If there’s one honor that Oscar-winning screenwriter and longtime director James Ivory and documentary filmmaker Stephen Soucy share, it’s being scolded by screen legend Vanessa Redgrave.
In Merchant Ivory — the new documentary chronicling the success and impact of Ivory, 96, and his late producing and life partner Ismail Merchant as they made films such as Howards End and The Remains of the Day through Merchant Ivory Productions — there is a brief moment when Redgrave, 87, chides Soucy, 55, during her interview about working with the duo.
“Darling, films are not family effects. Please don’t let’s go down that road. Come on,” Redgrave is seen saying to the director after he asks her about her reportedly tumultuous time on the set of 1984’s The Bostonians. Soucy then replies, “If you’re not liking the way I’m phrasing the questions, please feel free,” before she cuts him…
