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Kickstart This Project: ‘Once I Was’, a documentary on famed director Hal Ashby

With a career lasting just over 20 years, Hal Ashby has had a notable influence on Hollywood and cinema. Beginning his career as an editor under the training of Norman Jewison, Ashby worked on movies such as The Cincinnati Kid and The Thomas Crown Affair, before going on to direct his own features, which included Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, and Coming Home. Despite his impact, however, there has yet to be a documentary made looking at the life and career of Ashby, and the effect his features have had on subsequent filmmakers. It is this project that filmmaker Amy Scott aims to tackle with Once I Was. Making her feature-length directing debut, Scott has the support of Ashby’s estate, as well as access to the cast and crew that worked with the director, providing Once I Was with the potential to be a detailed and comprehensive look at Ashby’s life and career. A documentary on a subject matter such as Ashby promises to be compelling on its own, but the level of access that Once I Was has gives it extra potential, and hopefully it is able to realise that. For more details and/or to donate to the film, you can see their Indiegogo page here, as well as the video below.

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