CAMBRIDGEWHO’SWHO:  What is the most rewardingaspect of your career?

GENE D. PHILLIPS:  Writing. I am happy to be a teacher, but [being] a writer…allows me to write about film history.

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Having written books on the adaptation of literature to film. I was doing that a long time before it became common. I wrote a book on the adaptations of Graham Greene’s fiction into film; I had his personal cooperation with that. He was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century. I wrote another book on the adaptation of TennesseeWilliam’s plays to film and again I had his personal cooperation on that; he was one of the great playwrights of the 20th century. Those two books indicate what happens to a play or a novel when it is made into a film, because, obviously, the film cannot be a replica of the original work.

What is the most difficult obstacle or challenge youhave faced in pursuit of your goals?

Interviewing my first film director. When you first calland ask a film director for an interview, he immediately asks, “Who have you interviewed for?” It was the same thing with publishing books. You call a publisher, and they immediately ask you what other books you have published. No publisher wants to publish your first book. Once you get in print, than you can always say, “I published a book.”

Who was the first person you interviewed?

The first film director I interviewed was Joseph Losey. He was an American who was blacklisted by Senator Joseph McCarthy so he had to work in England. Usually, filmmakers don’t want to be interviewed by someone who has not interviewed somebody else. A lot of the film historians didn’t want to interview Losey because he was blacklisted. That wasn’t his fault; that was Senator Mc- Carthy’s.

What topic(s) do you consider yourself to be an expert on?

I would say the adaptation of literature to film—both plays and novels. A lot of films are based on plays and novels. For example, Alfred Hitchcock’s works are either based on a novel or a play.

How do you remain current in your profession?

I do that mostly by keeping up with the journals in film history. That’s not hard to do, because there aren’t very many. There are some that are exceptional, and those are the ones I go to, such as Sight & Sound, which come from the British Film Institute and Literature/Film Quarterly. I used to write for those publications, but as I got more and more offers to do books, I went in that direction.

What makes you a valuable resource in your industry?

The fact that I’m very articulate. That’s not something you think about and try to do you are either articulate or you’re not. If you are, you don’t need to learn it. If you’re not, you can’t learn it. As a writer, I’ve always been known to be clear.

What is the most significant issue facing your profession today?

Today, the movie audiences are getting younger. As a result, the producers pander to a teenage mentality. All these instant blockbusters and sci-fi films with special effects are clearly aiming at younger audiences. Before, they never catered to the teenage mindset. It would be hard for the great directors to make a film for the audience of today. They catered to the middle ground, such as people in their 30s; those films certainly can be enjoyed by people younger and older than them. We’re in the stranglehold of the young audiences, but I think we’re going to get over that because some movies made for younger audiences have flopped.

What advice can you offer fellow members who work in your industry?

Be an overachiever. Some people are diffident about sticking their neck out and sending their manuscript to a publisher or offering to appear on some talk show. You’d be surprised how often [people] pick up on that. If you’re not pushing yourself, nobody’s going to do it for you.

What is your motto?

How would Stanley Kubrick do it?

If you could have lunch with anyone—dead or alive— who would it be?

BillyWilder. He has the enormous reputation—legendary, now that he’s dead—of being one of the wittiest film directors. His wit was always in his script, but it was also in his conversation. It’s just amazing that he would come out with all these things, just when you were talking to him. You know that when he wrote a script, of course, he came up with a lot of funny lines. But that he could do this in ordinary conversation is amazing. Even among directors who make comedies, his personal conversations were filled with wit. BillyWilder originally said “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.” Sometimes, that was attributed to Samuel Goldwyn, but actually, it was BillyWilder. He always said Samuel Goldwyn was taking things that he said. Once one lady said to him, “I’m so amazed by the witticism you come up with in conversation. I would like to follow you around with a pencil and write these down.” In return, he said, “Lady, I would like to follow you around with a pencil.”