海角大神

The film 鈥淢y Dinner with Andre鈥� became a surprise art-house hit when it was released in 1981. At first glance, the premise appears thin: Two friends, director Andr茅 Gregory and actor Wallace Shawn, meet for dinner, as themselves, and talk about the meaning of life, the nature of human relationships, and the best way to find personal contentment.聽

Now Gregory has written 鈥淭his is Not My Memoir.鈥� Co-authored with Todd London, the book is a series of reflections that recount his evolution from a neophyte director at experimental regional theaters in the 1960s to an 茅minence grise of the American stage.

The son of Russian Jewish refugees who fled first Stalin and then Hitler, he went to Harvard and decided, against his financially successful parents鈥� wishes, on a life in the theater. He was an enfant terrible as a young director 鈥� he worked for and was fired by three different regional theater companies in 4 years and the last of these dismissals involved a fist fight with the legendary actor Gregory Peck.聽聽

He created his own experimental theater company in New York City after teaching a workshop at New York University. Named the Manhattan Project because 鈥渨e were so sure we would bomb,鈥� it became one of the biggest theatrical hits of the decade. But after 鈥渆ight long years of mind-bending fun,鈥� it lost energy and direction and closed, something Gregory claimed 鈥渨as a death for me.鈥� He would not direct another play for 12 years.聽

Bereft and lacking purpose, he concluded that he needed 鈥渢o burn down my career to go where my vocation was leading.鈥� Financed by his inherited wealth, he began to travel the world. It was not a typical sabbatical. He spent time working in a Polish forest with the director Jerzy Grotowski and his theater group. Next, he made a trip to the Sahara to try, unsuccessfully, to create a play based on Antoine de Saint-Exup茅ry鈥檚 鈥淭he Little Prince.鈥� He made a pilgrimage to Tibet and India to work with Tibetan monks. During a stay with a performance art group on Long Island, he allowed himself to be buried alive.

鈥淢y Dinner with Andre鈥� grew out of this long search for personal happiness and inner peace. A young playwright and actor named Wallace Shawn observed Gregory鈥檚 emotional turmoil and asked his older friend how he could avoid a similar midlife crisis.聽The two began to talk and they turned on a tape recorder. Shawn transcribed and shortened the conversations and turned them into a movie script. For a long time it seemed that nobody would be interested in producing the film but then, out of nowhere, the French director Louis Malle asked to be involved.聽The startled actors quickly 鈥� largely on the strength of Malle鈥檚 name 鈥� were able to raise the money and make a film.聽聽

When completed, it looked like a flop. It opened in only four theaters and the initial reviews (and likely there weren鈥檛 many) were not that promising.聽But then, much to everyone鈥檚 surprise, the critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel devoted an entire show to this thought-provoking movie and pronounced it the best movie of the year. The public flocked to see it.

The book鈥檚 title is important 鈥� this truly is not really a classic autobiography. Rather, it鈥檚 a set of reflections and observations about art and life that are, more or less, organized chronologically. There are surpassingly few dates to help the reader anchor the story. Indeed, in some cases, it鈥檚 not entirely clear what decade Gregory is referring to. And, surprisingly, there is less about his acting career than one might expect. (Among other movies, this versatile actor was in 鈥淭he Last Temptation of Christ,鈥� 鈥淭he Mosquito Coast,鈥� 鈥淭he Bonfire of the Vanities,鈥� 鈥淧rotocol鈥� with Goldie Hawn, and even 鈥淒emolition Man鈥� with Sylvester Stallone.)聽

But several themes reappear throughout the book. For example, he greatly admired his parents, their triumph over adversity and their financial success, but they were distant, unloving, and could have 鈥渢ied for gold in the Olympics of bad parenting.鈥� Perhaps because of his negligent upbringing, Gregory notes with deep regret that he himself was an absentee husband and father for much of his adult life.聽

His extraordinary devotion to craft and his sheer tenacity is another theme that shines through. Unlike many directors who rehearse a show for a few weeks before opening, Gregory often prepares for years: he spent four years readying 鈥淯ncle Vanya鈥� for the stage and 14 years on 鈥淭he Master Builder.鈥� He hopes to have 鈥淗edda Gabler鈥� ready in time for his 100th birthday 鈥� 15 years from now. It鈥檚 clear that Gregory is a perfectionist. One suspects that this devotion to craft and excellence 鈥� no matter how long it takes 鈥� is part of the reason actors like working with him. In the end, his profound commitment to making it perfect is at the heart of everything he does.聽

This is an engaging, thoughtful, and provocative book by a master storyteller. Readers interested in theater and movies will be spellbound. But even those who are not theater buffs will find his desire for perfection to be admirable and a topic for personal reflection. If nothing else, one is left with the observation that having dinner with Andr茅 would indeed be a fascinating and rewarding privilege.