Edward Gorey’s Last Words - Christopher Seufert’s Book, Film Decades In The Making

It’s been almost exactly 30 years since Chatham resident Christopher Seufert first interviewed illustrator, writer and playwright Edward Gorey at his Yarmouth home. During those decades, he’s never given up on completing a documentary centering on nearly four years worth of interviews with the notoriously reclusive artist.

 Seufert expects the film to be released later this month, and as a preview has published “Memento Gorey: The Last Interviews With Edward Gorey.” It’s fitting that the final words of the macabre artist, best known for his animated intro to the “Mystery” TV series, come from beyond the grave. 

The coffee table book includes dozens of photos of the artist, his home just as it was left after his death in 2000, as well as three interviews Seufert did with Gorey between 1996 and 1998. Also included are two other interviews with Gorey and interviews with a dozen artists, writers and musicians who were influenced by Gorey’s unmistakable, unique work.

 While Seufert said he developed a rapport with Gorey, who died in 2000, over the dozens of hours they spent together, the artist remained a tough interview.

 “At his best he was friendly, but not talking about what you wanted him to talk about,” Seufert said. Gorey didn’t want to talk about his artwork, but did chat about his plays (several of which Seufert filmed), TV and movies, and his cats. The book includes dozens of photos of Gorey’s house, including piles of books and video tapes, his kitchen, the contents of his refrigerator, his bedroom, his work desk and even the cats’ litter boxes. Seufert said he was trying to capture “who he really was, the guy who got up in the morning and brushed his teeth.”

The documentary takes some of the Gorey interviews and animates them in a style similar to the artists as a way of making the film more interesting, rather than just being a series of talking heads, Seufert said. As an independent filmmaker, Seufert faced quite a few challenges, both personal and professional, in completing the film, thus the long production process. Finances, rights issues and COVID all contributed to the complexity of completing the film. 

A 2014 screening of a rough cut at the Woods Hole Film Festival elicited constructive criticism, including the need to add more perspective through the interviews with people influenced by Gorey. That took money, travel and time, “a huge amount of work,” he said. But Seufert is confident that he’s now at a good place with the film, which he hopes to be ready to screen by the end of the month. The book, he added, is a “gateway” to the film.

“The book and the film really go together,” he said.

Seufert has made several documentaries on Chatham subjects and published several books of his photographs. In the mid-1990s, he returned to his hometown and was searching for a documentary subject. A number of people told him about Gorey, and when he finally picked up one of the artist’s books, he decided to write to him to request an interview. Gorey called in a matter of days.

The artist was looking for someone to film a play he was directing. Seufert agreed in exchange for access. They ended up spending hours together, sometimes at Gorey’s house, sometimes at Jack’s Outback, his favorite lunch spot, sometimes at theaters where he was producing plays.

“We certainly weren’t very similar, but there was an ease in hanging out,” Seufert said. Gorey “loved to sit around and riff on things,” he added. Seufert often helped with technology, such as programming remotes.

“He’d let me roam freely in his house. I built trust with him that way,” Seufert said. “Every time I saw him, I put a mic on him. That was part of the deal.”

Gorey never told him to turn off the camera.

“We really had a good way of working together. I never thought I was pulling my punches,” Seufert said.

After Gorey died, Seufert was given access to his house for four days, during which he shot photos and video of just about everything he could see, right down to the contents of the artist’s kitchen cabinets.

Seufert also spent nearly 30 years interviewing artists, writers and others who were influenced by Gorey. They include a 1998 chat with award-winning actress and Chatham resident Julie Harris and more recent interviews with writers Daniel Handler (Lemony Snickett) and Neil Gaiman, filmmaker Terry Gilliam, musician Danny Elfman and author Paul Theroux, who also wrote the book’s forward. Clips of the interviews are in the documentary and transcripts compose the final half of the book.

Seufert was 28 when he began filming Gorey. Getting older “lit a fire under me” to complete the film and book; he’s also put out a soundtrack album that’s available to download or buy on vinyl. 

 In the years since his death, Gorey’s reputation has grown significantly; he’s no longer just the artist who designed the title sequence to PBS’ “Mystery” series. And yet he’s still something of an enigma, even to someone like Seufert who spent a lot of time with the artist.

 “He’s such a mystery,” Seufert said, adding that both the book and film are attempts to provide a glimpse into Gorey’s daily life. “People still want to get down to who he was. I didn’t feel the need for that.

 “I was just happy to sit in Edward’s kitchen, just happy to be there. He set me off on the adventure of a lifetime.”

 Seufert will sign copies of “Memento Gorey” and screen clips from his documentary at the Brewster Ladies’ Library on Oct. 13 at 5:30 p.m. and at the Snow Library in Orleans on Oct. 16 at 2 p.m.