Milos Forman on Milos Forman

—RAGTIME (1981) Forman's stately staging of E.L. Doctorow's novel didn't pack 'em in either, but it did receive eight Oscar noms. Forced to cut an entire subplot (about 20 minutes of film) by producer Dino De Laurentiis to get the film down to 156 minutes, he hopes a DVD will one day restore it. Left untouched, thankfully, was James Cagney's final screen performance.

"He was retired for 20 years. I said, 'James, pick any part, it's yours.' He said, 'The commissioner. That's a nice part, I'll do that.' But it was complicated; he said, 'I'm not signing anything. If you want to take a risk, I will not decide until one day before shooting.' So I was very careful to pick a double in case James suddenly said, 'I don't feel like it.' But thank God he said yes. When he first entered the studio, for the scene where the commissioner addresses the Pinkertons, there was 20 minutes of applause. James just stood there, tears rolling down his cheeks. That man was 81 years old. Every disease you can name, he had it. He was constantly in pain. But every time you said action, his talent was there, absolutely untouched."

—AMADEUS (1984) By now Hollywood's adaptation auteur du jour, Forman hooked up with producer Zaentz again to help ignite Mozart mania with his version of Peter Shaffer's hit play. The film won Best Picture, scored Forman his second Best Director award, and grossed $54.8 million. Shot partially in Prague, the film marked Forman's long-awaited return to Czechoslovakia, a deeply emotional experience marred by many familiar frustrations.

"We visited the archbishop of Prague because we wanted to shoot in the cardinal's palace. We got permission—but then came a message that he had changed his mind. We contacted the cardinal and found out the Communist apparatchiks told the cardinal that we were planning to secretly shoot a porno. So through secret channels, we had to convince him that we were not shooting a porno, but that as a matter of fact, we were shooting very honorable scenes there."

—THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT (1996) Forman has made only three films since Amadeus. Valmont, his 1989 adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, was overlooked by audiences and critics, as it hit theaters one year after Dangerous Liaisons, Stephen Frears' Oscar-nominated hit from the same material. Then came Flynt, the ribald biopic of the infamous Hustler publisher. The film earned Woody Harrelson a Best Actor nod and Forman his third directing nomination, but it was attacked by women's rights groups for glorifying Flynt. It grossed a disappointing $20.3 million.

"If you ask me which film I like most, I must say you develop the most emotional attachment to the work which was most damaged by outside forces. From that point of view, it was Firemen's Ball, which was banned for 20 years. But second is Flynt. The film just died. That pains me because I think it was very unjust. The film never committed the crimes for which it was accused. In general, I believe in the arguments supporting what Flynt does. But I've never bought a Hustler magazine, and I'm not planning to."