Listen to Robert Ginna, Nick Antosca, and Robert Redford speaking about James Salter's work
Interviews with Robert Redford, Robert Ginna, Nick Antosca, and James Salter on the latter's works, from the documentary James Salter: A Sport and a Pastime (2011).
Checkerboard Film Foundation (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
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Transcript
ROBERT GINNA: Graham Greene once wrote that the writer must have a tiny sliver of ice in his heart and be willing for the sake of his or her art to use people, use whatever is necessary.
NICK ANTOSCA: He is an experiential writer, and so you have "The Hunters," which is directly drawn from his experience flying fighter planes, and then decades later you have "Light Years," which is directly drawn from his experiences in a troubled relationship. "Light Years" is one of the richest depictions of a marriage that I've ever seen in a novel.
ROBERT GINNA: He not only drew upon people that he knew; he used their habits and attitudes and sometimes their language or stories and also his own life and Ann's, his then wife. Even the family rabbit figures in this story.
ROBERT REDFORD: "Light Years" really got me. I mean, I--I mean, he was able to carve down to the bone of the human agony of things like separation and so forth, and..."Light Years" just really got me. And "A Sport and a Pastime" was the first thing I read of his, and that's what drew me to him.
ROBERT GINNA: Bob Redford had commissioned Jim to write "Downhill Racer," an original screenplay. He and Redford were close. They traveled around in the ski circuit in Europe during the Olympics one year.
ROBERT REDFORD: We were on a plane once. It was really snowing; it was like a blizzard. And we were gonna land in it. And I thought, "Jesus, what?" And I'm sitting next to Salter, and he's cool. He's cool. And I say, "How're you gonna...?" At that time I didn't know what his history was. I didn't know the complete history of Jim and his background as a fighter pilot. But he was obviously calm by the fact that he knew a lot more than I did. And all I knew was, we're going down, you know. And he was just calm. That--that was the first time I realized that he had had a history that he wouldn't talk about.
What I look for in a screenplay is boiling things down to their essence, their bedrock place, and usually as it deals with humanity. And humanity has two sides to it, and there's a dark and a light. I think Jim understands that very, very clearly because he's experienced it in his own life.
NICK ANTOSCA: He is an experiential writer, and so you have "The Hunters," which is directly drawn from his experience flying fighter planes, and then decades later you have "Light Years," which is directly drawn from his experiences in a troubled relationship. "Light Years" is one of the richest depictions of a marriage that I've ever seen in a novel.
ROBERT GINNA: He not only drew upon people that he knew; he used their habits and attitudes and sometimes their language or stories and also his own life and Ann's, his then wife. Even the family rabbit figures in this story.
ROBERT REDFORD: "Light Years" really got me. I mean, I--I mean, he was able to carve down to the bone of the human agony of things like separation and so forth, and..."Light Years" just really got me. And "A Sport and a Pastime" was the first thing I read of his, and that's what drew me to him.
ROBERT GINNA: Bob Redford had commissioned Jim to write "Downhill Racer," an original screenplay. He and Redford were close. They traveled around in the ski circuit in Europe during the Olympics one year.
ROBERT REDFORD: We were on a plane once. It was really snowing; it was like a blizzard. And we were gonna land in it. And I thought, "Jesus, what?" And I'm sitting next to Salter, and he's cool. He's cool. And I say, "How're you gonna...?" At that time I didn't know what his history was. I didn't know the complete history of Jim and his background as a fighter pilot. But he was obviously calm by the fact that he knew a lot more than I did. And all I knew was, we're going down, you know. And he was just calm. That--that was the first time I realized that he had had a history that he wouldn't talk about.
What I look for in a screenplay is boiling things down to their essence, their bedrock place, and usually as it deals with humanity. And humanity has two sides to it, and there's a dark and a light. I think Jim understands that very, very clearly because he's experienced it in his own life.