According to Leonard Pierce Bob Balaban is “a small, dapper, bespectacled figure with the permanent air of
someone who has misplaced his newspaper.” Balaban has appeared in Capote, Seinfeld and
produced Gosford Park, for which he was nominated for an
Oscar. His IMDB profile lists 74 acting roles, and 35 producing, writing and
directing credits. The man is prolific.
We interviewed
him on the thirtieth anniversary re-release of Close
Encounters of the Third Kind, in which he played the cartographer
David Laughlin. Balaban wrote a book about the making of the film.
“We didn't know the reaction to the
book would be so nice, but I can't see it ever happening again. How often do
you get the opportunity to stand next to Stephen
Spielberg and Francois Truffaut for nine months, chatting away?”
