Director Martin Scorsese speaks candidly and passionately about one of his formative filmmaking influences: the late Elia Kazan. Utilizing precisely chosen clips from Kazan's signature films including "On the Waterfront," "A Streetcar Named Desire," "Gentleman's Agreement," "Baby Doll," "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," "A Face in the Crowd," "America, America," and "The Last Tycoon," and interview footage of the director himself, co-directors Scorsese and Kent Jones recount the director's tumultuous journey from the Group Theatre to the Hollywood A-list to the thicket of the blacklist. But most of all, they make a powerful case for Kazan as a profoundly personal artist working in a famously impersonal industry.
Credits
A Letter to Elia Cast
| Name |
Character |
|
Martin Scorsese
He was 67, now 81 years old
|
as Narrator |
|
Elias Koteas
He was 49, now 63 years old
|
as Elia Kazan (Voice) |
|
Elia Kazan
He was 100, 94 years old when he died
|
as Himself |
A Letter to Elia Crew
| Name |
Department |
|
Kent Jones as Director. He was 46 (now 59) years old
|
Directing |
