William Friedkin Remembered: William Petersen Reflects on How His ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ Director Changed His Life
variety.comBrent Lang Executive Editor William Petersen was a theater actor from Chicago when William Friedkin changed the course of his life.
In 1984, the Oscar-winning director tapped the then-unknown performer to play Richard Chance, a Secret Service agent willing to bend rules and break laws in order to capture a shadowy counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) in “To Live and Die in L.A.” The crime thriller was a return to form for Friedkin, who had summited the heights of the movie business with “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist,” only to suffer a string of disappointments.
Petersen and Friedkin would later collaborate on a Showtime remake of “12 Angry Men” and two episodes of “CSI.” Friedkin died on Aug.
7 at the age of 87, and Petersen shared his reflections on his “greatest mentor and most brilliant friend.” I was doing “Streetcar Named Desire” at the Stratford Festival outside of Toronto, and Billy sent his casting director to watch me.
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