Austin America-Statesman film critic Chris Garcia has incurred the wrath of “cult favorite” Bud Cort after Garcia ran a not exactly positive profile of him. Choice bits: Garcia referring to the Harold and Maude actor’s eyes as “moist with complaint” and describing his singing voice as “[w]ith a lisp and quivering high notes that create the unnerving noise of an emphysemic Munchkin.”
Cort was in town a couple of weeks ago for an Alamo Drafthouse appearance; by all accounts, he’s a very particular sort of guy. Our own Marc Savlov also interviewed Cort and fielded no less than eight followup calls from him. (He also requested of us final approval of the profile; we, as did Garcia, declined.) But Cort’s last call was a very gracious thank you to Savlov for the piece.
Alas, no fruit baskets in Garcia’s future. Instead, Cort sent a letter to the editor declaring Garcia’s piece to be “malicious,” “inaccurate,” and “shockingly condescending.” Our favorite zinger/mudslinger? In which he referred to Garcia’s interview stylings as “tantamount to sitting with a sponge.”
We’ve sat with Garcia on a number of occasions and never found him to be remotely sponge-like, but let’s be honest: This is kind of fun, isn’t it? How ’bout another round, boys?
This article appears in April 4 • 2008.
