Flammable I, 1983, Terlingua, Texas

In preparation for his 1984 film Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders set out on a road trip through Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. The trip resulted in the photo series Written in the West, which was first exhibited in 1986 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. ‘It was another way of preparing for the film, a different kind of research that had less to do with locations than with the light in the west,’ says Wenders. Written Once is at Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, until 15 March

The Theatre, 1987, Texas

‘Although these photos were taken in connection with the film we made in that part of the country, they are quite independent of it. They were all made in locations where we did in fact shoot the film. But these large-format photos were my own personal, private way of preparing for it’

Harry Dean Stanton, 1984, New York

‘Once, I drove to a screening of Paris, Texas together with Harry Dean Stanton, in a limo that almost stretched over two blocks. Even in the middle of New York, Harry was still Travis sitting in the back of his brother’s car and travelling through the desert in silence’

Quiet Sleep, 1983, Mojave, California

‘I had never made a film in that landscape and was hoping that taking photographs would sharpen my understanding of the light and landscape, my sense of empathy with it’

Jim Jarmusch, Roberto Benigni, 1986, Montreal

‘Once, I was in Montreal, when Jim Jarmusch was showing Down By Law there. In my memory, it was raining when I took this picture of Jim, and I was sure he was holding an umbrella. But there was no umbrella in the photograph and certainly not on the negative. Instead, I discovered Roberto Benigni in the background’

Entire Family, Las Vegas, New Mexico

‘Very often, the ideas you have in advance about the colours in a film quickly begin to look tired. So my only aim in taking these photos was to improve my own capacity to react to colours; to become more open to colours; simply to get to know them better. I took a whole lot of photos purely for the colours, which was quite a new departure for me’

Elisha Cook Jr, 1979, San Francisco

‘In 1941, the actor Elisha Cook Jr had a supporting part in the movie The Maltese Falcon by John Houston, based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel by the same title. In my movie about Hammett’s life, Elisha played a cab driver’

When Martin Scorsese Had a Flat Tyre II, 1977

‘In the middle of the godforsaken Valley of the Gods, and after not seeing any other car for hours, we came upon a car parked by the side of the road. It was jacked up and a man’s legs were sticking out from under it. We stopped behind it to see if we could help. The woman standing by the troubled car turned out to be Isabella Rossellini, the man crawling out from under it was none other than Martin Scorsese’

Lounge Painting II, 1983, Gila Bend

‘[This is] the lounge in a little hotel, which had been closed down for a long time, where I saw all these incredible armchairs in all those colours. I tried to get in but it was all locked up. At last I found an old man who had the keys and he suspiciously let me in. The “surface” that interested me was the colours of the armchairs, four or five different colours. They were in a semicircle, which looked slightly theatrical in itself. You didn’t even feel that the characters were missing, because it was as if the armchairs were talking to each other’

John Lurie, 1986, Montreal

‘John Lurie, great actor and sax player, and obviously quite a kisser too’

Nicholas Ray, Dennis Hopper, 1978, Barstow

‘Once, together with Dennis Hopper, we drove from Los Angeles all the way up to Barstow in the middle of the Mojave Desert, to see Nick Ray. Miloš Forman was shooting the movie version of Hair, and Nick played the general in it, in spite of the cancer he had just been diagnosed with. Dennis knew Nick from a long time ago, when Nick had given him a small part in Rebel Without a Cause. Dennis had become best friends with James Dean. Later that night the conversation inevitably turned to James Dean and Nick proudly declared: “I taught him how to walk!”’