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DIRECTOR OF 'ROOM WITH A VIEW' Film director James Ivory says Lake of the Woods cabin 'goes back to my earliest memories' Comment By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM --> Growing up Skiing at Crater Lake National Park, the Bly balloon bombing and a brief visit to the Tule Lake Segregation Center are part of James Ivory's memories of growing up in Klamat... » Read more X Growing up Skiing at Crater Lake National Park, the Bly balloon bombing and a brief visit to the Tule Lake Segregation Center are part of James Ivory's memories of growing up in Klamath Falls. The acclaimed film director, who has been nominated for three Academy Awards, was born June 7, 1928, in Berkeley, Calif., the son of Edward Patrick and Hallie Millicent Ivory. He lived with his family in Klamath Falls and graduated from Klamath Union High in 1946. His father operated a sawmill, Ivory Pine, near Bly. Ivory remembers a visit to Tule Lake, one of 10 internment camps where Japanese-Americans, two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, were incarcerated during World War II. He believes his father's mill may have provided lumber for the barracks. His memories are vague, but he recalls seeing curtains used to separate rooms inside the barracks. Because his father's mill was near Bly, Ivory says he and his family learned shortly after the incident that the deaths of six Bly-area residents on May 5, 1945, were caused by a Japanese balloon bomb. Information on the cause of death was not made public until several weeks later. Elsie Mitchell and five children on a church outing died when the balloon bomb they found in the woods near Bly exploded. Mitchell's husband, Archie, was parking the car and survived. To avoid panic, the U.S. Censorship Office prohibited publicity about the bombs, which were rigged with incendiary devices. The balloon bombs flew from Japan on the jet stream to the U.S. and Canada. Ivory said the explosion happened on land his father leased for his lumber operations. "Somewhere I have a piece of that balloon that my father gave me," he says. Although Ivory always has regarded Crater Lake uneasily — "I've always felt there's something most eerie" — he has happier memories of the park in winter. "Crater Lake in winter is silent ... except for the skiers, there was nobody there." He recalls joining friends to ski down what's now known as the Raven Trail, which begins near Rim Village and steeply descends to the road near park headquarters. "You'd ski down and you'd be met at the bottom, get in a car and go back again. I was never a very good skier. I skied because it was a social thing to do." Filmography Ivory and the late Ismail Merchant created Merchant Ivory Productions in 1961. Their many films include "The Europeans," "Heat and Dust," "The Bostonians" and "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge." They gained national attention with "A Room With a View" in 1985, "Howard's End" in 1991, and "The Remains of the Day" in 1993, all of which received several Academy Award nominations, including three Best Director nominations for Ivory. Other notable films include "Maurice," "Jefferson in Paris," "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," "The Golden Bowl," "Le Divorce," "The White Countess" and "The City of Your Final Destination." Over the years, Ivory has worked with such actors as Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, Kris Kristofferson, Anjelica Huston, Nick Nolte, Ralph Fiennes, Laura Linney, Bernadette Peters, Hugh Grant, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Christopher Reeve, Emma Thompson, Greta Scacchi, Gwyneth Paltrow, Uma Thurman, Glenn Close, Maggie Smith, Daniel Day Lewis, Christopher Walken, Lee Remick, Julie Christie, Bernadette Peters, Stanley Tucci and Helena Bonham Carter. » Social News LAKE OF THE WOODS — If James Ivory ever needs the perfect setting for a film about life in the years before World War II, he need look no further than the cabin he's been visiting since he was a teenager. Ivory, 88, is known for his sophisticated, artfully detailed period films such as "Room With a View," "The Bostonians" and "The Remains of the Day." He lives in upstate New York, spends time each year in Venice and visits New York City to see plays and movies. But, less known, he also spends several weeks each summer at the Lake of the Woods cabin that's been in his family since the early 1940s. "From the time I grew up I had one foot in the city and one foot in the country," says Ivory, while sitting on the front deck of his cabin. It's comfy and cozy, nestled in the pines just a short stroll from the lake. Ivory, who grew up in Klamath Falls and graduated from Klamath Union High School in 1946, has made pilgrimages to the cabin since he was 14 years old. "It's the only remaining and existing house that goes back to my earliest memories," he says. He could stay closer to his New York home, "but I've never wanted to do that." Escapes to Lake of the Woods aren't necessarily escapes from work. Over the years he's refined film scripts, planned publicity campaigns, read books that might inspire future films and, especially during the 1980s and '90s, has written his unpublished, not-yet completed memoirs. "I've done a lot of work here," he says. "It's always been a good place to work." This summer's work includes planning his long-delayed filming of "Richard II," a seldom produced Shakespeare play about an unpopular English king who is deposed and murdered. The play is being staged coincidentally this summer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. "It was good in its way," Ivory says of the Ashland production. "It was useful. It made me realize you have to be very sure the audience knows what is happening." He's seen other performances of "Richard II" in England, New York and elsewhere: "Wherever it's been produced, I've seen it." Ivory's fascination with "Richard II" and the ensuing history plays — including "Henry IV" parts one and two, "Henry V," "Henry VI" parts one and two and "Richard III" — began during his college years at the University of Oregon, where he majored in architecture and fine arts. "It's the contradictions in Richard's character. It's how he starts out and how he ends up," Ivory says of why Richard and the play appeal to him. "He really loses his identity," going from the all-powerful, entitled king before losing his crown and, at age 33, being imprisoned — and murdered. Ivory, who has done extensive research, believes Richard was the first English king to develop a sense of spectacle, partly through his manner and physical appearance. "He dressed resplendently," Ivory says. "He was a clothes horse. ... He invented that idea of political showmanship." Ivory's choice for Richard is Tom Hiddleston, an English actor who's best known for such films as "The Avengers," the ongoing "Thor" series and "I Saw the Light," a recent biography about Hank Williams. Ivory hopes to lure Damien Lewis, best known for television's "Homeland" series, as Bolingbroke. Depending on Hiddleston's schedule, filming could begin next year. "It's not just straight Shakespeare," Ivory says of the script, which incorporates years of study about Richard. "Richard II" is just the next project. "I'd still like to try that no matter how old I get," he says of filming "Twelfth Night," a lighthearted Shakespeare play that's also being performed in Ashland. He envisions Hugh Grant in the starring role, insisting, "He was put on Earth to play Malvolio." Ivory, whose last film was 2008's "The City of Your Final Destination," recently spent time in Italy working on the screenplay for "Call Me by Your Name," based on the novel by Andre Acimar. Directed by Italian director Luca Guadagnino, the film is expected to be released next year. While he doesn't expect "Call Me" to be a major commercial success, Ivory has learned he can't predict what movies will and won't be successful. "I have no idea what they'll enjoy," he says of reactions to his films by critics and audiences. "Who would think 'Howard's End' would become a success? There's the rule of 10. Three films are successful, seven are flops. If the successes are big enough, you're always able to raise more money" for future films. Whether they were successes, Ivory says the Merchant Ivory Productions films reflect the partnership he shared with Ismail Merchant, who produced nearly 40 films with Ivory until his death in 2005, and novelist Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the screenwriter for many of the films, including several based on novels by Henry James and E.M. Forster. "They're all very personal," he says. "Some I like better than others, and some were better than others. Those are expressions of all three of us. Some of the films that were terrible flops were at the center of my life at the time.” As a film director, Ivory appreciates good movies. "I often see a film and think, 'I could have directed that,'" he says, noting a movie that fits that category is "Casanova," a 2005 production that starred Heath Ledger. Three recent releases he liked were "Florence Foster Jenkins," "Captain Fantastic" and "Free State of Jones." How many more films he'll direct is uncertain. "I've come to the period where I can't expect to do too many more films," Ivory says, barely pausing before adding, "If you're a film director, that's the energy of living. You do what you do best." By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Lee Juillerat for the Mail Tribune Posted Aug. 27, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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