Sidney Lumet (1924-2011)

“Hiring sycophants and servants is selling the picture and myself short.”
Director Sidney Lumet
Making Movies

When great directors die you look over their credits and there are 2 or 3 films that tend to jump off the list. They may not even be their most honored work, but the ones that are special to you for one reason or other. In Sidney Lumet’s case those three films for me are 12 Angry Men, Network and The Verdict. (Lumet received Oscar nominations for all three.) But other people might point to other films of his as their favorites such as Dog Day Afternoon, The Pawnbroker, Serpico, Equus, Murder on the Orient Express or even his last film in 2007 Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. It’s a career that spanned over 50 years of productions.

In 1997 Lumet published a little book called Making Movies. If you combined all of the books on directing and screenwriting by accomplished filmmakers on the level with Lumet you may be able to come up with five titles total. It’s not really a how-to book, but rather a glimpse into the though process of Lumet. In an interview with Eve Gerber, director Darren Aronofsky (Black Sawn) put his top recommendation for books on film Making Movies saying:

“I read it when I was in film school—when it first came out.  I had a hardcover copy, which was a big investment when I was a film student (and broke).  I remember just devouring it over a weekend. Eating up those stories about Dog Day Afternoon and 12 Angry Men.

It’s an incredibly clear, honest, and precise discussion of the films Lumet made over the course of his career. There are many pearls of wisdom about directing and filmmaking in the book.  It breaks down the different problems Lumet had in making films, and tells how he solved them.  Even though I had only done a bunch of short student films at that point, I could sort of identify with some of the challenges that he dealt with and wrote about.  And I eventually got to put some of the stuff to use.  Generally, hearing how Lumet navigated the struggles I was running into myself—that was very encouraging.”

So farewell to another great director. Check out his work which will survive long after anyone reading this will have died. And here are a couple clips that I hope inspires you do attempt something great in your work:

Scott W. Smith