The director hails a songwriter who, like him, brought the wild side of
New York to life, recalls the collaborations that got away, and tells what it’s like to be immortalised in one of his songs
I met Lou Reed for the first time at the restaurant at L’Ermitage Hotel in LA. I was a great admirer of his solo work, Street Hassle in particular (I came later to the Velvet Underground), so I went over and introduced myself. I was in
Los Angeles working on the post-production of Raging Bull and I invited Lou to join us as we played back the final mix, the only time we actually screened the film on the west coast. When the lights came up, he seemed fairly overwhelmed. I remember that he was even impressed with the use of
music, from Mascagni to Louis Prima.
After the screening, I happened to mention to Lou that I wanted to make a film out of a short story called In Dreams Begin Responsibilities by Delmore Schwartz, which I had read the year before when Bob De Niro and I were working on the script. I was amazed when he told me that he’d been a student of Schwartz’s at Syracuse University, and he was just as amazed that I knew this autobiographical story by his mentor, the man who gave him a foundation in poetry, and that it had resonated so deeply for me. Later, I thought about adapting In Dreams for my contribution to New York Stories. I’d still like to make that film one day.