Comedy
Jerry Schatzberg is a paragon of perseverance, who paid his dues to become one of the most influential photographers and filmmakers of the late 20th century. After getting his start with baby and catalogue pictures, he worked his way up to photographer at Vogue and Glamour magazines, where he initially met music industry executives like Atlantic Records President Ahmet Ertegun. After befriending Bob Dylan, Jerry’s pictures were used on the covers of Dylan’s first book, “Tarantula,” and the “Blonde On Blonde” album. Jerry went on to photograph some of the most famous people in the world, including The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Sammy Davis Jr., Andy Warhol, Frank Zappa, and countless other cultural titans.After conquering the photography world, Jerry became a film director, helming a string of classics like “Puzzle of a Downfall Child” (with Faye Dunaway), “Panic In Needle Park” (Al Pacino’s film debut as a lead character), “Scarecrow” (with Pacino and Gene Hackman), “The Seduction of Joe Tynan” (with Alan Alda and Meryl Streep), “Street Smart” (with Christopher Reeve and Morgan Freeman), and many others.In this interview, Jerry discusses his friendship with Bob and Sara Dylan, Nico, Faye Dunaway, and Jimi Hendrix, whom Jerry hired to play in his discotheque when Hendrix still went under the professional name “Jimmy James.” Jerry’s friend Josh Safdie (co-director and writer of “Uncut Gems”), was kind enough to provide this insight into Jerry’s unique role in our cultural history: “Jerry is an ‘iconic’ artist and by that, I don’t mean he himself is iconic (though of course he is), but that he works in the language of iconography without ever flirting with cliche. His characters are icons of parables, of personalities, of types. His work has taught us how to immerse yourself in the iconography of the story and having FAITH in the POWER of character. His work as a photographer, photographing some of the most iconic men and women of the 20th century, led him to develop an incredible taste for talent and knack for showing a person’s power.” To see some examples of what Safdie means, go to www.JerrySchatzberg.com.