Easy Riders, Raging Bulls director Kenneth Bowser
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Kenneth Bowser might have been stepping into a world of shit when he decided to direct the film version of the Peter Biskind book, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. But it’s a good thing that the movie came out as good as it did.

The movie includes lengthy interviews with many of the major players who either were or came up with the 70’s movie brats such Paul Schrader, Peter Bogdanovich Peter Fonda, John Milius, Polly Platt and many more. The documentary is interviews interspersed with amazingly rare home movies of parties where some of the attendees were George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Margot Kidder and Paul Schrader. It’s an amazing film that any movie buff will enjoy.

Check out Shout Factory’s website for the DVD of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls

Daniel Robert Epstein: How did this project come to you?

Kenneth Bowser: I was sitting in my office thinking of what I wanted to do next. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is one of my favorite books, I looked up on the shelf and there was a copy of the book there. I thought it would make a great film.

DRE: So you developed this from the start?

KB: Absolutely.

DRE: It seemed like the funding came from a few different places like Trio Channel and the BBC.

KB: A couple of other people were involved with me in raising money and putting it together but the project idea was mine. We went to the BBC, Trio, a company called Fremantle and some foreign developers for money.

DRE: Did you ask everybody that was mentioned in the book to come in and talk?

KB: Absolutely. I went to all of the main people from the book. One example is Robert Altman who had been in another film I had made [Frank Capra's American Dream]. I approached him, we chatted for a while and I told him I was going to do a film on the 60’s and 70’s filmmakers. Then I asked if he would be interviewed. He said, sure no problem. Then I told him that it’s based on the book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and there was silence next he said “That scumbag. Fuck him. I’m not going to do anything that’s going to make him another dime.” He then went off on a very angry rant. He was upset that anyone wanted to make the film.

A friend of mine is in constant contact with Francis Coppola by email. I was sitting there when she emailed him to ask if he wanted to be interviewed. He wrote back “Absolutely not!” William Friedkin just wouldn’t talk to us at all.

DRE: Some of the people that you did get to be interviewed are not on the level of a Coppola or maybe they used to be. Did that concern you at all?

KB: You do the best you can with the people you can get to. Some of the main people in the book I was speaking to on a regular basis and others I knew from the get go I wouldn’t get. I knew George Lucas wouldn’t talk because he doesn’t talk to anybody. I was hoping that the other films I had made on filmmakers would encourage people to talk to me. We got some of the main people in the book like Dennis Hopper, Arthur Penn and Richard Dreyfus. Frankly the two people who weren’t in the book that much but I feel should have been were Sam Peckinpah and John Milius. I was happy I got John.

I don’t know how many of the filmmakers from that period we can say are doing well critically and commercially. Coppola is. On the second disc there is about two hours of extra footage and Willard Hyuck talks about Lucas. He says that “George has always made films about his life. Let me tell you about his life now. He has a big meeting with all of his corporate people and then he gets on his jet plane to fly to another location for another big meeting. Then he flies somewhere else for another meeting. Now think of the plot line of the last Star Wars. He’s still making movies about his life.”

DRE: Did you know Milius beforehand?

KB: John had appeared in the Frank Capra film I had done.

DRE: Is he scary?

KB: Once we got him into the room he was a pussycat but I think he wants to convey the idea that he’s scary. He always frightened studio executives. He’s also unafraid to say what he really thinks about anyone.

DRE: I was surprised that the people were willing to be in the movie because so many of them are not portrayed in the best light in the book.

KB: Either Dennis Hopper or Peter Fonda didn’t want to do it if the other one wouldn’t do it so there was a whole round of negotiations. But in the end they both agreed to do it and were happy with the film. Paul Schrader is a major part of the book and he talked to me. Basically I didn’t have four people I wanted Coppola, Lucas, Warren Beatty and I guess Steven Spielberg. I don’t think Friedkin is as an important a filmmaker as Peckinpah. I only had so much time so I had to focus.

DRE: Were you worried about hurting your reputation?

KB: My lawyer told me that I was crazy for doing this movie and it was going to hurt me. Then of course the film got invited to the Cannes Film Festival so that’s how I hurt myself. It was thrilling for me to sit with Arthur Penn and Dennis Hopper and watch the film then have them tell me that I got it exactly right. They talked about the sex, the bad behavior and the drugs but they didn’t necessarily come off as assholes. That was always my intention because frankly I’m a child of that period as well. I know that I was out of my mind.

DRE: Where did that footage of everyone hanging out at the Phillips’ house come from?

KB: From Michael [Phillips]. He had some home movies.

DRE: That’s incredible stuff. Was it very lengthy and you only used a clip?

KB: No I pretty much got everything in. Most of it was Julia [Phillips] with the baby [laughs]. That footage had originally been shot in Super 8mm and some of the stuff inside the house where you can see Milius, Schrader and Spielberg was either underdeveloped or overdeveloped. So getting it to the point where you could see who it was took a lot of work.

DRE: How long did you spend on the whole movie?

KB: About a year and a half. That was because a lot of people didn’t want to produce it. HBO told us that they have relationships with some of the filmmakers we talk about.

We did about 50 hours of interviews with 43 people. I literally could have done about three movies on any number of subjects from the 60’s.

DRE: I noticed that Trio just did a documentary solely on Heaven’s Gate and I was wondering if that’s why you didn’t include that in your movie.

KB: Have you ever seen Heaven’s Gate?

DRE: No.

KB: You wouldn’t remember it if you did. It was so minor in every way. I was fighting Trio to get more time than they had originally commissioned me to do. So what do you get rid of? Stuff that at the end of the day, besides bringing down United Artists, didn’t really have much to do with anything. It’s just not a good movie.

DRE: How was the Cannes experience?

KB: It was terrific. It’s like going to the Vatican of cinema. They take their movies very seriously. I told them about the project I hope to do soon and they told me to bring it to them.

DRE: What movie is that?

KB: I’m doing a film about the first five years of Saturday Night Live.

DRE: Are you basing it on anything?

KB: Nothing. I’ve interviewed about 40 people so far and I’ll finish in the fall with Lorne [Michaels], Danny [Aykroyd] and Billy [Murray].

DRE: Will you be focusing much on Michael O'Donoghue?

KB: Absolutely. You can’t talk about the beginning of SNL with Michael O'Donoghue. I did a long interview with Anne Beatts and found out some great stuff.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

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