The Hollywood Myth & Superstitious Oskar Knight

Oskar Knight’s a Hollywood icon, whose upbringing involved a cinema daycare, a handful of superstitions and endless luck. Young and brilliant, he hardly set foot into Hollywood before receiving his life-altering job as director. Julianna Guill (“Friday the 13th,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love”) and Kristina Anapau (“Black Swan”) are huge Knight fans. Guill even left the US to work at the KFC in Germany where Knight’s house used to exist. Knight’s story is truly a near myth.

We’re overjoyed we had the opportunity to interview award-winning director and screenwriter, Scott Fivelson. He discussed his latest film, “Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story” and shared his expertise about the film industry. His responses are erudite and uproariously-absorbing.

“Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story” captivates — a true Hollywood classic, full of hilarity and compelling Knight facts.

What inspired you to create “Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story”?

I can answer that two ways. I could say that I was inspired by the kind encouragement of many people including William Wellman Jr., son of the legendary director William Wellman, and himself the director of the wonderful film, “Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick”.

Or I could say I wrote and directed “Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story” because Oskar Knight’s movies are awesome, and they need to be rediscovered. Martin Scorsese, are you listening…?

How many awards have you won for Oskar Knight?

Glad to say, quite a few. Our film festival awards include Best Feature at the Eurovision Palermo Film Festival, Best Narrative Feature at the Malta International Film Festival, Best Foreign Feature at the Kiev Film Festival, Best Feature at Cinemagic London, Best Actor for Lenny Von Dohlen (as Oskar Knight) at Cinema New York City, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Jay Gillespie (as Young Val) at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival.

Meanwhile, I won the Best Director Spotlight award at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival and Best Director at the Vancouver Filmdance Festival.

All for a movie about how much Oskar Knight wanted to win an Oscar.

Of course, Orson Welles. John Ford. Howard Hawks. Sam Peckinpah. Truffaut. Fellini. The auteurs. I’m sure the audience will see glimmers of other directors of the past in Oskar.

Legend has it that Oskar was always left at the local cinema as a child while his parents were out. If he were left someplace else, do you think he’d be as interested in the film industry?

That’s more than just a legend… it’s fact.

And once little Oskar set foot in a movie theater for the first time in Braunschweig, Germany, you couldn’t have gotten him out with a crowbar.

How did you pick the right actor to star as Oskar Knight?

I like the way you put that, because Lenny Von Dohlen, so brilliant, was certainly the right actor to portray Oskar Knight. Lenny is someone I’ve wanted to work with since I first saw him in films like “Jennifer 8” with Andy Garcia.

Lenny Von Dohlen is the kind of actor who is truly a chameleon. Really like a Dustin Hoffman, but younger and — these days — thinner. In “Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story”, Lenny plays Oskar from the age of 21 to his twilight years.

I think Oskar Knight scholars will agree, Lenny totally does justice to the man.

How did you decide which current actors you’d feature in your film?

Since “Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story” is a film that retells the history of Cinema as it’s never been told before, we wanted to include a number of stars from throughout the decades of Hollywood. Besides Lenny as Oskar, our cast includes Academy Award winner Margaret O’Brien, International Emmy winner David Suchet, Portugese Golden Globe winner Joaquim de Almeida, and even Noel Neill, “Lois Lane” from the original “Superman” TV series. Also — Kristina Anapau, Julianna Guill, Rudolf Martin, Randall Batinkoff, Lawrence Pressman, Maya Stange, Jon Provost — it’s quite star-studded. All sharing their thoughts, anecdotes, yarns, and even a dry-your-eyes moment or two about Oskar.

As for non-current actors, we also have Errol Flynn and some of his contemporaries. You’ll have to see it to see how we did that.

You mention that Eleanor Roosevelt would hit on Oskar Knight, why her specifically?

Because she wouldn’t knock if off — until Oskar’s wife Norma finally wrote a letter to F.D.R.

It’s another one of those juicy stories that I bet TMZ would have covered at the time, if they’d been around…!

Why end with Oskar Knight calling from heaven?

I guess the feeling there is, just as Oskar Knight would like to come back to Hollywood, Hollywood also needs Oskar Knight.

Footnote for film buffs: That last scene of ours is an homage to the end of Vincente Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful”, one of the classics about Hollywood.

What’s your favorite part about Oskar Knight’s story?

My favorite scene to shoot was our now-famous walking-to-the-gunfight scene, which we filmed up at Paramount Ranch. We played composer Ted Reedy’s rousing score while we were filming it that summer day. It was all quite grand — and really hot up there.

My favorite thing about the Oskar Knight story is the scope of the man’s life and career. Ridley Scott would have liked having a drink with him.

I referred earlier to how we wanted to add some iconic movie stars of the past to the picture — because in this mockumentary world, Oskar Knight knew them all. But how do you do that, and make it real? Thanks to stalwart fellow producer and DP/editor David Polcino, we found a way.

Yes, it is.

I think Oskar Knight said it best: “There’s in front of the camera, there’s behind the camera, and there’s inside the camera.”

Are there any links where fans can follow the film, and hear when they’ll be able to see “Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story”?

Absolutely — which is something Stallone would say more than Oskar Knight, but there you go. Thanks for the Q&A invite, MovieTimes.com.

Follow Oskar Knight on Facebook and the Oskar Knight Fan Club.

Originally published at movietimes.com on September 11, 2017.