Brow Beat

Ramin Bahrani on Why He Dedicated His New Movie to Roger Ebert

Check out all Slate’s interviews from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

There was no greater champion of writer-director Ramin Bahrani than Roger Ebert. In 2009, the movie critic called Bahrani “the new great American director” and “the new director of the decade.” In 2013, RogerEbert.com published the last interview Ebert conducted, which was with Bahrani.

It was in that interview that Bahrani revealed the title of his new movie, 99 Homes, which Bahrani dedicated to Ebert at the Venice Film Festival. For the next week, Brow Beat is doing interviews from Sundance, and we asked Bahrani how the late movie critic has influenced his work.

Interview booked by Raquel Bruno. Executive produced by Ayana Morali.