Faye Dunaway Lets Her Diva Flag Fly, Then And Now, In The Documentary ‘Faye’

“Faye,” a documentary memoir about Faye Dunaway, begins with the “Chinatown” actress yelling commands at her interviewer, declaring, “We need to shoot. I’m here now, so come on.” It’s an ideal introduction to a performer who has worn the dreaded “D” word – “difficult” or “diva,” depending on your preference – throughout her career in a film that serves as an accurate but properly laudatory homage.

Few stars shone brighter than Dunaway at the pinnacle of her career, highlighted by a decade-long span that began with “Bonnie and Clyde,” which helped usher in a new era of more edgy and ambitious filmmaking, followed by “The Thomas Crown Affair,” “Chinatown” (which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary), “Three Days of the Condor,” and her Oscar-winning role in the dark satire “Network.”

At 90 minutes, “Faye” could have spent most of its time in that era and still been worth viewing. But director Laurent Bouzereau (“Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind”) has to go back to Dunaway’s upbringing, her personal life, and the latter part of her career, punctuated by what she refers to as “mistakes,” from her much-lampooned portrayal of Joan Crawford in “Mommie Dearest” to her abandoned attempt to turn her lauded stage performance in “Master Class” into a movie that she intended to direct.

Faye Dunaway | CNN Image

Faye Dunaway Lets Her Diva Flag Fly, Then And Now, In The Documentary ‘Faye’

Dunaway, now 83, opens up about her various relationships, including a romance with Marcello Mastroianni (which caused her to dump director Jerry Schatzberg, who laughs about losing a woman to the dashing Italian star) and her marriage to Terry O’Neill, the photographer who captured the iconic photo of her lounging by the pool the morning after winning the Oscar for “Network” in 1977.

Their son, Liam O’Neill, is also interviewed, as is Dunaway’s friend Sharon Stone and her “Barfly” co-star Mickey Rourke, who describes her as “mesmerizing.”

Dunaway’s film beauty, with a face ideal for close-ups, and abundant talent only fueled her diva reputation, as evidenced by a classic clip of Bette Davis telling Johnny Carson of “The Tonight Show” that Dunaway was the one actor she would never work with again.

However, as director James Gray, who collaborated with her on the 2000 film “The Yards,” comments in the film, Dunaway’s portrayal in the entertainment industry also symbolizes “a comment on how women are in some ways treated and judged on a very different scale than men.”

Of course, “Faye” contains enough anecdotal highlights to be enjoyed on that level, from Dunaway eventually telling Jack Nicholson to slap her in a legendary “Chinatown” incident to her insistence on applying Blistex to her lips between scenes.

Perhaps most importantly, “Faye” permits its subject to be, or at least appear, as large, complicated, and multifaceted as her life and career, at both highs and lows, would suggest.

Faye Dunaway Lets Her Diva Flag Fly, Then And Now, In The Documentary ‘Faye’

“I’m not happy with anything here,” Dunaway tells the journalist during the introductory chat.

However, if the purpose was to create a document that serves as a memory and testament to her talent, she and those who devote time to “Faye” should be.

“Faye” will air on HBO on July 13 at 8 p.m. ET. HBO, like CNN, is a Warner Bros. Discovery company.

SOURCE | CNN