Doors Keyboardist Ray Manzarek on New Doc, Old Influences and Oliver Stone's Folly

And we're also 10 years removed from your own feature-directing debut Love Her Madly -- which was a story you developed years ago with Jim. What are your recollections of that?

Well, recollections of making a feature film are: The art form is the writing in the beginning, and then at the other end you've got the editing and music. In the middle, you've got World War III. That's called shooting the film. What a f*cking battle that was. And everybody was on the same page! We never had problems. It's just that making a film is one of the hardest artistic endeavors anyone could ever undertake, and I'm not so sure the actual filming process is even artistic at all. I think it's akin to Hannibal moving elephants over the Alps. What a job, man. At some point I said, "Jesus, I don't think this is worth it."

So you're not making another, I guess?

Enh, you know what? I think that happens with every director when you're in the middle of shooting. I think you always say, "Never again! What, am I insane to do this?" And then as the years go by, you think, "Boy, I'm getting itchy to do another one." What a perversion, making a film. But on the other hand, it is the modern art form. That's why I went into film in the first place. I was at the law school at UCLA -- I'd come there from Chicago, from DePaul University. In two weeks' time, I said, "Wrong profession! Your pianist has made a mistake here." And then somebody said, "UCLA has a great cinema department." I said, "Oh my God -- cinema! Yes!" I had seen The 400 Blows back in Chicago. Orfeu Negro -- Black Orpheus. Holy cow. The sensitivity of The 400 Blows, and the music that went along with this poor boy's story. And then the rhythm of Black Orpheus -- taking the myth of Orpheus and setting it in Carnivale time. What a great idea. So that was it, I was totally hooked on film: It was acting, it was writing, it was lighting, it was photography, it was music. It was all of those art forms come together in this one modern, 20th-century art form.

You know, I gotta tell you: I'm not real knocked out with today's cinema. I'm spoiled. I was there at UCLA during the Nouvelle Vague and when all of that was going on. Kurosawa was a contemporary. "Hey, there's a new Fellini movie at the Nuart Theater." Oh, really? What's it called? "It's called 8 1/2." What's it about? "I don't know, man; nobody seems to know what it's about." Can you imagine? 8 1/2 was a first-run movie when I was going to UCLA. So I'm spoiled.

At least there's 3D, right?

Hey, you know, I'm really looking forward to 3D reconstructing the past. Wouldn't you like to see Egypt in 3D? Wouldn't you like to go to India in 3D? You know: India, 4,000 years ago, even before the Buddha. Bhagavad Gita in 3D! Woweezers. That's what I want to see. Of course, it'll never happen, because I want to see it.

Make it! That's your job. Get it done!

OK! I'll take it.

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