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Directing "The November Conspiracy" |
CONRAD
JANIS, a child star, an accomplished musician, a co-owner of the
famous Sidney Janis Art Gallery in New York, faced many challenges and chased
many adventures throughout his life, but none were so great or least expected
as the task of directing his first feature film “The
November Conspiracy”. Perhaps in retrospect, all the
above traveled roads were but detours on his route to directing. On the
Broadway stage Conrad was both a participant and avid student, and his talents
were nurtured by the directing giants of their day -Moss Hart, George S.
Kaufman, George Abbott, Garson Kanin, Henry King, and over the past few
years such extraordinary film directors as Garry Marshall, Joel Schumacher,
Gene Saks, Mel Frank and Walter Hill to name a few, all contributed to Conrad’s
storehouse of knowledge. To further his arsenal of information, he became
while in his teens, a professional photographer, then, for years, as the
co-owner of the Sidney Janis Gallery, he carefully observed and cultivated
the 20th century legends of the art world, thus learning about composition,
style and spatial expression.
In addition, at 17 he started playing jazz, and for years he has been
a world renowned and respected Band Leader which added to his ease on
the set of “The November Conspiracy” as he was already used
to taking command on stage.
Still he faced a monumental task. After searching for months for the
right director, and with only five weeks before production, both he and
his wife, writer-producer Maria Grimm, knew instinctively that no one
could do justice to their first effort with the same depth of commitment.
Thus as in all his other ventures, Conrad Janis stepped into his Director’s
shoes, and fit them to a tee!
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