Fedora-wearing filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig talks fast and hard. His 2005 documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, won him a best director award at the Sundance Film Festival and put him firmly on the non-fiction movie map. The feature gained a cult following because of its seductive topic: a schizophrenic musician treading the fine line between genius and madness. Having directed oddball documentaries, such as Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King, The Real Rocky and The Dude — the inspiration for the character in the Coen Brother’s hit, The Big Lebowski — it’s clear that Feuerzeig loves all things off beat.
“I’m not interested in making a film about superstars. I don’t give a rat’s arse about them,” Feuerzeig almost spits, as if there’s a superstar in the room to offend. Having worked with famed documentary maker Albert Maysles, Feuerzeig’s first-person pointof-view, built through audio, visual, written and other means, takes audiences down what he calls a “rabbit hole.”