Martin talks to playwright, essayist, and critic James Harvey about his new book Watching Them Be: Star Presence on the Screen from Garbo to Balthazar. With great perception and insight, Harvey explores how charisma is created in the movies, writing about Greta Garbo, Robert De Niro, Charles Laughton, John Wayne and many other stars, concluding with a strikingly moving passage about director Robert Bresson’s masterpiece Au Hasard Balthazar, whose star is a donkey! Hopwood Award winner James Harvey, who graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master’s Degree in English, has written a deeply personal and extraordinarily compelling account of the films that have changed his life and will also change yours. The interview was recorded on September 24, 2014.
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