Q&A with Matt Tyrnauer

Los Angeles-born Matt Tyrnauer has been working as a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, writing articles about personalities ranging from Martha Stewart to Siegfried and Roy, for the past 18 years.

It was while writing an article on Italian designer Valentino Garavani that Tyrnauer decided to make him the subject for his first documentary, “Valentino: The Last Emperor,” which had the highest grossing opening weekend for a documentary in 2009 and was rated the No. 1 documentary of last year by indieWIRE, a Web site featuring independent filmmakers.

The director, producer and journalist spoke to the Daily Bruin’s Celina Carroll about the events leading up to the documentary’s success.

Daily Bruin: Before we discuss your movie, I’d like to talk about your time at Vanity Fair. It seems like you got to meet a great array of people; was there anyone in particular you interviewed who really surprised you or caught you off guard?

Matt Tyrnauer: Well sometimes the stories you think are going to be the least interesting end up being the ones that interest you the most. So as kind of a blanket response I would say that. I would actually include Valentino in that category; I met him writing a story about him for Vanity Fair. … God knows there are a lot of fashion journalists in the world, and they know a lot more about Valentino than I did. … So Valentino, at first I wasn’t excited about the assignment. I was thrilled about the Rome part of it, because I’m an Italophile, but I wasn’t expecting much. But what I found when I went to meet him was so much more than I expected. I found not just Valentino, but also found Giancarlo Giammetti (Valentino’s business associate and lover), and I found this story of the two men, which is really an amazing relationship story and ultimately a love story. And that’s why I wanted to make the movie, because I saw this incredible untold relationship story.

DB: And they first publicly acknowledged their relationship to you, right?

MT: Yes, and that was really surprising because even though these people had been in the public eye for over half a century, they had never admitted their relationship. It was known, but no one really bothered to explore it. I don’t think they were really lining up to do that, I think I was in the right place at the right time. They were willing to tell me their particular story, and I was open to exploring it and making a big deal out of it because I think it was a big deal. I think the longevity of it was a big deal, and I don’t think there would be a Valentino without Giancarlo. … I was really happy to get them to agree to make the film and also to open up on camera. And I think sometimes they didn’t really know what I was after so I was able to capture this relationship, which is probably a little harder to do than it might seem, as they were not always cooperating with me. The movie was a movie in which I had final cut.

DB: And there were some issues with that, some things that Valentino was not happy with?

MT: Every scene ““ he didn’t like the movie at all. All the funding from this movie came from private investors. It’s an independent film, no funding comes from Valentino and he had no approval over the project.

DB: Which is probably why it’s been so successful.

MT: Well, I don’t think you could have made the movie with Valentino’s editorial involvement at all. I think you would have had a different movie and unquestionably a worse movie. … It would have been a PR job. He would have in some ways preferred it, but it would be a movie that hardly anyone had ever heard of or seen because it would not have deserved to been seen.

DB: So how did you determine what you were and were not allowed to film?

MT: It was a day-to-day struggle for turf. I would show up at the office when their days began around noon. They would start late and work late. Some days, Valentino would kick us all off the set, and you see that in the film. He’s very temperamental, a control freak, not easy to work with, doesn’t like situations that he can’t completely master. And we were challenged by that, we were there with cameras and soundmen and producers. … We were always trampling all over everything. And for that reason alone he would create these dramas and kick us off. I like to say he quit the movie every day at 6 p.m. and rehired himself in the morning.

DB: In your article it seems like Giancarlo did a lot of the talking for Valentino because he is so nitpicky and private. Was it the same way with the film?

MT: That’s a very good observation. Valentino is not an easy subject to get to; he is very reserved. He’s very wrapped up in being Valentino, and he plays the role brilliantly, but he’s always kind of playing that part. And by always I mean always. Italicized always. He embodies this kind of person that’s enjoyed 50 years of fame. Like with many people who have been famous for a long time, he tells a particular story and that’s the end of it. You can’t really find the private person anymore because he’s too well-known.

DB: Giancarlo is very different. He was never really famous, and is much more in the real world. And he is the person who really understands Valentino. I think in a lot of ways he understands Valentino better than Valentino understands himself.

MT: We used Giancarlo as the person that opened the window on what was really going on behind the façade of Valentino. Ultimately it became a love story about these two people. Valentino is, I don’t want to say cold, but he’s not open.

DB: What do you think UCLA students, who may or may not know Valentino or follow fashion, will get out of this film?

MT: Well I think it appeals to many interests, if you’re interested in fashion, certainly. I think it’s an amazing story for a gay and lesbian romance because it’s about a gay relationship. It’s also, on another level, an amazing business story because it’s about two people who built a very important business from the ground up. But they were really the last survivors of this era where very important fashion designers were also the people who were building the businesses.

DB: So what’s next for you, are you going back to Vanity Fair?

MT: Well I never left. But I’m starting another doc. I haven’t announced it yet, but I am retiring from fashion, that’s all I’ll say.

E-mail Carroll at [email protected].