FROM SALON

Forty years later, Garfunkel is still bitter after all these years

He blames director Mike Nichols for the breakup of Simon & Garfunkel

BY KERA BOLONIK

     
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TOPICS: 1960S, 1970S, FOLK MUSIC, FILM, MOVIES, ENTERTAINMENT NEWS, PAUL SIMON, ART GARFUNKEL,SIMON & GARFUNKEL, MIKE NICHOLS, THE GRADUATE, CATCH-22, JOSEPH HELLER, CHARLES GRODIN,PALEY CENTER, NYC, NEW YORK, POP, MUSIC, ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Art Garfunkel, now 71 years old and still reeling decades later from the breakup of the musical act that made him a household name, is now saying that one of the reasons Simon & Garfunkel broke up was because of Mike Nichols’ 1970 film adaptation of Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22.” In the late 1960s, he says, the two were cast in the film, and while Garfunkel managed to hold on to his fourth-billing role, Simon ended up on the cutting room floor, reports the Guardian.

Garfunkel was speaking at the Paley Center for Media in New York last Wednesday, as part of a screening of Charles Grodin’s 1969 Simon & Garfunkel documentary “Songs of America.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, both the singer and Grodin implicated Nichols. Recall that Nichols featured Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” and “Scarborough Fair” in “The Graduate,” his now-iconic 1967 film that won him an Oscar for best director.

“That was the beginning of their split-up,” said Grodin. “You don’t take Simon & Garfunkel and ask them to be in a movie and then drop one of their roles on them.”

Garfunkel agreed, saying, “Chuck [Grodin]‘s gone right to the heart of the difficulty in Simon & Garfunkel when he says, ‘Artie and Paul were cast for ‘Catch-22,’ and Paul’s part was dropped.’ I had Paul sort of waiting: ‘All right, I can take this for three months. I’ll write the songs, but what’s the fourth month? And why is Artie in Rome a fifth month?’” He added, “What’s Mike doing to Simon & Garfunkel?’”

“Catch-22″ was, as it happens, Garfunkel’s feature film debut — the following year he’d appear in a more prominent role, in another Mike Nichols film, “Carnal Knowledge,” starring Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, and Ann-Margrek,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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http://www.salon.com/2013/02/12/forty_years_later_garfunkel_explains_troubled_waters_with_simon/