Filmmaker Xan Cassavetes comes from good stock. The daughter of legendary actor/director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands had critics buzzing at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival with her first feature-length directorial effort, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession. The film — debuting tonight at 6 and 10 pm/ET on IFC — recounts the true story of a Los Angeles pay-cable station made popular by its eclectic programming (picture commercial films like The Empire Strikes Back playing back-to-back with exploitation fare like Foxy Brown) and the tragic demise of its visionary mastermind, Jerry Harvey. Here, Ms. Cassavetes speaks with TV Guide.com about Z Channel and all things film, from Tarantino to Timberlake.
TV Guide Online: What prompted you to make a movie about an obscure cable channel?
Xan Cassavetes: Myself and my two producing partners were about two weeks away from shooting a film cal
read more