NAPLES FF INTERVIEWS: Olympia Stone talks about her film ACTUALLY, ICONIC: RICHARD ESTES

Olympia Stone’s ACTUALLY, ICONIC: RICHARD ESTES, which recently screened at the Naples International Film Festival, takes a thoughtful look at the artist and his art. Estes has been called the “father of photorealism” but he is not someone who has invited attention toward himself versus his work on the canvas during the course of his long career. However, the film invites viewers into Estes’ world with unprecedented access to the man and his masterpieces. Through conversations about his technique and inspirations, and interviews with leading curators and critics this intimate portrait does more than just explore Estes’ pioneering genius; it humanizes it.

It is a film that arguably could not have been made by another filmmaker because the trust Estes had in Stone thanks to her father’s relationship with the artist (he was Estes’ longtime agent) was invaluable in drawing out the man and allowing him to open up about his mindset going through the artistic process and giving insight into his work with students, and of course, his personal life too.

In the interview, I talk to Stone about Estes’ exceptionally rare ability to capture not just architecture to a remarkable exactness but to subtly give an artistic life to the images he paints. She discusses the unique pressure and challenges to introducing the public to this artist who was not “asking” for attention in that way, including getting him to discuss, if not open up freely about his life as a gay man, as well as his approach to his art. Stone also talks about her strategy to have him return to the locations of some of his better known works during their interviews to ensure that the film didn’t become a “talking head” documentary, and the mapping out of the shooting structure she undertook to capture a somewhat elusive subject.