A pencil! That's all they needed for a work session at the publisher's office, but alas, the staff had only a mechanical pencil, and it's doubtful the office youngsters had ever held a pencil, much less had one to lend.
This is just one of the humorous scenes in Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb who delight audiences with their relationship stretching 50 years.
Every Page is charming, it’s hilarious, enlightening and informative.
It's the story of the two sages who've worked together for decades, writing (Caro, 87) and editing (Gottlieb, 91).
As the world awaits Caro's last and final volume on LBJ, the film's editor, Lizzie Gottlieb, says confidently: “I have total faith it will get done,” but she did not ask him about a completion date.
“I know he’s working very hard to finish it,” Ms. Gottlieb said last week at the National Press Club after a screening.
It will be Caro's last volume, the fifth, in what was originally planned for three.
At the Press Club, Ms. Gottlieb sat with Bradley Graham, the co-owner of Politics and Prose bookstore, to talk about the production of her third film.
She's Gottlieb's daughter, but her love of her dad does not skew the show.
Years ago she said she realized “I have to capture this while it’s happening now.”
Both stars initially objected to the movie. Ms. Gottlieb had some convincing to do but she succeeded.
It's got great back and forth with the subjects, their wives, and others like Bill Clinton whom she interviewed on the morning of the January 6.
Also appearing is another Caro fan, Conan O’Brien, who shows up in several places, interviewing the author.
In rhythm Mr. Caro and Mr. Gottlieb talk separately, about the "process." They argue over semi-colons, “loom” and words, refusing to be filmed together.
Over the years they’ve become somewhat distant friends but it was not always so. Mainly, it's been an adverse relationship, like boxers in a ring.
Answering a question from the audience in the Q and A, Ms. Gottlieb said the hardest part of the film was its structure, and the easiest: “capturing my dad.”
On the front row a woman exclaimed: “It's the most perfect film I have ever seen.”
It took Ms. Gottlieb seven years to make it, the same time it takes Robert Caro to write a book, Ms. Gottlieb said.
She’s made two other documentaries and is a self-taught filmmaker, aided along the way by mentors.
Writers, editors, journalists, newsmakers, librarians, publishers, researchers, broadcasters, readers, all wordy people will love it!
The film opens Jan. 20 at E Street .
patricialesli@gmail.com
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