Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Silver, who died on December 31 at 85, experienced all of that.
Her list of credits is, given what she had to face, impressive.
And most important she got to make some good movies that, decades later, are still worth watching.
It was the first time a woman had directed a Best Actress nominee in 45 years.
They told her the movie was too foreign (it is set entirely in Manhattan) and too ethnic.
The Silvers eventually self-distributed the movie, which earned strong reviews and grossed more than ten times its cost.
I asked her what kind of offers she got after its success.
She smiled and shook her head.
There were no offers, she said.
It was a moment when bad-boy directors ruled Hollywood, and Silver was neither a boy nor bad.
A lot of young directors … didnt want anyone giving them advice, shetoldFilmmakermagazine.
And I didnt feel like that at all.
I didnt have the slightest hesitation in asking anybody to help with anything.
Finally, she was given a shot at a studio movie.
Its very slow, she noted wryly at the time.
They eventually set the movie up at United Artists and went into production.
We learned so much about movies from her.
And she really knew how to talk to actors.
John [Heard] could be tricky he was moody and had a tough reputation.
But he never gave her a moment of trouble.
The trouble came later, when United Artists saw the movie.
Hollywood didnt come calling again.
That was the world, she said.
You just have to keep at it.
And thats what I did.
