Monte Hellman

Monte Hellman during the filming of Two-Lane Blacktop, 1971

In Hollywood’s post-studio era, Monte Hellman helped redefine the Western and the road movie as the director of The Shooting (1966), starring Jack Nicholson, and Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). A maverick and a jack-of-all-trades, he shot for television, edited for Sam Peckinpah and Jonathan Demme, and was the executive producer of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. His 2010 film Road to Nowhere marked both his return to directing and a reaffirmation of his role in the revival of American filmmaking.

interview by SIMON LIBERATI
portrait by EVA IONESCO

SIMON LIBERATI — Your family wasn’t involved in the movie business at all?

MONTE HELLMAN — Nothing close.

SIMON LIBERATI — What did they do?

MONTE HELLMAN — When I was young, my father was a grocer, in a tiny grocery store. Later, he had a gas station, and then…