Director who wrote to Ebert as boy now gets praise

CHAMPAIGN – Growing up in Greenwich, Conn., Rod Lurie was obsessed with films. He'd ride to the library every Saturday, before the doors opened, and spend the day reading film criticism.

As a boy he wrote to nearly every major critic. Only three responded: Pauline Kael, Judith Crist and Roger Ebert.

"He was so nice," Lurie remembered. "He's the one critic who can convince me to see a film that everyone else hates. He has this ability to find qualities where others cannot."

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