Kent Jones on LATE FAME, Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee & Lost New York

What happens when recognition arrives decades after you’ve stopped waiting for it? Director Kent Jones joins INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE to discuss LATE FAME, starring Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee, and Edmund Donovan. Dafoe plays Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet who abandoned his literary ambitions for a steady job at the post office. When an enthusiastic young admirer appears at his door, Ed is welcomed into a circle of twenty-something artists who proclaim him a rediscovered genius. Suddenly celebrated again—and drawn to Gloria, a magnetic but precariously situated actress and singer played by Greta Lee—Ed begins to wonder whether this unexpected second act might be real. Directed by Jones from a screenplay by Oscar-nominated MAY DECEMBER writer Samy Burch, LATE FAME is funny, tender, and quietly piercing: a film about artistic ambition, flattery, belonging, lost time, and the elusive question of what makes a life in art authentic. Jones discusses adapting Arthur Schnitzler’s novella for contemporary New York, Willem Dafoe’s deeply lived-in performance, Greta Lee’s transformation into the flamboyant and vulnerable Gloria, and the film’s unforgettable use of the Brecht-Weill song “Surabaya Johnny.” He also reflects on capturing present-day New York while allowing the ghosts of its artistic past to remain visible beneath the surface—a city of poets, performers, dreamers, and would-be geniuses searching for a place to belong. Kent Jones is the director of DIANE and HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT, as well as A LETTER TO ELIA, which he co-directed with Martin Scorsese. A celebrated film critic and former director of the New York Film Festival, Jones brings a lifetime of thinking about cinema to this deeply humane portrait of artists and their illusions. Episode timestamps: 00:00 What Happens When Fame Comes Too Late?01:40 Introducing LATE FAME and Kent Jones02:30 How Samy Burch’s Screenplay Reached Kent Jones04:50 New York’s Past Living Inside the Present09:00 Fame, Flattery and the Need to Belong12:10 LATE FAME Trailer14:30 Willem Dafoe as Forgotten Poet Ed Saxberger17:00 Greta Lee’s Transformation into Gloria18:50 Authenticity, Ambition and Living a Life in Art22:20 Why Poetry Matters in LATE FAME25:40 Capturing the Ghosts of Downtown New York28:00 From Film Critic to Filmmaker31:00 Kent Jones on Directing Actors34:20 Art, Illusion and the Search for Recognition38:20 What Kent Jones Hopes Audiences Take Away40:20 Closing LATE FAME is distributed by Magnolia Pictures. Subscribe to INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Watch the complete filmed conversation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwB-ioi_dD-Lr8PUjdkBWyw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices