Tony Kushner on film

Not many writers have been the subject of feature film documentaries, so maybe Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner, directed by Freida Lee Mock, will start a trend.

In The New York Times Kushner tells Sylviane Gold why he ageed to be followed by cameras over the course of the past three years.

Why, exactly, would someone who is often described as shy, who is palpably “anxious” (Mr. Kushner’s term) and “self-flagellating” (Ms. Mock’s term) and whose work, when he’s not being what he calls “delinquent,” often entails sitting alone in a room, agree to be the central figure in a documentary?

Mr. Kushner, 50, who is also famous for his garrulousness, has a number of answers, one of which has to do with the appeal of “Project Runway.”

“I can’t sew two dishcloths together,” he said. “Watching these people actually make clothing is fascinating to me. I think most people are interested in how people actually do the things that they do. The life of a working playwright is maybe something people have some curiosity about.”