At iamROGUE, we take pride in the amount of iconic and award-winning directors that we have had a chance to interview over the years including Frances Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, Danny Boyle, Ben Affleck, Joe Dante, John Carpenter, Sam Raimi, Guillermo del Toro, and J.J. Abrams. We are now delighted to add the legendary Peter Bogdanovich to that illustrious list. 

Bogdanovich began his career as a film writer for Esquire Magazine and biographer of such legendary directors as Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Ford, before becoming a filmmaker himself. His first major film, The Last Picture Show, was nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, and went on to win two Oscars including Best Supporting Actor for Ben Johnson and Best Supporting Actress for Cloris Leachman. Bogdanovich would eventually make such beloved movies as What’s Up, Doc?, and Paper Moon, which also earned Tatum O’Neil an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (the youngest person to ever take home an Oscar), as well as Nickelodeon, They All Laughed, Mask, Noises Off, and The Last Picture Show sequel - Texasville. 

But Bogdanovich is also an accomplished actor having appeared in the Kill Bill series, Rated X, Infamous, and actor Robert Davi’s directorial debut The Dukes, as well as the TV series The Sopranos, The Simpsons, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent. The director’s latest acting effort, Pasadena, recently screened at the Newport Film Festival and was written and directed by Will Slocombe. In addition to Bogdanovich, the film’s cast also includes Alicia Witt (Two Weeks Notice), Cheryl Hines (TV’s Curb Your Enthusiasm), and Sonya Walger (TV’s Lost). But the acclaimed filmmaker-turned-actor will soon be making a return to the director’s chair for the first time in over ten years with a new film called Squirrel to the Nuts (previously entitled She's Funny That Way), which stars Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwatzman, Eugene Levy, and Cybill Shepherd, and will be produced by directors Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom) and Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale). 

I recently had the immense pleasure of speaking with director/actor Peter Bogdanovich about his work on Pasadena, his upcoming film Squirrel to the Nuts, and his legendary filmmaking career. It was a particular thrill for me to speak with Mr. Bogdanovich because he unknowingly played a major role in my life … he was the commencement speaker at my graduation from Emerson College. The legendary filmmaker discussed Pasadena, why he wanted to appear in the film, how he separated the actor Peter Bogdanovich from the director Peter Bogdanovich on set, which he loves more – acting or directing, working with writer/director Will Slocombe, his next film - Squirrel to the Nuts, why that it the actual title of the film and NOT She's Funny That Way, his impressive cast, reuniting with his The Last Picture Show leading lady Cybill Shepherd, advances in filmmaking technology, the young filmmakers who’s work he enjoys watching today, what he learned from his friendships with legendary directors like Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Ford, which of his own films he is most proud of and the films he thinks did not get enough attention at the time of their releases, and of course … speaking at my college graduation.