Question 1

True or false: Cassavetes often bankrolled his own films by acting in mainstream movies.

Accepted Answer

True. He used his Hollywood actor paychecks, like from 'Rosemary's Baby', to fund his personal, low-budget directorial projects.

Question 2

True or false: John Cassavetes was a pioneer of the American independent film movement in the 1960s.

Accepted Answer

True. Cassavetes self-financed 'Shadows' (1959) and rejected studio control, laying groundwork for indie auteurs like Scorsese.

Question 3

True or false: John Cassavetes taught acting at the Actors Studio in New York for over a decade.

Accepted Answer

False. Cassavetes was a member of the Actors Studio, but he was not a teacher there; the long-time head was Lee Strasberg, who taught for decades.

Question 4

True or false: John Cassavetes was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, not Best Director.

Accepted Answer

True. He earned a Best Supporting Actor nod for 'The Dirty Dozen' (1967), but never a directing nomination despite his iconic indie work.

Question 5

True or false: Cassavetes' final film 'Love Streams' was a big-budget Hollywood production.

Accepted Answer

False. Like most of his work, it was independently made on a modest budget, premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.

Question 6

True or false: John Cassavetes's film 'Faces' was entirely improvised by the cast with no script.

Accepted Answer

False. Though it felt spontaneous, Cassavetes wrote a detailed script; he just encouraged naturalistic performances within it.

Question 7

True or false: Cassavetes never won a major film festival award for his directing.

Accepted Answer

False. He won the Venice Film Festival Critics' Prize for 'Faces' (1968) and the Golden Lion for 'Gloria' (1980), both major directing awards at a top-tier festival.

Question 8

True or false: Cassavetes directed his wife Gena Rowlands in every one of his films.

Accepted Answer

False. She starred in many, like 'A Woman Under the Influence', but not in his debut 'Shadows' or 'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie'.

John Cassavetes Trivia Questions