87.2a

“Mailer, at 63, Looks Easy in the Director’s Chair.” Article-interview by Henri Behar. Manchester Guardian weekly, 1 February, 13. Mailer explains that some of his characters in the novel, Tough Guys Don’t Dance (84.17), were insufficiently developed, and “the film provided me with a good opportunity to put that right. I had rather neglected the baddies—and they’re the characters I’m most interested in.” He also compares novel writing to directing: “I don’t dig the loneliness and isolation of the writer. Writing is a form of amputation—only a part of you is at work,” but when you direct, he continues, you use all of your body and mind for 15 hours a day. You are constantly being interrupted, “yet it fills you with energy.”