With six decades in show business, legendary director Ted Kotcheff looks
back on his life.
Born to immigrant parents and raised in the slums of Toronto during the
Depression, Ted Kotcheff learned storytelling on the streets before
taking a stagehand job at CBC Television. Discovering his skills with
actors and production, Kotcheff went on to direct some of the greatest
films of the freewheeling 1970s, including The Apprenticeship of Duddy
Kravitz, Wake in Fright, and North Dallas Forty. After directing
the 1980s blockbusters First Blood and Weekend at Bernie's, Kotcheff
helped produce the groundbreaking TV show Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit. During his career, he was declared a Communist by the US
government, banned from the Royal Albert Hall in London, and coped with
assassination threats to one of his lead actors.
With his seminal films enjoying a critical renaissance, including praise
from Martin Scorsese and Nick Cave, Kotcheff now turns the lens on
himself. Witty and fearless, Director's Cut is not just a memoir, but
also a close-up on life and craft, with stories of his long friendship
with Mordecai Richler and working with stars like Sylvester Stallone,
James Mason, Gregory Peck, Ingmar Bergman, Gene Hackman, Jane Fonda, and
Richard Dreyfuss, as well as advice on how to survive the slings and
arrows of Hollywood.
