Chaz Ebert on Life Itself

The philanthropist and media entrepreneur takes us behind the scenes of Steve James' 2014 documentary on her husband, the late film critic Roger Ebert.

2013 was the year I joined Sundance and the year that the great film critic Roger Ebert died. I met Chaz a number of times through her fellowships for emerging critics, and her support of emerging filmmakers. Each time I came away having felt her warmth, her sense of purpose, and her passion for film. This conversation was no different — except that her choice of Steve James’ documentary, Life Itself brought Roger’s life and loss firmly to the center. For Chaz, his great love and wife of 20 years, even playing the trailer was unexpectedly emotional. It was a privilege in this episode to witness and share the powerful life-giving properties of love and of cinema. I hope you will feel the same. - T.J.

It is hard to pinpoint when Chaz Ebert first experienced Life Itself, Steve James’s documentary about her late husband the legendary film critic, Roger Ebert. Initially conceived as a multi-year project to capture Roger’s vibrant life and career, the film also documented what would become the final weeks of Roger’s life. Film icons like Werner Herzog, Ava Duvernay, and Martin Scorsese illustrate the ways in which Roger’s work inspired them individually and impacted culture on a broad scale. Tracing Roger’s journey from cub reporter to national figure and devoted family man, the film is a testament to his ardently populist sensibility, larger-than-life personality, fierce love of movies, and the vigor with which he met every day even as he endured life with cancer and its effects.

In conversation with Cooper and Tabitha, Chaz reveals the one movie review Roger acknowledged he got wrong, her reluctance to continue filming as Roger’s health deteriorated, what it meant to experience the film’s premiere with an audience at Sundance, and how their shared concern for empathy continues to inspire her work today. 

About the Film

Life Itself, 2014. The life and career of the renowned film critic and social commentator, Roger Ebert.

Directed by Steve James

Edited by Steve James, David E. Simpson

Music by Joshua Abrams

Cinematography by Dana Kupper