The first time I saw Miloš Forman in person was in 1965 when he introduced The Loves of a Blonde at the London Film Festival by saying, "Wouldn't it have been great if we had had cameras when Jesus Christ walked the earth?" Then, in 1968, Miloš brought The Firemen's Ball to the New York Film Festival and began research on a story about runaways. Luckily, I was in New York knocking on doors, looking to borrow a fire escape for the last shot I needed to complete my NYU film, Song for My Sister, the story of a runaway. A fellow filmmaker invited me in, along with my crew and my ingénue. Miloš was sitting in that blessed apartment.
While I set up on the fire escape, Miloš asked the actress what the scene was about. She told him it was our last scene, depicting the character's final day on the run before returning home to the suburbs. Miloš asked me why I was filming raindrops dripping off the railing. I told him they looked like tears.
Miloš asked to see the film-in-progress. Afterward he said, "We are sym-pa-te-tic." I told him I had seen his Czech films in London and was doing my best to impersonate him.