He was the most observant, sympathetic, and successful filmmaker about the American middle class. He found the humor and drama in their struggle to cope with the massive social changes of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. In Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Blume in Love, Down & Out in Beverly Hills, Harry & Tonto, and An Unmarried Woman, among other now-classics, he poked fun at–while still loving–a generation in search of itself.

Yet Paul Mazursky’s cinematic quest came at a cost. Although he was in sync with his audience, he was usually ahead of the studio brass upon whom he depended for financing. In The Mazursky Method: The Paul Mazursky Interviews, Nat Segaloff–who exhaustively researched and interviewed the mercurial Mazursky–charts this tenuous relationship and explores the highs and lows of being both a participant and a critic.

Nat Segaloff is no stranger to elusive subjects. As the biographer of William Friedkin (The French Connection, Sorcerer), Harlan Ellison ( I have No Mouth, and I Must Scream ), and John Milius (Red Dawn, Apocalypse Now) he is used to pinning down the ineffable. In The Mazursky Method: The Paul Mazursky Interviews he conducts an unguarded career interview with a man who was the muse of, and then outlived, his movie-going generation.

Nat Segaloff has been a film publicist, critic, teacher, and author (not all at the same time). He lives in Los Angeles waiting for his phone calls to be returned.