I probably should have been disappointed when word came back I wouldn't be able to interview Wes Anderson for Moonrise Kingdom (an excellent movie I'll get around to praising in this space, I hope soon). But I was way too busy turning mental backflips over the fact that I'd get to talk to Bob Balaban, a brilliant actor and not-at-all-bad director who plays the onscreen narrator in Anderson's film. Balaban's great roles are too many to number, or to get to in a 40-minute exchange, but I touched on a good number, including his memorable turn as François Truffaut's translator in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. (I enthusiastically recommend Balaban's diaries from the film, recently republished as Spielberg, Truffaut, and Me.) He's also a valued member of Christopher Guest's repertory company, a prime mover behind Robert Altman's Gosford Park, and the go-to doppelganger for Warren Littlefield. Plus, he sees as much Truffaut in Moonrise Kingdom as I do. Read.
