Talking With Amazing Améziane

The latest installment of Talking With brings us a conversation with writer and artist Amazing Ameziane, whose graphic novel biographies have celebrated some of cinema’s most influential directors. With his latest book, Spielberg, arriving this fall, Ameziane turns his attention to one of Hollywood’s greatest storytellers. During the interview, Anthony Andujar Jr. discusses Ameziane’s lifelong love of comics, his passion for filmmaking, what drew him to Steven Spielberg, and the creative process behind translating an iconic career into the graphic novel format.

Q1 What started you on the path of comic books as a medium? And how did that bleed into your passion for film/movies?

AA: Gil Kane’s The Amazing Spider-Man 094 started my passion when I was 5 years old. Then Frank Miller’s Daredevil hooked me up for good. And by then I wanted to do that for work. I actually made a lot of references to Frank Miller in my Tarantino GN.

The WOLVERINE 1 cover/Tarantino mash-up, as my first page. A portrait of Robert Rodriguez in the SIN CITY style. Of course. And a portrait of Harvey Weinstein in the style of Senator Roark from SIN CITY…

In the EASTWOOD, I dread DIRTY HARRY in the SIN CITY style (again…) and explain the origin of the cop Hartigan. Like DIRTY HARTIGAN…

“When you like your work, you don’t work a day in your life”, they said.

But in Comics… you work EVERY DAY of your life. And that’s fine by me.

Q2 You’ve dabbled in two media, such as comics and film, having previously published 4 books focused on Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Don Coppola and Sergio Leone. What was it about those 4 directors that you felt were the ones to start with when creating a comic about film directors? 

AA: I started with my Mount Olympus. Scorsese is Zeus. Quentin is Hades. Coppola is Hermes, and Leone is Ares. I always loved cinema. Always wanted to make movies. But as a poor immigrant son, I had zero connection, no budget to produce shorts. So I made movies of paper.

I learned the craft of publishing books. And now, I’m a one-man army, doing everything: story and art, graphic design, and supervising printing when they ask me to.

That led me to sell a crime story I wrote, called BAGMEN, to a French producer to write the adaptation. Worked 2 years on it. Learned a lot. It didn’t get made. I got the rights back and still pitch ideas to movie pros.

In the meantime, I’m paid to watch all the films of my favourite directors. I believe I’ve found the perfect job ever.

Q3 You currently have a book coming out in the fall titled Spielberg, which is clearly centred on Steven Spielberg and his film career. When making a fifth entry into your cinema graphic novels, what made Spielberg become your director of interest?

AA: I wanted to do all the directors of the new Hollywood. But my French publisher told me that some weren’t known well enough to support a full book on their own. So I made choices and hoped they would get picked.

First, CINÉ TRILOGY was originally in French, Scorsese… my creation of 384 pages. I went crazy there because I did it in 9 months. It all came around during this one. 

Then Tarantino, but with him I knew exactly how to handle his voice. And I had a lot of information never published in any books about him. 

Coppola was obvious to close the first Trilogy. You see the first and third books of every Trilogy are heavily linked.

Then LEONE. I wanted to share my Italian roots there. Showing the hot temper of a Roman man. 

I’ve loved Steven Spielberg for years. But as my movie biopics are told in the first person by the book’s director, I didn’t know how to handle Steven. Until I watched THE FABELMANS.

Q4 When looking back on Spielberg’s body of work, what is it that you feel makes him unique as a director, and why is he still impactful after all these decades in your eyes?

AA: STEVEN was a boy genius in his 20s. JAWS is his third movie, if you count DUEL and IDO. He’s a master with the camera. All is fluid, clear, even in the chaos.

Everybody should study his blocking of scenes… and I believe it is. Young fellow cartoonists, watch a muted Spielberg film and you will learn more in two hours than in thousands of books.

Q5 When creating this fifth entry, what was the most challenging when covering the breadth of Spielberg’s film career? Was there some stuff that had to be omitted? Were there movies and moments you wanted to explore that further didn’t make the cut into the book? 

AA: There were a lot of moments that were omitted or cut. I can’t do a 384-page book for every director. I need 6 months to write, draw, and design it. So I have to make choices. I could have made a full book on the INDIANA JONES Saga. Someone will probably do it one day. And if nobody’s doing it, I volunteer to do it.

I cut the films that I didn’t like, like READY PLAYER ONE. It’s a darling to many but not to me. And I didn’t want to be the man who does a book on a director… and crap on the work. I read too many books like that. I also didn’t have anything nice to say on WAR HORSE. Loved THE BRIDGE OF SPIES but didn’t know what to say. Choices. Art is choices. 

Q6 When crafting books based on longtime established creators in cinema, what do you find thematically appealing that guides the kind of story you’re trying to tell in your own way that complements the history, while also making your own analysis and story? 

AA: I always make them in the same way. Childhood is the best part because, in the interviews, you find the answers to why they made those kinds of films. Always.

So before they shot their first frame, it is always in BLACK AND WHITE. And there is light!

Almost always a strong start. A pause that forces you to think about who they were and a new beginning that reveals the incredible talent. The six directors I did were all respected because they made no bad movies, very few OK films, and many classics.

Q7 What would you say are your top 5 Spielberg films that best represent his legacy as a cultural icon in film? And of those top 5, what would you recommend to someone who isn’t familiar with his work, and why is it on your recommendation /letterbox list? 

AA: There will be no surprises here, sorry…

Fun films

1. Jaws

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Serious films

3. Munich

4. Schindler’s List

To discover

5. Amistad

Q8 Where can readers follow your work?

AA: One place. Instagram: @ame.comics