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Interview: Rodman Flender

CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP directed by Rodman Flender. A filmswelike release. 89 minutes. Advance screening tonight (Thursday, July 7) across Canada before Toronto release Friday (July 8). See listing Rating: NNNNN


Documentary filmmakers aren’t supposed to get close to their subjects. Rodman Flender broke that rule the moment he decided to make a movie about his old college buddy Conan O’Brien. But he’s okay with it.

“I do really like him as a friend, [and maybe] that seeped into the movie in the editing,” Flender says. “As a filmmaker, that was kind of my struggle, to remain objective.”

Flender’s movie, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, captures the talk show host as he gives up his dream job hosting The Tonight Show. NBC had tried to shift O’Brien to a 12:05 am slot so Jay Leno could return to his 11:30 pm playground O’Brien wound up walking away and launching the Legally Prohibited From Appearing On Television concert tour, which forms the spine of Flender’s film.

“It was hard to see him go through such a difficult time,” Flender says. “As his friend, I wanted to be there for him. But as a filmmaker, I wanted to disappear. I wanted to detach myself and not be there at all.”

Just focusing on the filmmaking kept him busy enough.

“There are all kinds of other inherent challenges when making a documentary,” he says. “When do I turn on the camera, when do I turn off the camera, how do I keep my batteries charged, how do I keep everyone focused? How do I keep up with Conan O’Brien, who is a man constantly on the move? That’s a challenge in and of itself.”

Flender’s been trying to keep up with O’Brien for three decades, since they met as undergraduates at Harvard. “We were both on the Harvard Lampoon,” Flender says. “Right from the start, he was an incredibly gifted writer the eyes through which he views the world were already set at that time. People have asked me how he’s changed or evolved over the years, and I think the only way he’s changed is that his confidence as a performer has gotten stronger.”

After Harvard, Flender went to work for Roger Corman – “his reputation for giving inexperienced people their first break is legendary” – and eventually found himself directing movies like The Unborn and In The Heat Of Passion.

Moving on to projects like Leprechaun 2 and the horror-comedy Idle Hands, he eventually ended up directing episodic television.

“I wanted the opportunity to work with actors on material where I didn’t have to wait for prosthetics to dry on their faces,” he says, laughing. “And that’s what TV afforded me. You know, I’d direct an episode of Chicago Hope – you can’t really get a better cast than that ensemble. But, yeah, it’s a pretty mixed-up resumé.”

Flender sees the Conan doc as his next logical step.

“I’d love to have Michael Apted’s career, or Werner Herzog’s,” he says. “They bounce back and forth between narrative fiction and documentaries. That is a strange deal, to make 28 Up and also make a James Bond movie.”

Interview Clips

Rodman Flender on his movie’s mission statement:

Download associated audio clip.

Flender on his cinematic influences:

Download associated audio clip.

Flender on his days at the Harvard Lampoon:

Download associated audio clip.

normw@nowtoronto.com

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