Hal Ashby is the cinematic equivalent of a supernova. The director's work burned startlingly bright for a brief period in the 1970s -- before his demons got the better of him, extinguishing his star shortly before his death in 1988.
Now, the director of such seminal films as "The Last Detail," "Shampoo," "Coming Home" and "Being There" is being rediscovered in a confluence of upcoming events (not to mention the biography "Being Hal Ashby: Life of a Hollywood Rebel" by Nick Dawson, which published in March). On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is paying tribute to the director with a screening of his eccentric 1971 love story, "Harold and Maude."
Jon Voight, who won an Oscar for 1978's "Coming Home," will join Judd Apatow, Cameron Crowe, Seth Rogen, Oscar-winning scribe Diablo Cody and Variety editor Peter Bart at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater for a panel discussion and Yusuf Islam will perform two songs from "Harold and Maude" that he recorded as Cat Stevens. The academy will then screen Ashby's work at the Linwood Dunn Theater beginning with "The Landlord" and "Shampoo" on Friday and continuing with other films through Sunday.
Meanwhile, in its own tribute on Monday, the UCLA Film and Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theater will unveil the director's cut of Ashby's 1982 comedy-drama "Lookin' to Get Out," starring -- and co-written by -- Voight. The film also features the screen debut of a young Angelina Jolie, Voight's daughter. The story of the friendship between two gamblers had been taken away from Ashby and reedited -- and then it flopped. But before his death of pancreatic cancer, Ashby restored his vision of the film and donated it to the archive.
Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential") will host the event, which will feature a panel discussion with Voight, co-star Ann-Margret and cinematographer Haskell Wexler. (Warner Home Video will release the DVD of "Lookin' " on Tuesday.)
"He was very special," Voight recalls of Ashby. "If you love his movies, you love Hal. You know a lot about him from his movies because he is his films -- his unique sense of humor, his love for people, his observation of it all. He didn't have a normal take."
His off-kilter vision is front and center in "Harold and Maude," a quirky comedy about the love affair between a suicidal teenager (Bud Cort) and a feisty senior (Ruth Gordon). "Not a lot of people would be able to handle it with the light touch he has," says academy programmer Ellen Harrington. "It's this kind of life-affirming connection that finds beauty in tragedy and dark humor."
