Filmmaker Bruce David Klein on How Liza Became Liza (With a Little Help from her Friends)

EDGE: How long was the first cut of the film and how difficult was it to remove stuff from it?

Bruce David Klein: It was like about four hours. But it wasn't the length; it was what we focused on, and that changed. We had a lot more on Judy, until we realized that this is Liza story. Everybody knows Judy's story. We don't need to retell Judy's story. There were things that got us into the 80s, and even into the 90s – great stories and great anecdotes and great scenes and stuff, but they didn't quite pertain to the story we were telling. The process was like that of a sculptor, who starts with the clay, and the clay is four hours long.You trim and pull things out, you make a new eye, then when you don't like that one, you make another. But I thought it important that we keep it close to 100 minutes, because I don't want audiences to lose patience.

EDGE: What is alarming is how harshly she was treated by the press. Even after she became a major star and was touring Europe, they would ask questions like did she mind being ugly. They literally showed her no respect.

Bruce David Klein: That's an interesting point, and that is an important point, because essentially, in this early 70s era, she was seen as just being Judy Garland's daughter. It was pretty eye opening as we looked at some of these press conferences from the 70s and see how harsh they were. Questions like, 'Do you think sing as well as your mother?' 'Do you have movie star looks?' Or, 'What do you say when people call you ugly?' But then you see her answer these questions with charm and humor. That was really an eye opener. But don't forget at the time the press still thought of her as Judy Garland's daughter, and she had to live up to that. A lot of these interviews came when she was just coming onto her own.

EDGE: Was there a moment that she became Liza in your eyes?

Bruce David Klein: I don't know if you could say there was a single moment. But I think that from my point of view, the moment she became Liza was "Liza With a Z" in 1972 right after "Cabaret" came out. It was a one-shot television special with Halston doing the costumes; Fred Ebb writing the script and producing; John Kander writing the music to Ebb's lyrics; Bob Fosse directing it, and Kaye Thompson behind the scenes. So all of those people came together for this one night only experience. It wasn't a movie where Bob Fosse could tell her, do it again. This was it. She had one shot to show what she had. But go back and read the reviews. People were really stunned and breathless at the force of her talent. And she won an Emmy, right after having won the Oscar. So I think that was probably the moment, the singular moment when Liza became Liza.