When Peter Bogdanovich Lived With Orson Welles And Quentin Tarantino
Sounds like the set-up for a sitcom.
“At different times in my life, I lived with Orson Welles and Quentin Tarantino.
“When Orson moved into my place, my career was going pretty well and he was on his uppers. For me, Orson was the greatest of all filmmakers but he had a hard time finding the money to make movies. That’s why he appeared in so many appalling films — he’d use his salary to fund his own projects. If only he’d had a patron, someone to write the cheques and bankroll the films for him, we’d have been spared the sight of this great actor in dreck such as Necromancy and Butterfly.
“One time when Orson was low on funds, I suggested he move in with me. For all the time we were together, I never quite got used to living in the same apartment as a legend. I’d get up in the morning and there’d be the director of Citizen Kane sitting in my kitchen. What made the situation even more bizarre was that my girlfriend at the time, Cybill Shepherd, was living there too.
“Much as they admired one another, I don’t think Cybill and Orson got on particularly well. It was like a sitcom where the wife and the lodger are at loggerheads. Cybill took particular issue with Orson’s hygiene — she was forever finding cigar butts and pizza crusts wedged behind the sofa.
“I don’t think Quentin Tarantino would have stood for that sort of thing, either.
“Now, when I moved into Quentin’s pool house it was because I was having money troubles. I’d met Quentin at various premieres and, being a good-hearted soul, he suggested I might like to set up home with him. He knew all about how I’d shared an apartment with Orson and, being a movie nut, I think he rather liked the idea of keeping the tradition going.
“That time at Quentin’s turned out to be a really positive experience. I got my career back up and running — I made a film called The Cat’s Meow which I was really proud of, and I started playing Dr Kupferberg in The Sopranos — and I spent some nice times with Quentin just talking movies.
“His knowledge of film is quite extraordinary. Sometimes he’d stop me and say, ‘Peter, have you ever seen Jess Franco’s The Treasure Of The White Goddess?’ and when I said I hadn’t, he’d be really disappointed.
“I’m so delighted there are still people with that passion. Hollywood lore is a big love of mine and now I know that, when I’m gone, Quentin Tarantino will be there to pick up the slack.”