TORONTO—Peter Raymont had already been involved in the making of several films about high-profile men and women when he set out to make a movie about pianist Glenn Gould. There was a difference, though: previous subjects like Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Canadian politician Flora MacDonald, formerly exiled South American playwright Ariel Dorfman, and controversial Canadian general Roméo Dallaire were alive when those movies were being made and would have had the opportunity to voice their disapproval. Gould died in 1982.

Raymont says in a Toronto hotel room that he was very concerned about the reactions of the many people who consider Gould to have been a part of their lives. (Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould can be seen at special presentations at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas tonight [February 4] and on Monday [February 8].)

“I think it is just the same to make a film about someone who is dead,” he says. “In fact, in some ways this was an even greater responsibility because he was such an icon and people have such clear memories of him. You may have to win the trust of living subjects like Ariel Dorfman or Gen. Dallaire, but all the people who spoke to us for this film said things about Gould that they have never said before. We assured them that we would shoot them respectfully and responsibly, and we had to follow through on that. And there are also people who protect the Gould legacy through the Glenn Gould Estate and Glenn Gould Foundation. So it was very daunting to make a film about him.”

Gould’s story has been told before, in such documentaries as Glenn Gould and Glenn Gould: Off the Record and the Genie-winning drama Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, but Raymont and codirector Michí¨le Hozer had information that was missing from the other films. In 2007, they read a story in the Toronto Star about a woman named Cornelia Foss. She told the paper that she and her two young children had left her husband, pianist and composer Lukas Foss, for several years to live near Gould, her lover, in Toronto. She eventually went back to Foss, but she told the Star and the filmmakers that it was a life-altering episode.

“I wouldn’t have considered taking on a film about him, because there had been so many good ones, had it not been for this new information,” Raymont says. “The film itself is a real exploration about his philosophies and his ideas and his musical sensibilities. But we were fascinated by this relationship. So I went to see Cornelia and she introduced me to Lukas, who was not well at the time. She said, ”˜Lukas, here is this nice young man from Canada who has come to interview me about Glenn.’ I thought that was a bit strange. It didn’t seem that there were any secrets or problems. Everything was out in the open.”

Raymont says he prefers things to be out in the open in his documentaries. He says he has never wanted to hide anything and admits that the only time he encountered an objection from a subject was when he tried to make him look good. “I think it is really important to reveal critical or negative things about someone’s personality as well as celebrating the positive stuff because you appreciate them more. Gould was a human being with foibles and fears. We did not want to do hagiography. I remember [former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations] Stephen Lewis phoning me regularly while I was working on the Dallaire film [Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire] and saying, ”˜Remember that Roméo Dallaire is a saint.’ But when I showed Dallaire the rough cut, he felt there were parts where it appeared that might be true, and he said, ”˜This is ridiculous.’ So I cut them out.”