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From their feature film debut with the exquisite India-set drama “The Householder” in 1963 to their final collaboration on 2005’s sumptuous historical epic “The White Countess,” director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant were cinema’s most reliable director-producer team, a couple (in both work and life) responsible for a filmmaking streak that consisted of dozens of great movies and no bad or indifferent ones. Noteworthy for their supreme attention to visual detail, highly literate screenplays (often written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala), and flawlessly cast ensembles, the films of Merchant Ivory Productions were near-annual gifts that were often undervalued; unlike less prolific auteurs like Stanley Kubrick, Ivory never made us wait for his movies, which made it easier to take them for granted.

Not that Merchant Ivory Productions lacked box office success or acclaim in their time; “A Room with a View” (1985) was a bona fide smash that won three Academy...

James Ivory has made so many films. And of the forty-plus he’s made––nearly everything under the Merchant Ivory Productions banner––many are masterpieces. Truly, you could count on one hand the number of living filmmakers as accomplished as James Ivory. So what an honor, then, to speak with him and filmmaker Stephen Soucy about the new documentary Merchant Ivory (directed by Soucy) and the many films of Merchant Ivory. There’s talk of those famous Ismail Merchant crew meals, the film Ivory thinks is their best, the one unrealized project that Ivory wishes they had made, and giving performance notes to Paul Newman on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.

The Film Stage: Stephen, with the documentary, it’s fascinating to rewatch it and think about the breadth of work as a documentarian. What is the “in,” initially, for you? What is the movie or the question...