James Ivory, with his partner Ismail Merchant, famously made outstanding films, often based on literary works, for several decades. Charles Cohen, known for distributing fine foreign films, has restored their sumptuous Heat and Dust (1983), his third Merchant-Ivory classic, after Howard’s End (1991) and Maurice (1987) to be revived through his Cohen Film Collection. Set in India in two time frames, the 1920’s and 1980’s, featuring two women protagonists Olivia and Anne played by Greta Scaachi and Julie Christie, Heat and Dust feels contemporary in its portrayal of strong-willed women. Just before the film’s opening at the Quad Cinema this week, I spoke to James Ivory about his work with his longtime artistic collaborators, producer Ismail Merchant and writer Ruth Prawer Jahbvala. This legendary director filled me in on the change in audience reception for films set in India, and his latest project on Luca Guadagnino’s script for Call Me By Your Name, based on Andre Aciman’s novel, a selection in the upcoming New York Film Festival.

Tell me about the making of Heat and Dust.

It has a sister film, Autobiography of a Princess. We made that for television; both are set in 1920’s India, featuring a dissolute Indian prince. Ruth Prawer Jahbvala lived in India for a long time, and curiously, she had no real interest in maharajas. Maharajas are still there these days but they don’t rule any more. Anthony Korner  (who bought Artforum) set out to make a film about maharajas, and produced Autobiography of a Princess. When we visited Jodhpur while filming, Ruth was drawn into that world and began writing her novel Heat and Dust, which won the Man Booker Prize in 1975. Ruth had sold the rights to her novel, and then we bought them and Ismail wanted to make this film for our 20th year anniversary.

What was most difficult about making the film?

A lot was difficult: it’s not easy to do period films in India. Old cars are hard to get there. And we could not get large elaborate jewelry that we wanted. This was an underfinanced film, but elaborate. Heat and Dust was finally purchased by Jacob Rothschild, and did very well in Europe, in England, Italy, and France, but it met some opposition here; people had a horror of seeing poverty and suffering associated with India. I could not get people to see it, and it never had the attention that it had in England. Then The Jewel in the Crown series was popular on television, but that was about the last days of the Raj, the British in India after World War II, and not about ordinary Indians. When Slumdog Millionaire came along, that had all the elements that people hated. It won the Academy Award. I loved Lion and that did not shy away from poverty and suffering.

What are you working on now?

I’ve been trying to make Shakespeare’s Richard II for 20 years. I wrote the screenplay for Luca Guadagnino’s movie, Call Me by Your Name. I didn’t want to direct someone else’s screenplay. I was supposed to co-direct the film with Luca, but I am not sure how that would have worked with two directors. In the end, Luca directed. I’ll be there when it opens in November.

Regina Weinreich

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