Wallace Shawn and André Gregory had been friends for years before making the film. Gregory wanted to tell his story and had even…

Wallace Shawn and André Gregory had been friends for years before making the film. Gregory wanted to tell his story and had even worked with a biographer. Shawn suggested a simpler format: just the two of them having a conversation on screen, with the drama coming from their contrasting personalities and Gregory’s anecdotes. Although the film was based on events from their own lives, both men denied they were simply playing themselves. They told Roger Ebert that if they ever remade the film, they would swap characters to prove the point. Shawn said of the version of himself on screen: «I actually had a purpose as I was writing this: I wanted to destroy that guy that I played. I wanted to kill that side of myself by making the film, because that guy is totally motivated by fear.» The film was shot over two weeks in December 1980 in a vacant hotel in Richmond, Virginia. The set was designed to resemble the Café des Artistes in New York City. Film: My Dinner with Andre (1981)