The September Issue-R.J. Cutler, Part II ...

As promised, part II of the Q&A with The September Issue director R.J. Cutler (and earlier than anticipated!) I really hope you enjoy!

Q: During the filming process how exactly did you win Grace over and how did you get her to work with you again?
A: It’s really about earning trust and the only way you can earn people’s trust is to be trustworthy. To be who you say you are and to act consistently–do that day in and day out. In this case, what I said to Grace is all I wanted to do was see how she does what she does. The same with Anna when I first met her–it was my only interest to tell the story of what they do and how they do it and who they do it with and to see it as clearly as possible. We assured them that we wouldn’t be getting in the way. It was just me, the cameraman, the sound guy and our field producer. It was just the four of us there and we would always respect what was going on in the office. I always say the story belongs to the subject it doesn’t belong to me. It’s my movie, but it’s their lives and I have to respect that first and foremost. You stay consistent and they realize my goodness they’re doing what they said they were going to do. The longer that goes on the more invested they get. And the more invested that Grace gets the more invested everybody at Vogue gets and it just builds on itself. We developed really strong relationships with everybody and that relationship has carried on with Grace. We’re working now on an adaptation of a book she wrote a few years ago about a really great collection of drawings that she’s made over the years that tells a story of a year in her life as though it were lived by her family of cats. And we’re hoping to turn it into an animated feature. I say there have been rats in the kitchen (Ratatouille), why not cats on the catwalk? The book is called The Catwalk Cats so we’re very excited about it.

Q: Did spending so much time among some of the leading fashion authorities have any influence over your personal style at all?
A: (Laughs) I don’t think you can possibly spend a year seeing the world through the eyes of Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington, Sally Singer, Hamish Bowles, André Leon Talley, Tonne Goodman and all the other awesome folks over at Vogue and not have your sense of what fashion is. This is why I do what I do. You get to parachute down into the middle of these extraordinary worlds and see the world through the eyes of these amazing people. And part of the thrill of it is having your perspective change because you’re seeing it from the inside out. I will say, it’s no surprise to everybody here that there is a tendency to dismiss fashion and the industry as vain, excessive, indulgent, and expensive beyond reason. And to some extent it is all of those things. But it’s all of those things at the same exact moment that it’s a global industry that impacts so many other industries whether it’s advertising, retail, shipping or publishing. Fashion is a place where great artists practice their art and great craftsmen practice their craft. It is a reflection of culture. You can look at any moment in history–the clothes worn by a society and learn so much about that time in history. Fashion is so many things that to simply dismiss it would be a non-educated perspective. Having spent the year in this industry you can’t help but appreciate the historical and current significance of this industry and that was my big takeaway.

Q: What is your view on all the chaos that happens during Fashion Week?
A: It’s a reflection of a healthy industry. Even in troubled times this is a vital and healthy industry. I’m about to spend a few days filming with the guys over at rag & bone as they get ready for their shows this Friday. And I’m just so excited to be back in the mix of things because I know what hard work is going into it. I know how high the stakes are and how much they have to do in such little time. You multiply that by all the designers in NY, London, Paris, Milan–that’s exciting stuff.

Q: Knowing what we all know about the fashion industry and how controlled and PR driven it is, were you pressured to have any footage withdrawn for potential controversy? You mentioned that Anna suggested some changes. What was she most concerned about?
A: The very first time I met Anna I told her there would be no point in making this movie if I didn’t have final cut. There’s no point in filming for a year and editing for a year if the film isn’t going to be taken seriously. I said to her you deserve to have a film made about you to be taken seriously. Anna immediately acknowledged that and committed to that. And consistent with that, nobody asked for changes or edits. Every decision in this film is a decision that I made and that I’m thrilled with. I couldn’t be happier with the final version of this film. What I did choose to edit (for creative reasons) will be seen in an extra 90 minutes of footage on the DVD. There’s wonderful ALT stuff that’s hilarious. Believe me, you haven’t lived until you’ve spent a day shopping with André in Paris!

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Huge thanks to Jennifer over at 42 West for inviting me on this call. I had so much fun and learned so much. Thanks to Mr. Cutler for taking the time to share. And remember, the DVD releases on Feb. 23 so don't miss out on what everyone else will be talking about!

This post is dedicated to Alexander McQueen. While we know that Anna and Vogue make designers, it is absolutely true that designers like McQueen and his penchant for out-of-the-box artistry and design make the magazines. Thank you Mr. McQueen for sharing your talent and craft and inspiring us all. You will be missed.

Photo: Here

The September Issue–R.J. Cutler, Part I ...

So as I mentioned yesterday I was invited to partake in a Q&A session (along w/eight other bloggers) with R.J. Cutler, the director of The September Issue. I had no idea how long it would take me to transcribe the audio plus edit, so I apologize for just now posting! I hope you enjoy!

Q: You talk in an interview about the need for separation of church and state and that the director of a documentary needs to have final cut. Did the lack of separation of church and state within a big fashion title such as Vogue surprise you in any way?
A: In talking to Anna and Tom Florio (former publisher of Vogue) they would say that there was always a very strict separation of church and state. What surprised me, with questions of where you draw the line, was the enormous impact that Anna has on every single aspect in the industry. You see that demonstrated in the Neiman Marcus scene where Burt Tansky is asking for her help with shipping. You know I’ve often said that you can make a movie in Hollywood without Steven Spielberg’s blessing, and you can publish software in Silicon Valley without Bill Gates’ blessing but it’s hard to think of people in the fashion industry who have thrived in the fashion industry without Anna Wintour’s blessing. That really makes her one of those singular figures in America, and I think even world business. One of the reasons I was compelled to make this movie about her.

Q: Who would you say has more power in their respective industries? Bill Clinton or Anna Wintour? (Cutler produced the Oscar-nominated documentary ‘The War Room’ about Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign for the Presidency).
A: (Laughs) It’s just a tough, tough comparison. When I think about Anna’s impact and influence on the fashion industry the two people who come to mind for me are Mike Ovitz when he was running CAA and the way that it seemed as though all of Hollywood’s business somehow ran through him. The other is Frank Rich when he was the lead theater critic for the NY Times. In those days I was a young theater director and I know that Frank Rich’s thumbs up meant that your show was a hit and a thumbs down meant your show was a flop. It was that type of singular impact. Those are the types of comparisons that come to me and they’re very rare in our culture. I’m also asked how Anna's power compares to the fictional version of her that Meryl Streep portrays in The Devil Wears Prada and my answer always is that the Miranda Priestley character isn’t nearly as powerful as Anna. The more power you have the more economical you can be in your communication. Anna doesn’t need to jump up and down and throw her coat on desks, or make speeches degrading people or explain herself at great lengths. Everybody is so finely attuned to her responses to their work and even their presence that it’s almost as if very few words need to be said.

Q: Did you go into filmmaking knowing that Grace would split screen time with Anna and be as prominent a character as she is in the film?
A: I certainly didn’t know Grace was going to play such a prominent role when I started making the movie. I hadn’t met Grace and am embarrassed to say that I didn’t really know who she was. I went into this film with a blank slate as far as any deep knowledge of the fashion industry. I liked being in that position with this film because I could see everything with fresh eyes and learn everything kind of anew. But one of the things that became very clear to me immediately was the nature of the relationship between Anna and Grace–that all the action seemed to take place between the two of them or in the context of the shoots that Grace was doing. When you’re making a movie you’re always looking for defining relationships. It quickly became apparent to me that Grace and Anna’s relationship was the defining relationship at Vogue. So I decided very early on, rather I felt very early on that this was what I wanted to build the film around. The challenge was that Grace didn’t want to have anything to do with the movie. In fact, the very first words she said to me were “go away.” She was very adamantly opposed to being involved in the film. She felt that she didn’t really know who we were or what our process was. She felt that we would get in her way and it took some time for us to earn her trust and for her to realize that our filming with her was only going to kind of enhance her process and the experience of doing what she does. In the end she came to quite enjoy it. And of course it became the film. I mean the film really is the story of the relationship between these two women [Wintour and Coddington] who appear to embody these kind of mythic polar opposites. But as you get to know them you realize that their relationship is a symbiotic one. And together they have achieved so much in two decades working side by side and that’s very, very exciting. I’m often told that people find one of the most moving parts of the film to be the end when Anna acknowledges Grace’s genius and Grace herself said that the first time she saw that she was nearly moved to tears.

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I don't know about you but I'm thinking Grace is pretty punk rock. I'm half-way transcribing this beast so part II will post by Friday. Don't forget to mark you calendars for the release of the DVD, plus bonus DVD on Feb. 23!

Photo: Here

Ready For This?! ...

I just got off the phone with the director of The September Issue, R.J. Cutler. I'm not kidding. Last week I was invited by a New York PR firm to partake in a Q&A w/Mr. Cutler. Wha? Me? And then when I thought things couldn't get any more fun they sent me an advanced copy of the film yesterday so I finally got to see it! I loved it ... I loved every aspect of it from the photo shoots, the sales and retail meetings, the storyboarding, meeting Anna's daughter Bee ... all of it! So be sure to come by tomorrow when I post about Mr. Cutler's insider tidbits on the film, fun snippets of the bonus footage and what he said the fabulous Grace Coddington said to him on their first introduction. It wasn't so nice!