SUSAN BE ANTSY Balaban helps Sarandon get into her uptight character.

In 1987, eccentric billionaire Doris Duke hired closeted butler Bernard Lafferty, whose previous clients included Peggy Lee and Elizabeth Taylor. In the years that followed, the two grew so close that, when she died in 1993, Duke left Lafferty her fortune. Not much is known about the in-between, which is where Chicago-raised Bob Balaban comes in. Balaban, 62, has more than 75 acting credits, including roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Gosford Park and every Christopher Guest film. As the fourth feature he’s directed, HBO Films’ Bernard and Doris (Sat 9 at 7pm—starring Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes) scores Balaban his highest directing profile yet.

Time Out Chicago: Of all the stories out there, why Bernard and Doris?
Bob Balaban: I like odd things, that’s probably part of it. Basically, I liked the idea of making a movie about two damaged people who wandered into a kind of odd love affair. They’re both very damaged, both seemed to get something out of this relationship. It’s a very nontraditional love story.

TOC: The first thing I thought upon viewing was, Finally, a story about damaged rich people.
Bob Balaban: [Sarcastically] It’s as if it’s so easy and fun to have a lot of money. This is a fable—we don’t know much on great authority about what happened between the two of them. We invented the story about how their relationship came to be. No way are we claiming that this is what really happened. You don’t have to get permission to do something about dead people. If Bernard or Doris were alive, we wouldn’t have been able to make this kind of movie. We’d have felt an obligation to present something accurate, and there isn’t much to go on.

TOC: You’ve worked with countless directors. Did you glean anything from anyone in particular?
Bob Balaban: Certainly from Gosford Park, since I got to work with Robert Altman. Being around a great director, one of the things you quickly learn is that you can try to shoot like him, cast like him, but ultimately the single greatest thing you can say about him is, “He had the ability to direct great movies.” You really can’t learn from this. His unique personality finds its way into the movie at every level, not because he imposes it. Our favorite movies tend to be those viscerally inhabited by the director’s lives and personas.

TOC: What about those improvised Christopher Guest flicks?
Bob Balaban: Oh, I’ve loved doing those movies. One sense I got from them is that sometimes it’s good to do an extra take or two and leave the actors alone. There’s something to be said for sitting back and seeing what the actors come up with on their own.

TOC: You come from a long line of showbiz folks: Your family operated Balaban and Katz theaters in the 1920s, and your uncle went on to head Paramount. What attracted you to the industry?
Bob Balaban: I believe I was genetically [Pauses] predestined. [Laughs] I almost said “genetically doomed.” I take that back.

Bernard and Doris pair up Saturday 9 at 7pm on HBO.