Albert Maysles, The Gates

Albert Maysles has been shooting The Gates since 1979, when artists Christo and Jean-Claude first proposed the project - a massive installation of 7,500 fabric-draped steel gates (requiring 600 workers to install) for New York's Central Park, then in a very distressed condition. In this interview with Elise MacAdam, Maysles and his collaborator Antonio Ferrera tick off the several rejections by various mayors previous to Michael Bloomberg, the technical requirements of both film and artwork and several reasons why Maysles is not Michael Moore.

•