Aspiring Filmmaker--the Auteur’s Fan : * Movies: George Hickenlooper finds a niche with his documentaries about famous directors. ‘Hearts of Darkness’ is a critical success; his ‘Picture This’ airs on cable tonight.

“I’m very strongly in favor of the auteur theory,” says filmmaker George Hickenlooper.

It shows.

Though the 28-year-old’s own auteurist ambitions lie mostly with future projects, he’s already catapulted to a certain level of notoriety for documenting the idea of the director as author and Angst -ridden celebrity.

Hickenlooper’s two films to date are both documentaries about famous filmmakers’ crises. “Hearts of Darkness” detailed the turmoil overseen by Francis Coppola on the set of “Apocalypse Now,” and is one of the most commercially successful of contemporary nonfiction films, having brought in $1.2 million at the box office after having aired extensively on Showtime cable. Lesser-seen, but equally well-reviewed, is “Picture This,” a look back at the making of “The Last Picture Show” through the prism of its sequel, “Texasville,” with special concentration on director Peter Bogdanovich.

Like “Hearts of Darkness” (which was co-directed by Fax Bahr), “Picture This” is also scheduled to have a theatrical life after cable--but can be seen by Movie Channel subscribers starting tonight, in conjunction with exclusive airings of the expanded “directors’ cut” versions of both “The Last Picture Show” and “Texasville.”

“I was very inspired by Les Blank’s film ‘Burden of Dreams,’ ” Hickenlooper says, referring to a 1982 documentary about director Werner Herzog’s megalomania on the set of “Fitzcarraldo.” “I think what’s unique about his film and the two I’ve made is that they’re close examinations of filmmakers and how their own emotional experiences reflect in the material they’re rendering, and vice versa--how that material sometimes colors their own lives.”

In addition to the two documentaries, Hickenlooper has a book out, “Reel Conversations,” consisting of Q&A; chats with about a dozen more writer-directors, from Oliver Stone to David Lynch.

One director he never got the chance to interview was Orson Welles. Instead, he’s secured the rights to direct a feature film of Welles’ last, legendary unproduced screenplay, “The Big Brass Ring,” undaunted at the thought of working in the cinematic giant’s considerable shadow.

Much of Hickenlooper’s career has been predicated on meeting directors--from his first unsuccessful attempt as a worshipful teen to sneak onto the MGM lot to meet Steven Spielberg (he was thrown out, “in tears”), to the interviews for his book. None has been quite so successful as his screen examination of Coppola in “Hearts of Darkness.”

Newsweek called it a “bizarre, harrowing and altogether mesmeric home movie.” A number of critics placed it on their 10-best lists, and Gene Siskel went so far as to deem it the best picture of 1991.

“I thought that there was a strong parallel between Francis making the movie and the war itself,” says Hickenlooper, echoing Coppola’s own words in the movie. “Francis making the war is an interesting metaphor for Vietnam and vice versa. He really delved into the most sordid aspects of his own character in order to accomplish something that, fortunately, ended up being a great piece of art.”

Not everyone bought into Hickenlooper’s approving metaphor. L.A. Weekly critic John Powers took “Hearts of Darkness” to task for such sentiments, saying, “I can think of few things more deluded than equating a Hollywood movie--however grueling its production history--with a war that killed millions of people. . . . It’s a devastating commentary on ‘Hearts of Darkness’ that Bahr and Hickenlooper record Coppola’s words (correlating ‘Apocalypse Now’ and Vietnam) with obvious reverence.”

Hickenlooper defends his movie’s objectivity, even as he acknowledges his obvious, unfettered admiration for Coppola:

“I think it’s easy to criticize ‘Hearts of Darkness’ for buying into Coppola’s own narcissism or megalomania or grandeur. But there are a lot of derogatory things in both the Bogdanovich film and the Coppola film about the directors themselves.”

The reception given “Hearts of Darkness” among audiences and most critics helped grease the release of “Picture This,” which was filmed first but held up until recently because of financing problems and because Bogdanovich (who had approval rights) was reluctant to sign off on a project that delved so deeply into the personal life of himself and his cast.

“I think the candor of Francis Coppola in ‘Hearts of Darkness’ put Bogdanovich at ease a little bit, because initially he was a little nervous about the candor in ‘Picture This,’ ” Hickenlooper says.

The common thread in both films, the director notes, is the viewpoint of an estranged spouse as a narrative force. In “Darkness,” Hickenlooper was able to use the narration of Eleanor Coppola from her revealing book “Notes,” which he’d eagerly devoured as a teen-age film buff. In “Picture This,” he used as a hook the comments of Bogdanovich’s ex-wife, designer Polly Platt, who returned to work with him on “Texasville” even though it had been an affair between her husband and Cybill Shepherd during “The Last Picture Show” that contributed to the end of their marriage.

One of the characters who comes off as most emotionally naked in “Picture This” is actor Timothy Bottoms, who seems still bitter toward Bogdanovich and hurt over his unrequited crush on Shepherd. Amazingly, Bottoms produced the documentary, allowing Hickenlooper (whom he met while they worked together in Roger Corman’s New World stable) free rein on the final cut, in spite of its not entirely flattering portrait.

Hickenlooper doesn’t think the interest in these two projects, or the success of a book like Julie Salomon’s “The Devil’s Candy,” shows an untoward public trend toward Hollywood voyeurism.

“I think audiences have always been voyeuristic, going all the way back to Socrates, about the lines between life and drama. . . . But I also think it’s by default that audiences are tired of this saturation of promotional marketing press kits where behind-the-scenes reality is really a guise for selling the movie. So when people see honesty, it’s refreshing.”

Hickenlooper, for his part, is honestly ambitious. His first fiction feature, due to start this summer, is a low-budget thriller set amid the Civil War titled “Gray Night.” After that, he says, will come the infamous Welles script, a character study of a Democratic politician whose personal life may cause professional ruin.

“Unlike what the Pauline Kael school says, Orson Welles was a brilliant writer and this’ll be a real chance to show that, by treating his script like you would treat any great piece of literature,” he says. “None of the big-name directors want to take a chance on it because I think the name Welles is intimidating to somebody who’s already got an established career. (Producer) Barry Spiking told me, ‘This film will either make your career or ruin it.’ I told him I was willing to take that risk.”