“He Realized It Was Useful to Stop Running From the 500 Pound Maus Chasing After Him”: Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin on Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse!

Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin’s Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse! centers on a legendary cartoonist who’s long struggled with being eclipsed by his own creation. Decades ago Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, Holocaust-focused, autobiographical graphic novel Maus launched the underground artist into mainstream fame, and its success prompted him to follow up with the explanatory MetaMaus so he could finally stop having to publicly dissect the most painful time in his family’s history. (Needless to say, the plan backfired spectacularly.) Fast forward to today, when calls to ban Maus — and other “uncomfortable” books — make the moral of the story more relevant than ever, and the perennial antifascist spokesman even more in demand. (Cut to a panel with the caption “Oy.”) Nevertheless, Spiegelman is a game participant in this study of his life, influences (Mad magazine of course) and eclectic oeuvre (the 9/11-themed In the Shadow of No Towers is probably better known than Garbage Pail Kids); as are the assorted literary scholars, fellow cartoonists and critics (including J. Hoberman), all some combination of fans, friends and colleagues. But perhaps the most memorable moments occur when reflection is a group activity, such as the intimate scene around the dinner table with Spiegelman and his spouse and collaborator Françoise Mouly eating and chatting comics with a strikingly bland Robert Crumb and his late wife Aline Kominsky-Crumb — the burden of Maus temporarily lifted by graying domesticity. A few days prior to the theatrical release (February 21st at Film Forum) of Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse!, Filmmaker reached out to the veteran co-directors whose 2013 doc Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay likewise received PBS’s American Masters imprimatur.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.