By JOHN WILDMAN, Contributing Writer

A tough and talented character speaking with respect, love and affection about another tough and talented character - that's the simplest way to describe NEVER APOLOGIZE: A PERSONAL VISIT WITH LINDSAY ANDERSON. Directed by Mike Kaplan, the film gives us a front-row seat to Malcolm McDowell's remembrance and journey through the life and work (as he largely experienced it and was aware of it) of the man responsible for such classics as IF..., O, LUCKY MAN, THIS SPORTING LIFE and BRITTANIA HOSPITAL. The film and McDowell's performance is more than a belated "thank you." It is an entertaining and affecting look at someone who was a creative force and iconic personality delivered by the only person who could do it justice.

This project was obviously a labor of love about a man you greatly respected. Was the inspiration to do it based more on a desire to share your personal experiences or to educate a new generation about work?

Both. I was asked to go to the Edinburgh Film Festival and do a retrospective of Lindsay's work, which meant my own as well in a way. So I said cavalierly, "Why don't I do an evening on his life and career using his correspondence and letters and such?" Eleven months went by and I had done nothing, so I called the archivist who was so good to send all the relevant stuff. I added my stories and sort of had a road map, but it was an improvisation, really. There was so much I had to say that at a certain point I just had to end it so everyone could go see the other shows. I just really wanted people to know who he was and the films he made.

You colorfully describe your experience auditioning for Lindsay Anderson the first time. Why do you think he immediately locked onto you as his lead for IF...?

He almost chose somebody else until I walked in. Someone had said, "We might as well look at McDowell..." But it wasn't me or the brilliance of my audition - it was this girl (who I wanted to ask out after I saw her). It was the fact that this girl had punched me and sent me reeling - and it ceased to be acting. It was a Zen moment of my life, this extraordinary moment for me that changed my life.

More than just a technical gift for mimicking everyone from Anderson to John Gielgud to Bette Davis to John Ford, there is a context you provide to give the audience an emotional connection to these icons in Lindsay's world. At heart, do you consider yourself a fan and/or admirer of theirs who was fortunate through your own success to be privy to their world?

Oh, yes! They were gods to us, whom we were all rather scared of. I remember my agent got a call from Sir Laurence Olivier for a stage production and all he had to say to me was, "We got a call from Sir." Because we all knew who "Sir" was.

In the film, you describe your hesitance to play a role onstage that Alan Bates made his own. Recently, you had a similar challenge playing the Dr. Loomis character that Donald Pleasance created in the horror-thriller classic HALLOWEEN. Did you have a similar hesitance at taking on that role?

'Loomis' is not really a complex part - one doesn't go to a horror movie for the acting. I knew Donald Pleasance, but I hadn't seen the original, and I didn't want to because I didn't want to be influenced by what he did. I still haven't seen it, but I'm told it was quite different. But Alan was a great friend, and he was brilliant in that role. But Lindsay said, "Why not?! Can only one actor play Hamlet?! You bring different things to it." So, I asked what I would bring to it and he said, "Danger." "And Bates?" I replied. "Jocular charm." So, I said, "What, no jocular charm for McDowell?!"

You tell the story of reprimanding a snoring audience member during a stage performance and discovering that Steven Spielberg was seated right behind the man. Is Spielberg still scared of you?

He wasn't scared, but I think he was horrified that I had broken the fourth wall in that way. And as it happened, I looked in Spielberg's eyes and thought, "Why didn't YOU wake him?!"

Any thought to doing a dedicated stage run of NEVER APOLOGIZE: A PERSONAL VISIT WITH LINDSAY ANDERSON?

No. And I'm glad it's on film so I don't have to. It's exhausting!

Could any other director get away with hitting you with that script more than 30 times? Five or 10 even?

Probably not. He was probably getting back at me for all the frustrations of working with me through the years.

What would you imagine Lindsay Anderson's critique of the show to be?

I think for the most part he'd be thrilled and delighted. But the personal stuff he might say, "Now, now, enough of that." But to keep the record straight and tell the complete story, you had to know about his closeted past, etc. because you see how it informs the work of these films, these masterpieces.

Malcolm McDowell and Lindsay Anderson

NEVER APOLOGIZE: A PERSONAL VISIT WITH LINDSAY ANDERSON 7 p.m. Nov. 2 @ ArcLight 14 12:45 p.m. Nov. 3 @ ArcLight 14 Malcolm McDowell will attend the first screening and give a Q&A afterward.