CAPTURING CAPA: FILMMAKER ANNE MAKEPEACE REVEALS THE MAN BEHIND THE MYTH [Filmmaker Interview; mentions Goran at the end] Thirteen.Org, 2003 by www.thirteen.org/pressroom/american_masters/capa/interview.html For years, filmmakers have beat a steady path to the door of Cornell Capa, hoping to secure the rights to his brother's closely guarded photo archives: 70,000 images captured by Robert Capa, the most famous war photographer of our time. Thousands of the photos had never been widely seen by the public before, but that's about to change now that veteran documentary filmmaker Anne Makepeace and co-producer Joanna Rudnick have finished work on AMERICAN MASTERS ROBERT CAPA: IN LOVE AND WAR, premiering Wednesday, May 28, 2003, at 9:30 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). Here is an interview with the filmmaker: Anne Makepeace was elated when Cornell Capa entrusted his brother's story to AMERICAN MASTERS series creator and producer Susan Lacy and Karl Katz, executive producer of Muse Television and Film, which co-produced the film. "Cornell Capa was impressed by the outstanding quality of AMERICAN MASTERS, and luckily he also liked my work and trusted us all with a story he has cherished and protected for nearly 50 years," Makepeace said. While examining the archives housed at the International Center of Photography in New York City, Makepeace discovered candid photographs of Capa himself, and theorized that at times he must have handed over his camera to friends. Also included are unguarded photos of the woman he hoped to marry. Gerda Taro, Capa's partner in life and photography, was crushed to death by a loyalist tank in 1937 while photographing a battle west of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. "The pictures of Gerda were amazing," Makepeace said. "There's a photo of her putting on her stockings in their apartment in Paris, pictures of her in Spain. Capa was just 23 when she was killed." In the archives, Makepeace also discovered thousands of photos of children, startling images from a man best known for his war photos. "He didn't have children, but he was so drawn to them," she said. During production, Makepeace traveled through seven countries and spoke to dozens of Capa's friends, intimates, and subjects, including a World War II veteran Capa photographed during his jump into the Rhine River Valley with the 17th Airborne Division in March 1945. One of her most important interviews was with photographer and MAGNUM co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson, who met Capa in 1934 and remained close to him until Capa's death in 1954. "That's 20 amazing years, considering their friendship encompassed the Spanish Civil War, the Japanese invasion of China, and World War II," Makepeace said. Another particularly illuminating interview was with Eva Besnyö, who met Capa when they both lived in the same apartment building in Budapest. Later, they became young expatriates together in Berlin. "She got him his first job, working in the darkroom of a photo agency in Berlin," Makepeace said of Besnyö, interviewed at age 92. "When he was only 18, he had the extraordinary opportunity to photograph Trotsky, and his wonderful pictures were published around the world," Makepeace said. Actress Isabella Rossellini showed yet another side of Capa when she described the affair her mother, Ingrid Bergman, had with the dashing young war correspondent. "She really loved him," Makepeace said. "She wanted to leave her husband and marry him. Their affair was serious and important to both of them." During exhaustive research for the most comprehensive documentary to date of Robert Capa, Makepeace realized how many obstacles the young photographer surmounted. "He was thrown out of Hungary when he was 17 years old for protesting against fascism," she said. "He went to Berlin in 1931 when Hitler was on the rise. He left Berlin for Paris in 1933 and six years later the Nazis invaded Paris. He really was a displaced person." Capa's story follows the dynamic trajectory of the Hollywood films he so enjoyed. As a down-and-out expatriate in Paris, Endre Friedmann changed his name to one that closely resembled an award-winning director he admired, Frank Capra, and suddenly his photographs began to sell. As Pulitzer Prize-winning author and war correspondent John Hersey said of the man who portrayed himself as a hotshot American, "He is the man who invented himself." Makepeace said that as the details of Capa's life unfolded, she realized just how fantastic his story was. "I hadn't known that REAR WINDOW was based on his affair with Ingrid Bergman. I knew he was the only photographer to go in with the first wave of infantry to hit Omaha Beach on D-Day, but I hadn't known he was the first American photographer to die in Vietnam." For the "voice" of Capa in AMERICAN MASTERS ROBERT CAPA: IN LOVE AND WAR, Makepeace chose E.R. actor Goran Visnjic, a Croatian native. "He helped bring the soul of Capa to life," said Makepeace, who saw Visnjic's film THE DEEP END on a plane and knew he would be perfect for the job. "He himself has experienced war and he really identified with Capa's photographs of war. He loved what Capa said: 'The war photographer's most fervent wish is for unemployment.'"