Tony Kaye Says He’s ‘Still Thinking About’ “American History X” and Wants to Release a Director’s Cut (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Director Tony Kaye reflects on the legacy of American History X and its potential future while speaking with PEOPLE at the 2025 Tribeca Festival

• “We haven’t figured out tolerance and love, and all the racism and terrible things that go on in the world,” he says of the 1988 hit movie

• Kaye is currently promoting his upcoming flick The Trainer

People still have plenty to learn from American History X.

Director Tony Kaye, 72, reflects on the legacy of his 1998 hit movie and its potential future while speaking with PEOPLE at the United States premiere of his latest flick, The Trainer, at the 2025 Tribeca Festival at SVA Theatre in New York City on Saturday, June 7.

“It is sad that it’s become as important as it’s become, which is largely to do with the fact that as a civilization, we haven’t figured out tolerance and love, and all the racism and terrible things that go on in the world,” Kaye says of American History X‘s continuing legacy.

The movie stars Edward Norton and Edward Furlong as two brothers in Los Angeles who have ties to a violent white supremacist gang. When one brother is rehabilitated after his experience in prison, he sets out to prevent his brother from being further indoctrinated. The movie earned Norton an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Reflecting on the overarching theme of the drama movie, Kaye explains, “With American History X, I set out with the goal of trying to change one person, really, who was racist or whatever. And to get them to rethink this disease.”

However, the release of the movie left Kaye with some complicated thoughts. “I’m still thinking about American History X,” he admits. “I’ve made a documentary called Humpty Dumpty X, which is about my feelings towards what happened during American History X.”

The documentary has yet to receive a wide release, although Den of Geek reported in 2016 that roughly 30 minutes of it was shown to a limited audience in 2007. The film reportedly documents Kaye’s troubled relationship with New Line Cinema during American History X’s post-production process.

The director later told Screen Daily in 2021 that he was upset with the Hollywood movie studio for re-editing his feature film debut without his involvement. “I didn’t really know what to say in those kinds of positions,” he told the outlet. “I had been making TV commercials for advertising agencies. I didn’t know how to deal with motion picture studios.”

Now, Kaye is ready to take control. “I hope one day to make the director’s cut of American History X,” he tells PEOPLE. “Because whenever you do any movie, a director is obviously subservient to themselves, but also subservient to the reality of the ticking clock, the budget, producers and other things that exist in the real world. So, when I watch The Trainer tonight, I’ll be thinking, ‘What can I do next?’ “

The Trainer marks Kaye’s first released feature film since 2011’s Detachment and stars Vito Schnabel, Julia Fox and Paris Hilton. The movie follows Schnabel’s Jack Flex as he attempts to get his eccentric fitness gadget featured on his mother’s favorite home shopping channel.

Kaye was instantly drawn to Schnabel’s script and quickly came on board the project, even convincing the art dealer to take on the lead role. Schnabel plays opposite Fox, whom the director was captivated by following her role in Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie’s crime thriller Uncut Gems.

“When I saw Uncut Gems, I just thought, ‘Wow, she is phenomenal,’ ” he says of Fox. “And I said to Vito, ‘We got to have her in the movie with you.’ And literally within four minutes of me saying that, Vito called me back and he said, ‘We’ve got her.’ “

“Julia and Vito were so right for each other, so wrong for each other, so perfect for each other and so imperfect for each other. There were so many realms of cycles of energy going around the two of them, and I could really net that out with the cameras and the microphones,” the director explains.

With The Trainer marking somewhat of a return to the major movie scene for Kaye, he considers what it means to him to be bringing the flick to the Tribeca Festival following its world premiere in Rome. The gravity of his presence at the festival, in part, boils down to his relationship with Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, which stars the festival’s co-founder, Robert De Niro, as Marine veteran and taxi driver, Travis Bickle.

“Taxi Driver holds a monumental importance for me in my life because about 40 years ago, maybe 50 years ago, I stood in the unemployment line in England. I was trying to be a commercial director. I couldn’t get any work and I gave a very long impassioned speech to the lady behind the glass window about the British film industry and how hard I was trying,” he recalls. “I spoke for about 45 minutes and she told me to go away, find myself a job and not bother her.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Kaye continues, “As I walked out of the labor exchange, I happened to have been watching Taxi Driver on a loop over and over again. I still remember vividly to this day, as I crossed the street, walking out of the office in Soho, London, I thought, ‘I’m going to be Travis Bickel and I’m going to become a machine.’ So that’s what I’ve tried to do throughout my career.”

As for how that has worked, he says, “I don’t think I’ve become Travis Bickle. But whenever you try to emulate somebody or copy somebody, your own DNA idiosyncrasies just accidentally pour into it. I have a very big connection to this part of town. I hope I can continue and maybe bring another movie in less than 14 years.”

Read the original article on People