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Another respect in which Cassavetes and his protagonist are similar is that they were both interested in the power of art and the imagination to transform reality. The routines Cosmo choreographs and his night out with his girls testify that his real love is not naked bodies but the costumes that a…

In the deepest part of his mind or soul or whatever it is – Cosmo is alone. He is set adrift in a boat, naked in the hot sun. Walking in the desert, drifting in the air without a parachute. He walks and talks like Cosmo . . . but the feel of his body is alien to him. The heart is not his . . . He h…

Filmmaking is a craft that I want to keep learning. I’m in love with it and I would make films for nothing, and do, and pay for them myself or with the help of my friends. I don’t feel I have a responsibility to anyone if I’m going to take my own losses. I’ve lived my whole life that way and I am r…

Cosmo is trapped in a conformist world. This is somebody who will do anything if enough pressure is put on him. I don’t have a lot of respect for people who buckle under to the conventional non-approach to things. Yet I’ve been plagued by the same temptations: to be liked, to be secure, to be a mem…

At the same time, Cassavetes’ hell never has other people in it. Cosmo is not someone else; he is also a portrait of the artist. Ben Gazzara says that became clear to him one day a few weeks into the shoot when he confessed to Cassavetes that he was having a difficult time bringing his character in…