Peter Bogdanovich on fame and failure

'I wish somebody would write a handbook'

Bogdanovich's latest film is "The Cat's Meow."

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- In the early 1970s, in just 18 months, Peter Bogdanovich had three hit movies: "The Last Picture Show" (1971), "What's Up Doc?" (1972), and "Paper Moon" (1973).

Bogdanovich, a former film critic and historian, was a director on a roll.

Then, just as suddenly, he went wrong. His next three films -- "Daisy Miller" (1974), "At Long Last Love" (1975), and "Nickelodeon" (1976) -- all bombed.

Now, after two bankruptcies and years of directing made-for-TV movies, he's back with his first feature film in nine years.

RESOURCES EW.com: All about Peter Bogdanovich

It's called "The Cat's Meow," and it's an ironic choice for the director, since the film deals with power, success, fame, and failure -- and the story of a mysterious death aboard the yacht of William Randolph Hearst in 1924. Hearst, of course, was the inspiration for Orson Welles' film "Citizen Kane" (1941), and Welles, in turn, was a good friend of Bogdanovich.

CNN spoke with the New York-based director at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.

CNN: When did you first hear the legend on which this story is based?

Peter Bogdanovich: Well amazingly enough, I heard it 33 years ago from Orson Welles in a conversation we were having about "Citizen Kane" for a book I was doing about his career. He basically told me the plot for the movie.

CNN: Now you say there's a major misconception by the public regarding William Randolph Hearst and Welles' classic film.

"The Cat's Meow," starring Kirsten Dunst and Edward Herrmann, is about a legend surrounding a 1924 party hosted by William Randolph Hearst.

Bogdanovich: People think that Kane is suppose to be Hearst, but in fact it's a composite based on a number of people.

CNN: But you deal with the real person and story, albeit a mysterious one. Any problems with that?

Bogdanovich: The lawyers told the studio that it was OK because the story had appeared three times before. It had to appear three times for there not to be a chance of libel.

CNN: In a nutshell, what is the story?

Bogdanovich: In 1924, Hearst hosted a party on his yacht. On board was his mistress Marion Davies (played by Kirsten Dunst in "The Cat's Meow"), Charlie Chaplin (Eddie Izzard), silent film producer Thomas Ince (Cary Elwes), Victorian novelist Elinor Glyn (Joanna Lumley) and an unknown movie critic (named) Louella Parsons (Jennifer Tilly).

The legend is that someone was shot on the boat and the incident was covered up. The only person who ever spoke about this for the record was Chaplin's chauffeur -- we portray him in the picture -- and he's the one who said he saw the victim being taken off the yacht with a bloody bandage on his head. Which certainly goes against the reported story that he died of a heart attack brought on by acute indigestion.

CNN: But there has never been any proof?

Bogdanovich: There's a lot of circumstantial evidence, and the Los Angeles Times first reported that somebody had been shot. That was quickly squelched. We tried to get as close as we could to what seems like the truth. That's all we could do, and we say this is "the whisper told most often."

CNN: The thing I find most compelling is that Louella Parsons came off that boat with a lifetime contract with Hearst's newspapers. Now, something happened!

Bogdanovich: Well, he didn't give out lifetime contracts very often. And she wasn't exactly a star reporter or anything. She was a stringer for a small paper in New York.

Bogdanovich appears from time to time on HBO's "The Sopranos."

CNN: The cast for this film is quite eclectic. How did that come about?

Bogdanovich: We got lucky. It could have gone the other way. We could have gone unlucky. John Ford used to say sometimes, "You get luck in pictures, and most of the time it's bad luck."

CNN: You certainly lucked out with your leading lady. Kirsten Dunst is a very sought-after actress these days.

Bogdanovich: I went to see a couple of things she was in, and I talked to her on the phone and I said OK, she's good at comedy. I always think if you can play comedy you can do anything.

She surprised me repeatedly. For example -- I told her this when it happened -- we were shooting the last scene between the two of them (Dunst and Izzard), and she leaned over and touched him when she said, "Goodbye, Charlie." It killed me. I didn't tell her to do that, she just did it.

CNN: This is a film about fame, celebrity, power and failure. I assume you could identify.

Bogdanovich: I could identify with those men, and what they were -- certain aspects of their lives. I mean, I never had the type of power Hearst had, but I have been obsessed with a young woman -- or two.

CNN: You're referring to your relationships with Cybill Shepherd and Dorothy Stratten, both of whom were your leading ladies and both much younger than you. (Stratten was murdered by her estranged husband during her affair with Bogdanovich.) While with them, you were at the peak of your fame and notoriety. Did it go to your head?

Bogdanovich: Of course, it's insidious -- success and fame and celebrity. What everyone wants is not what's it's cracked up to be. That's a cliche too, but you know what? It's true. I wish there was a manual. I wish somebody would write a handbook on how to deal with success.

CNN: Why do you think the public will care about this old Hollywood scandal?

Bogdanovich: We can all identify with being human. These people were among the rich and famous and they all had a lot of money, they are all celebrities, they're all famous, and yet they're very, very human. They still have the same problems we do, but you think they don't.