How did the idea for putting together the documentary come about?
I found the previous Lugosi documentaries (of which there were two of note — Lugosi: Forgotten King, and the A&E bio) to be very limited. Knowing that there were quite a few important and interesting people that neither of those films interviewed, such as Hope Lugosi, spurred me to plan the documentary. That was in tandem with the fact that I knew the whereabouts of a good deal of previously unseen footage.
What challenges did you face to bring the documentary to life?
There were a few challenges. That so many people we wanted to interview were already deceased. That some clips were so expensive we couldn't afford them. Those would be the two biggest challenges.
While watching the documentary, I was happy to see many clips and stills from Lugosi's silents' performances, something you rarely see. What challenges did you face in finding them, and why can't we see more of Lugosi's work in silent films?
The difficulty with Lugosi's silent work is that very little exists. We incorporated clips from the only surviving fragments of Lugosi's Hungarian career, which were thus seen publicly for the very first time. We found and used clips from Dance on the Volcano, which was the first time the clips had ever been seen (and we were thus responsible for its subsequent release through Sinister Cinema). And we used clips from Deerslayer, Silent Command, and Midnight Girl.
The reason more of his silent work can't be seen is that very few beyond those we drew clips from exist. Daughters Who Pay, from 1926, exists at the Eastman House in a version that must be transferred to safety stock and restored (at a cost of many thousands of dollars) before it can be viewed/released. But most of his work of the time simply doesn't exist, particularly his Hungarian and German period.
That montage of scenes you orchestrated, without narration, especially caught my attention. At first it didn't quite register, but when I watched the documentary a second time, I realized it captured much of Lugosi's acting versatility.
I appreciate your comment about the montage of scenes, as that was what I was driving after. Some way to encapsulate the larger whole of his work, especially given the time constraints of an hour film (which was still in fact longer than previous docs on BL, which were both hovering around 44 minutes). Plus, it was a way of working with the previously mentioned challenge of not having enough access to the Universal film clips due to cost.
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