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We all knew Ebert the film critic. In Life
Itself, James introduces us to Ebert the
human being. Working with documentary
powerhouse Kartemquin Films, James has
created a film that showcases Ebert’s guts,
glory, and “improbably buxom women,” but
feels so much bigger than just another
memoir-turned-movie. It is the story of a
man who lived so richly that he seemed
larger than life itself. A legend he may have
been, but at the end of the day, he was just
Roger, someone as vulnerable as the rest of
us.
Widely accepted as the most influential
movie critic of all time, Ebert won readers
with his inclusivity. Despite his genius,
esotericism wasn’t his game. Anyone can
pick up an Ebert review and relate to it.
Balancing his lack of pretension was his
bent for beheading directors, screenwriters,
and actors who took the cake for
incompetence. Love him or hate him, the
man knew what he was talking about, and
had the 1975 Pulitzer Prize to back it up. In
2002, after 35 years at the helm of film
criticism, Ebert was diagnosed with thyroid
cancer. The disease stole his lower jaw and
his ability to speak, but nothing could excise
Ebert’s devotion to the movies. He wrote in
the public sphere until his death in April
2013, just four months after James’ crew
began filming.
Let’s back up to 1977. Ebert had been
reviewing movies for a decade when James
earned his undergraduate degree in
communication from James Madison
University. The filmmaker recalls, “I fell in
love with film while I was in college in
Virginia. On a lark, I took a film
appreciation class through the English
department. I liked going to movies, and I
heard it was a great class. It was there that I
fell hook, line, and sinker and started
thinking, ‘This would be fun.’”
Film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. Photo credit:
Kevin Horan.
James landed on Ebert’s radar in 1994, with
the release of his first big hit, the critically
acclaimed Hoop Dreams. Ebert and film
criticism partner Gene Siskel both
championed the documentary, calling it the
best film of the year. Though Ebert
described his approach as “relative, not
absolute,” he made an exception for Hoop
Dreams when he labeled it “the great
American documentary.” In his first review
of the film, Ebert wrote, “It gives us the
impression of having touched life itself.”
The success of Hoop Dreams brought
James’ career into focus, and Ebert is partly
to thank for that. James says, “Hoop Dreams
launched everything, but people have liked
my films enough to keep letting me make
them. Yeah, there have been some
struggling moments, but I’ve been very
fortunate to be able to do as much work as
I’ve done.”
In the 1968 review of Night of the Living
Dead that propelled Ebert to national fame,
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he wrote, “Censorship is never the answer.”
It is fitting that he agreed to allow a master
of the raw filmmaking style cinéma vérité to
direct Life Itself. James had never before
made a movie based on a book, but was ripe
for the challenge. He discusses the
experience: “People who have seen some of
my work–and they’ve usually seen Hoop
Dreams–have a certain impression of the
kinds of films I make. But that’s not
necessarily the case here. I liked the idea of
trying to tackle a biography.” Producer
Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List,
Moneyball) and his partner Garrett Basch
were first to entertain the cinematization of
Ebert’s book. They urged James to read the
volume. “I really responded to Roger’s
memoir,” says James, “It was so poignant, at
times funny, and revealing. I wanted to list
passages from the book so that, in essence,
Roger would be the narrator of his own
story. It was an exciting creative challenge
to mix traditional biography with clips,
archival footage, interviews, and following
Roger’s life in the present the way I did.”
At first, Ebert and his wife Chaz weren’t
convinced that the book should be adapted
to film. James recalls, “Roger was flattered
that I wanted to make a film on him, but he
wasn’t sure if it was really called for. There
were some emails back and forth wherein I
told him why I thought it was an important
film to make.” Finally, after an in-person
meeting with the Eberts, James was able to
convey his vision to the couple. They then
agreed to put all four hands on deck. James
continues, “Roger knew the kinds of
documentaries that he loved were honest and
intimate. So he knew that if he was going to
commit to this, he needed to really commit
to it. There was no halfway. And once he
said, ‘Let’s do it,’ he was true to that spirit.”
From that time on, James and his team had
exclusive access to Ebert’s final four months
on earth. They shared in the heartbreak of
his widow-to-be. They dabbed the tears of
his beloved step-grandchildren. They
witnessed as suction tubes painfully cleared
his open throat of excess fluid. But they also
basked in the warmth and humor that Ebert
never lost. James says, “For me, one of the
great lessons of Roger’s life was to embrace
life fully. Life, if you’re lucky, isn’t all pain
and suffering. It’s also transcendent. It’s a
lot of laughs. It’s poignant and memorable
moments. From being around Roger, I have
this feeling that even though he had his
share of suffering, heartbreak, and dark
moments of doubt, he managed to embrace
it all and see the value and meaning of each
moment.”
Roger and Chaz Ebert at their 1992
wedding. Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Ebert was 50 and halfway through his career
by the time he married the greatest love of
his life, Chaz. James says, “Chaz was even
more than Roger’s life partner and his
protector and motivator through illness. She
was also involved in the business aspect of
his life. Once Roger made the decision to do
the movie, then she wanted to help make it a
reality. But she also respected the
boundaries that she could not have editorial
control of anything, and that I had to be able
to make the film that I was going to make.
We could never in a million years have
pulled this off without her constant support.”
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In designing an authentic and absorbing
account of Ebert’s life, James has once again
shown that he is, above all, a storyteller. He
says, “I feel that at heart, my films are
stories about real people that hopefully draw
you into their lives in an intimate way. So
there are larger issues that a film may
address, for example, violence in my 2011
documentary The Interrupters, but the way
we get to the point is through the lives of
people. I’m always looking to suck the
audience into the story through people who
are amazing or interesting or provocative.
For me, that’s the key to maintaining
audience interest. I don’t generally interview
experts because, in my films, the people that
are living it are the experts. These are
choices that other filmmakers might not
necessarily make.”
Martin Scorsese, an executive producer of
Life Itself, is on set with director Steve
James and producer Zack Piper. Image
courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Like many great storytellers, James doesn’t
always begin a story knowing how it will
end. He says, “Going into making a movie,
you have to have a strong idea about what
you’re hoping to accomplish and why.
Without that, you’re rudderless. And you
won’t get funding either, no matter who you
are or what else you’ve done. Once you
make it through the planning phase, then the
fun really starts. That’s when you get to go
out and make it. You get all these wonderful
surprises and unexpected twists. You learn
that people aren’t what you thought they
were. Or you meet new people who are
more interesting than the person you initially
intended to follow. All of those things are
what make this worth doing. The act of
discovery that comes with going out and
actually doing the film and remaining open
to where it wants to take you.”
James reveals the most profound twist of
Life Itself: “When we started, we had no
idea that Roger would not be with us four
months later. It makes the film, among other
things, also a film about dying. How you
die, and how you do it with great grace and
dignity. Roger made death feel like
something not to be feared. Of course, none
of us knows what happens until we get
there.”
Chaz Ebert posted on her blog on the oneyear anniversary of her husband’s death:
“What […] I’m most grateful for in this year
since my beloved husband left us is that I
have no regrets.” James feels the same way
about his film. He says, “There are a million
things that would have been great to put in
the movie. Roger would tell these long,
entertaining bar stories. You’re not really
sure how true they are, but it doesn’t matter
because it’s a great story!” James chuckles.
“That’s the problem with every movie; you
can’t put it all in. You have to make some
hard decisions. But it’s when you’re
throwing out the good stuff that you feel
good about what you’re making. Hopefully,
that means you’re leaving in the better
stuff.”
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Now that Life Itself has been completed,
James has other projects on the horizon. For
the past two years, he has been dedicating
energy to the Generation Food Project, a
collaboration that takes a global look at how
people feed themselves in the 21st century.
James and the Generation Food team aim to
make a documentary, book, and multimedia
project surrounding the issue. Of course, this
project overlapped the making of Life Itself.
James says, “I always try to work my
chedule so I can devote myself to the one
film that’s front and center. I’m just a much
better filmmaker that way.
”
Life Itself theatrical release poster. Image
courtesy of Kartemquin Films.
The word filmmaker fits James in every
aspect of its meaning. Most directors of his
caliber do not perform the time-consuming
task of editing their own films. But it’s not
unusual to find James sitting alone at a
computer, cutting a movie together.
Regardless of whether other successful
filmmakers are editing, James doesn’t seem
bothered. He says, “In the editing stage, I
am truly living and breathing a film. When
I’m editing, I’m thinking about it. When I’m
not editing it, I’m thinking about it, and I’m
even dreaming about it. I love that part of
the process, because when you’re
completely immersed in a film is when it
really has the potential to get good.” James
can also be spotted with a camera on his
shoulder, though he says the amount of time
he spends shooting depends on the film.
He explains, “That moment in Life Itself
when Roger says, ‘Shoot yourself in the
mirror, Steve’ may be a little misleading.
For this film, I shot a fair amount of the
hospital stuff due to the intimacy factor. But
for something like The Interrupters, I ended
up shooting the whole film because we had
to be able to run out at a moment’s notice to
film our subjects.” But by the end of each
project, James has somehow turned
thousands of hours of grueling research into
an easy watch.
James has poured an enormous amount of
work into Life Itself; now it’s time to break
out the cigars and present the new baby to
the world. Kartemquin Films’ Director of
Communications and Distribution Tim
Horsburgh says, “I continue to be amazed by
just how much enthusiasm there is for the
film, and how beloved Ebert is. We had
people crying at the trailer, so many requests
for screenings, and the social media buzz
has been nonstop. It’s truly exciting to be in
the middle of the community that has
already formed around this documentary.”
The film will be released on July 4, 2014 in
theaters and On Demand, but was presented
earlier at this year’s Nantucket Film
Festival. Life Itself was shown at the
Dreamland Theater on Friday, June 27 and
Sunday, June 29. ●
This article appeared in Yesterday’s Island, Today’s
Nantucket at http://yesterdaysisland.com/capturing-life/