Credit: Lionsgate Entertainment

Damien Chazelle pays tribute to late director William Friedkin

Mon 4 September 2023 9:49, UK

In a speech at Venice Film Festival, Damien Chazelle paid tribute to William Friedkin, who passed away on Monday, August 7th, 2023. The film festival also marked the premiere of Friedkin’s final film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

Reflecting on the director’s legacy, Chazelle shared: “When I first became aware of the name Billy Friedkin, I was a child, and the name itself filled me with fear. I probably had The Exorcist in my mind. I hadn’t seen the film yet, but I’d seen the letters written in that typeface, and the sound of the word ‘Fried-kin’ seemed to suggest to me the darkest, most forbidden recesses of the imagination. The kind of things that inspire nightmares for the rest of your life.”

He continued: “So to me, William Friedkin meant fear. But today, I think of his name, and I think of love. I think of love of cinema, love of art, and a vision of how the arts can intersect and inform each other. A vision of cinema that is not separate but inextricably linked to music, to literature, to painting. Of course, to opera.”

Chazelle also recalled the kindness and generosity Friedkin showed him when he was just starting out as a director, stating, “And I will never forget the experience of discovering that a man responsible for movies that punched me so mercilessly in the gut, like Sorcerer, French Connection, Cruising, and Killer Joe, was in person so warm, so welcoming, so sweet, humble, loving.”

The La La Land director noted that there’s been a lot of fear in cinema and Hollywood recently, suggesting that “we lost Friedkin when we needed him more than ever. He was fearless in every sense of the word. You get a sense in his movies of a filmmaker and his characters pushing up against the boundaries of what is possible and finally stepping past them. That’s what makes his films feel so livewire and electric, and ultimately so transcendent.”

He concluded: “We will always be in his debt. All of us were blessed to be in his presence, whether in person or through his work. And I believe his brilliance, his fearlessness, and his love will last forever.”

Watch Damien Chazelle pay tribute to William Friedkin at Venice Film Festival below.