To talk about John Cassavetes the great director, one must first recognise Cassavetes the actor. Not because acting was his first artistic passion; not because many of his closest friends, including his wife, were actors; not because Cassavetes himself acted in dozens of films, television shows, and plays. Acting as a profession and artistic endeavour is essential to Cassavetes the director because so much of what he did as a filmmaker was at the service of his actors. Story and technique were…