in the past to younger people.”
In the mold of legendary producer David O. Selznick (for whom he was an assistant), Lewton was so thoroughly involved in his films as to constitute a stamp of authorship — which is usually claimed by directors
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