There are few people who deserve a documentary (or 20 of them) more than Gore Vidal. A ferocious thinker and fierce commentator whose output is gargantuan as well as wide in scope, Vidal contributed to and steered the national conversation for decades after the end of WWII. He’s celebrated as a screenwriter (Ben-Hur), essayist, novelist, political philosopher, and playwright, but any man who nearly comes to physical blows with William F. Buckley on national television has probably earned his talking head treatment.
Enter Nicholas Wrathall. The director has made Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia with what may very well be some of the last footage of Vidal ever captured before he passed away last year. The film will see its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and it’s got a trailer that makes it look as gorgeously-shot as it is compelling: