Retro : Peter Bogdanovich’s ‘Paper’ Cut

Director Peter Bogdanovich’s popular Paper Moon frequently pops up on cable and is readily available on video. Now, Paramount Home Video’s “Directors’ Series” edition of the acclaimed 1973 Depression-era comedy offers such extras as outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage and an introduction by Bogdanovich, who offers insights into the making of the film.

The new edition ($30) also marks the first time “Paper Moon” has been released in the letterbox format; it’s a must-have for film buffs.

“Paper Moon” stars Ryan O’Neal and his daughter Tatum, who was 9 at the time. O’Neal plays a charming Bible salesman working in the American Midwest who teams up with a crafty orphan (Tatum) to form a con team. Tatum’s beguiling performance won her the hearts of moviegoers and the best supporting actress Oscar.

“Paper Moon” was the third-in-a-row success for Bogdanovich, who took Hollywood by storm with his highly acclaimed 1971 drama “The Last Picture Show,” which was shot in black-and-white, as was “Paper Moon.” In 1972, he scored box-office gold with his 1972 Barbra Streisand-Ryan O’Neal comedy “What’s Up, Doc?”

For the new edition of “Paper Moon,” conditions were not ideal the day Bogdanovich, 55, shot the prologue. “I just showed up,” Bogdanovich says, laughing. “It was very rough. It was raining. I said, ‘We are not going to shoot in the rain are we?’ And they said, ‘Yes.’ I’m like a cat. I don’t like the rain.”

The behind-the-scenes footage demonstrates Bogdanovich’s unique directing method: He acts out the parts until he gets the scene the way he wants it.

“I started as an actor,” explains Bogdanovich. “People think I started as a critic, but I started as an actor. That’s generally how I direct. I don’t know how to do it any other way. When I try to figure out what to with the scene, I have absolutely no idea how to do it, except to act it. So I get into the role and I act and realize what to do. I don’t mean the actors have to imitate me directly. I just give them some ideas, but it comes from having started as an actor when I was a kid.”

He acknowledges it was at first difficult directing Tatum in her first film. “She had never acted before. She was a natural. She didn’t know what not to do. She hadn’t learned any bad tricks except what she picked up from me. She kind of got into it after a month. Up until then it was sort of a lark.”

Originally, Paramount didn’t want Bogdanovich to shoot “Paper Moon” in black-and-white. “They wanted it in color. I said, ‘Let’s do it in black-and-white,” says Bogdanovich, who recently has appeared in series TV (“Cybill,” playing himself alongside his long-ago romantic flame Cybill Shepherd, and “Northern Exposure”) and is currently filming the CBS movie “Blessed Assurance.”

Bogdanovich says he felt “Paper Moon” in color would have been too cute, too pretty and too “hard to get the feeling of the Depression.”

He recalls watching “Paper Moon” in a sneak preview in a Denver theater. “The year before we had previewed ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ there. It was a very big success. The following year I said, ‘Let’s go to Denver again.’ Everybody came out and said, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘I think I have to shorten the credits.’ We took a minute out of the credits and that was the picture.”

Paramount Home Video’s Bogdanovich video retrospective also contains “Targets” ($15); “Daisy Miller” ($15) and “The Thing Called Love” ($20).