San Francisco Chinatown movie houses were my early childhood film schools. They offered up a steady stream of Chinese language films from overseas and seeing Chinese on the big screen was no big deal. But then I started venturing outside the neighborhood and haunted now-defunct repertory theaters, and I remember seeing Luise Rainer in the 1937 MGM Epic, The Good Earth. It was something else to watch this German actress portray a self-sacrificing Chinese peasant in yellow-face, leading a cast of thousands of real-life Chinese extras and bit players, not to mention millions of locusts. I don?t recall if I was delighted or offended, but if anything, I was intrigued. And, oh, the set design was pretty authentic and the camera work gorgeous. It was, and still is, a great piece of classic Hollywood moviemaking.

Flash forward some forty years later to 2003. It was the 75th anniversary of the Oscars® and the Academy gathered as many living winners of the acting awards as possible to appear in that year?s broadcast. I attended a post-rehearsals reception for them and it was a pretty private affair; there we were, having drinks and joking around with the likes of Olivia de Havilland and Celeste Holm ? we could?ve been at the Brown Derby. And then I spotted her, yes her: Luise Rainer, the first actor to win back-to-back Oscars® for The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth. She was still alive ? all 93 years of her!

By 2003, I had already been in development on Hollywood Chinese for about five years but hadn?t shot a single frame of footage yet. Now there was no excuse. Luise Rainer was a surviving connection to an era of Hollywood when white actors playing Asians was the norm, when yellow-face spoke volumes about race relations in the industry. I had to get her.

But Luise Rainer had been around the block a few times and wasn?t an easy interview to get. After all, she was once married to playwright Clifford Odets and she had a notorious reputation for talking back to Louis B. Mayer before dumping Hollywood altogether. And flattery was a lost cause. Long story short: it was about all connections and perseverance. A flurry of phone calls and a few months later, I found myself in Luise Rainer?s London apartment on the city?s hottest day in history. Remember that summer of 2003? When all the Brits melted? I was there.

Luise Rainer was true to form and continued to be the diva that she deserved to be. Limo service, approval of the make up artist, lighting, a definite time limit. But there was sweetness about her too. She showed me her pair of Oscars® and lamented how they had tarnished, but lit up when I told her it was possible to have them re-finished. And she made sure the cookies and tea where out, and that I accompanied her to dinner with a group of artists in a private dining club where you gained entry through an unmarked door ? very speakeasy and very Dorothy Parker. She proudly announced to her guests that I had traveled all the way from LA to interview her.

On the night before the shoot, we went through her closet to pick out an outfit and then pondered over what to do with her hair. We both agreed a beret was the best look. Then on location the next day, I melted, the crew melted ? everyone melted ? but Luise Rainer was a pro. When she came into the room it was like a scene from Sunset Blvd.: Yes, she was ready for her close-up. With each documentary I make there comes a time when I know I have a film. This was that moment.

Thank you, Ms. Rainer.