A Conversation With: Anjelica Huston, A Director Now

Speculation about who the surprise guest for the A Conversation With . . . presentation Friday might be was rampant among Hamptons International Film Festival patrons, and the most common guess, Anjelica Huston, turned out to be right. Ms. Huston recently made her directorial debut with a film about the horrors of child abuse, "Bastard Out of Carolina," which had its U.S. premiere at last week's Film Festival.

The identity of the guest of honor has been kept a closely guarded secret for all of the festival's four years, unlike the identity of the individual chosen for the Distinguished Achievement Award, which this year was Alan J. Pakula.

Ms. Huston began her career as an actress, following in the successful footsteps of her father, John (an actor and director), and grandfather, Walter (an actor). She said she hoped to direct again, perhaps even write a screenplay, and though she hinted at possible future projects she wouldn't offer any specifics because she's "superstitious."

Acting Debut

Growing up with a father so heavily involved in the film industry had a great influence on her, Ms. Huston said. "Life with my father was an adventure in itself," she said, though there were negatives, including the fact that "he was away most of the time."

Acting is, however, "a glamorous and interesting life, and one in which you could invent anything." When she was a teenager, Ms. Huston recalled, "I longed to be an actress. I remember meeting Ava Gardner, and the sun did rise with Ava Gardner."

Her acting debut came as a teenager in a movie her father directed, "A Walk With Love and Death," which she said ended up being a bad experience. After a period in which she did not want to act again, she read for a part in "Hamlet." Although she did not get the role, it gave her a taste for acting again.

Choosing Roles

When she met Jack Nicholson, she said, "I remember he used to bitch because he had so many scripts. I wanted just one." Ms. Huston was surprisingly willing to talk about her relationship with Mr. Nicholson, despite their acrimonious breakup.

Ms. Huston, who has appeared in such films as "The Addams Family," "The Witches," "The Grifters," and "Prizzi's Honor," usually plays strong, often mysterious, women.

"I love to be a handsome leading woman," she said.; she allows her roles "to choose me." A role has to speak to her, or she can't speak to it, she added.

Ms. Huston also described her pleasure in helping to create the physical look of her characters. Once she knows her lines, she said, she wants to know what her character will look like. "Putting on a character - that's one of the funnest things I do," she said, noting later that such details as shoes can make a great difference in how a character is portrayed.

"The heels will dictate how you walk," she said.

Possessed, Obsessed

After years of working successfully as an actress, Ms. Huston said, she enjoyed her first directorial job. Directing, she said, "completely possesses you. How you dream about it . . . it's a truly obsessive thing to do, but fun, and arduous."

Her first experience in the role of director was not without controversy: "Bastard Out of Carolina" was rejected by the TNT channel, which gave her the script in the first place, because of the graphic depiction of child abuse. She said she felt that "it was such a powerful story. So true, and so brave."

The violence they objected to - primarily two scenes, one of rape and the other of molestation - Ms. Huston said was necessary for the film to have impact and make sense.

"I don't like watching them," Ms. Huston said of the violent scenes. "I don't expect anyone to like watching them."

Quality Tax

The film had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where Ms. Huston said it was "very well received," and screenings at the Toronto and now the Hamptons Film festivals followed. It has been picked up by Showtime.

The first-time director lamented the decreasing quality and increasing sensationalism of Hollywood-backed motion pictures.

Money is the driving force behind the movies that receive wide theatrical distribution, Ms. Huston said. Of the big studios, she said, "That's the old guard: beg, borrow, and steal. That's how movies are produced." Were she offered $30 million for an acting job, she added, she wouldn't turn it down, but afterward she would want to "do a few for the love" of filmmaking.

Why not take $1 million of the $35 million that Bruce Willis gets paid for a "Die Hard" flick and give it to another, less established filmmaker? Ms. Huston suggested. This prompted the moderator of her talk, Jeanine Basinger, the chairwoman of film studies at Wesleyan University, to suggest what she called "a quality tax" on studio movies.