The James Ivory Interview: The oldest recipient of an Academy Award ever in an intimate chat about his film Call Me By Your Name and his 40-year relationship with Ismail Merchant
Hindustan Times | ByFahad Samar
Dec 15, 2018 10:52 PM IST
#CallMeJim he says over a lunch in NY, where he gives HT Brunch his most honest interview ever!
On the morning of March 5 this year, I rose early to watch the live telecast of the 90th Academy Awards. I was particularly invested in one award category; that of Best Adapted Screenplay, and I wept and cheered unabashedly when 89-year-old James Ivory made his way to the Dolby Theatre stage to accept his much-deserved Oscar for Call Me By Your Name.
The director, producer, screenwriter and one half of the Merchant-Ivory duo, James Ivory, struck Oscar gold at the ripe age of 89 for adapting Andre Aciman’s 2007 novel, Call Me by Your Name, for the Luca Guadagnino’s film version(Getty images)
Although, director Luca Guadagnino wants to make a sequel to Call Me by Your Name, Ivory isn’t too keen and says he wouldn’t want to be involved in the same (Getty images)The filmmaker, looking dapper in a Timothée Chalamet shirt, bagged the Oscar for Call Me By Your Name at age 89
On all the sudden attention after the Oscar win: “[Amongst many others], Alexander Payne enquired if I would deign to adapt a short story by Ruth [Prawer Jhabvala], I said of course I’d ‘deign’ to do it!”
When Ismail died in May 2005, James Ivory not only lost his producing partner but also his life companion
On the struggles of the past: “We were constantly short of money... Shashi Kapoor had to bail us out when we ran out of funds... it’s been the story of our lives!”
James Ivory sporting a walking cane and a warm smile, is now a sprightly 90
On the director eliminating male nudity in call me by your name: “It felt phony to have the camera pan out the window rather than show the lovers in a natural way!”
Call Me By Your Name won James Ivory an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay The City Of Your Final Destination, The White Countess and Maurice are some of the films produced by the Merchant-Ivory duo The author with James Ivory in New York
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