A treasure trove of behind-the-scenes and hot takes from outspoken director, William Freidkin.
Behind the Scenes
40 minutes of behind the scenes director William Friedkin, stars Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider, and key crew from the film:
William Freidkin
As entertaining a storyteller as he is a director, William Friedkin tells fellow director Christopher McQuarrie (most of the Mission: Impossible movies) about filming permits, and how they shot the infamous car chase (via Oscars)…
… about directing star Gene Hackman…
… about how Hackman, remarkably, wasn’t his first casting choice…
… and about the look and the score of the film:
Gene Hackman
“I don’t think I can do this,” Hackman recalls telling Friedkin in the first days of filming. “It was certainly the start of my career“:
The Car Chase
A couple more occasions where Freidkin describes the making of the car chase (via AFI):
Here’s 20 minutes of Friedkin literally walking us through how the car chase sequence was made (via Cinematographers on cinematography):
Censorship
How The French Connection was censored (via Eyebrow Cinema):
One More Documentary
As if nearly two hours of behind-the-scenes and interviews aren’t enough, here’s one hour more – which I only include here because it’s by Mark Kermode:
Further Viewing
More from the always entertaining Freidkin in our look at how directors direct actors: