King Lear
Part of the BAMcinématek series The Late Film
Fri, May 15 at 2, 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
With Molly Ringwald, Woody Allen, Norman Mailer, Peter Sellars
(1987) 90min
The film’s legend—the Cannes cocktail-napkin contract signing, Norman Mailer’s Mafia-themed script (of which only a shred survived) , the virtual editing out of Woody Allen’s scene—has long overshadowed the great performances by Burgess Meredith (as Don Learo), Molly Ringwald (as Cordelia) and the bubbling intensity of opera director Peter Sellars as William Shaksper Junior the Fifth.