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  • Trailer Park: Darren Aronofsky Part 2

    By Christopher Stipp

    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    You’ve just to meet the twins.

    The Massie Twins are perhaps the best thing in the world to happen at interview sessions when you find yourself cursing your lot at not having access to a 1:1 with a true visionary. These guys, genuine twins, are perhaps the nicest, kindest, honest to a fault interviewers that I wish were at every interview situation. The talent that sees them just fall over themselves as they look at these grown men who dress and look alike. Myself, I do want to throw the yellow foul flag in that these guys like to think that since there’s two of them that in a roundtable situation they get 2 questions when everyone else their 1 but I’m quibbling and this was a chance to talk to Darren Aronofsky after all.

    When I had the chance to say hey once more to the guy who genuinely mixes enthusiasm for his job and a jaunty introspection in the way he speaks I could not pass it up. Darren is kind of person who is more interested in knowing what you thought about what he made than he is to tell you about it. When he rolled in with his tall tea, working a small packet of honey into his drink and then working his way though an orange, there is just no way you would guess by his humble persona that here is a man who has brought the world a film that is being mentioned in the same breath as other Oscar worthy productions; he defies the stereotype that you have to be a thick willed fist thumper to be great.

    Darren is great simply for spending time with some schlubs to chitter chatter about THE WRESTLER. I know a lot could be made of all the different people I am able to talk to but getting time with this guy simply trumps 99% of everything else I am able to do throughout the year. My inner nerd was satiated thoroughly for weeks after.

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: I have been reading the interviews that after The Fountain you wanted to get back to basics. You just wanted to work with actors again. How does this experience, obviously they are two different movies, compare to The Fountain?

    ARONOFSKY: Well, ultimately it’s all very similar, the work. You have a very limited amount of time, amount of money. It doesn’t matter the scale of the film. You end up doing very similar stuff. There is just different challenges specific to the projects. This was the Mickey Rourke challenge for this film. Otherwise it was very similar but it’s amazing how quick it goes when you don’t have to do special effects. We finished shooting in March, so it’s been 6 months from the time we finished shooting that we were at the Venice Film Festival. So, that’s great. It was a lot of fun. I kind of admire Woody Allen for just being able to clock them out one a year.

    QUESTION: How do you go about choosing your next project? How did you go from The Fountain to this?

    ARONOFSKY: Well I was just looking for an actor’s piece. I looked at everything we had in development and this seemed like one of the strongest contenders as far as that. You never really know. When people ask me what’s next, I never really know. Until I have a script that’s like, “OK, I’m confident enough to jump in.”

    But I was looking for something that was an actor’s piece and I was kind of nervous about the wrestling elements because they were action and they would take their time because all I really wanted to do was like two actors in a room talking and see what I could do with that. But it seemed like the best thing I had ahead of me. Everyone else thought I was out of my mind. “What are you doing? A wresting picture with Mickey Rourke? Are you out of your mind? ”

    Now, in retrospect, the Mickey Rourke in the part makes sense but back then, no one wanted to support it.

    QUESTION: When you first got into it, Mickey Rourke was already attached to it?

    ARONOFSKY: I brought Mickey Rourke into it. I had an idea that when I graduated from film school in ’94 or ’95, I sat down and made a list of possible ideas for films. And the Wrestler was on that list. I can’t imagine the exact thought process but I think it came out of the idea that no one had done that world in a serious way. But then in about ’02, when The Fountain fell apart the first time, before I put it back together, I got together with this producer Scott Franklin who had been a producer on my first two films, together we started to work out story ideas and do some research and I chose him to produce it because he was a wrestling fan, more than me. So together we started to develop some stories and then about ’04 or ’05, we found Rob Siegel who was the editor of The Onion for 7 years and then he just seemed right for the material and that was about the same time the light bulb for Mickey Rourke went off.

    CS: Building on that, the light bulb for Mickey Rourke, and now it looks like a master stroke, one thing I noticed watching the movie is that I didn’t know where The Ram stopped and Mickey Rourke started.

    ARONOFSKY: Sure.

    CS: And everyone is talking about that part at the end when he talks about redemption.

    ARONOFSKY: You thought that moment worked?

    CS: I choked up myself.

    ARONOFSKY: Did you? During his speech?

    CS: During his speech. Like writers say, you have to earn it, you have to earn that moment. And not only did you earn it but I think Mickey earned it.

    ARONOFSKY: Well, Mickey ended up rewriting that to make it more personal. What happened, was me and Rob, the writer, went to this one match out in Long Island and this young wrester who was part of the Hart family which is a kind of a big famous wrestling dynasty, got up there and made this speech about very personal, a little too personal and I looked at Rob and we said, “Yeah, The Ram has got to make a speech at the end.”

    Rob wrote a speech at the end that was great but about 2 days before Mickey said, “I think I have some ideas for that, mind if I work on that?” We said “No, go ahead” and came in the day of and showed it to me and I said, “Do you really want to say this?” Because I knew what he was doing but we never talked about it. Never talked about the connection between the character and Mickey. It’s not really my business. Now we are very good friends and I talk to him about everything. But back then, our relationship was young. So he said “Yeah, I want to give it a shot” and basically we had 2 takes on it because there was a crowd of 2500 ““ 3000 people and the first take didn’t go too well.

    Then I talked to the crowd what the moment meant and the second take was that take.

    That take is all the way from him walking out of the curtain, going around the ring, and then he enters the ring, there was a second camera in the ring, and then that first camera ran around and up a ladder to shoot Marisa for that closeup while that second camera continued as he went and did the whole speech. So all of Marisa’s close-ups and Mickey’s speech happened at the same time. So, it was pretty cool and a lot of fun.

    QUESTION: How about Marisa and the rest of the cast? What was the casting process like?

    ARONOFSKY: Mickey was the first step. I didn’t really want to cast the daughter until we knew it was Mickey for sure, so once we figured out how to make the film with Mickey, Evan Rachel Wood seemed like a good option because I thought they had a similar round face and the lips were similar and I thought it was passable. It’s always hard when you cast two famous people as say, father/daughter or siblings, always a tricky thing. That worked out and then it was a very hard role to cast the stripper because every actor knows that within a few months of the release of the film those images are going to be on the internet forever and that’s part of the deal.

    But, I was just very clear that we are doing a very realistic film so the nudity had to be real. I about peeve when you see a couple waking up after having sex in a movie and they are trying to hold on to sheets so their privates don’t show. It’s just so unreal and pulls you out but this film was just so important that they are artist with their bodies and have to show their bodies. It’s all about that. So I put that out there and Marisa was a very early choice because I think her complexity is rarely tapped. She’s often playing very cutesy but I could tell she had a lot of depth. She brought a lot of life to a role that could have very easily been a cliché.

    QUESTION: So were you a fan of the whole independent wrestling circuit before this?

    ARONOFSKY: No. Not a fan now. I wouldn’t go back to a match ever.

    QUESTION: Before this did you go to a bunch of different matches?

    ARONOFSKY: We did a ton of research and went all over the place. Long two/three hour drives to go to places where sometimes there would be more wrestlers than there would be fans. We went to one autograph signing that totally inspired the autograph signing in our film where there were all these legends from Jimmy Snuka to Ricky Johnson, the Rock’s uncle, Captain Lou Albano was there, Iron Sheik was there, Nikoli Volkoff was there, it was a huge, great legends there. It was so sad for these legends. So sad.

    QUESTION: Where did the staple gun come from? Did you see that?

    ARONOFSKY: Oh yeah. Much worse. Necro Butcher is this kind of underground cult American hero. He is the marquee, top billing draw to a lot of these events. When he comes out the crowd goes crazy because they know they are going to get their blood. It’s a funny story actually. We were casting all day and it was tough. We cast in my office. My office ended up smelling like Ben Gay for weeks afterwards. And these guys would come in and I wanted to see their gimmicks. That’s what they called their costumes. Their costumes are their gimmicks. So they would slather themselves with Ben Gay. It was a long day and a lot of them were terrible actors, some were OK.

    Necro Butcher lives out in Pittsburgh, doesn’t have a cell phone and just drives everywhere. Pittsburgh to Manhattan is probably about 12 hours so no one had heard from him, called his girlfriend, she was nervous because he hadn’t checked in. I was leaving and I got on the train and my phone doesn’t usually work on there but the phone rings and they said Necro Butcher just showed up. And he’s like the only guy on the planet, except for maybe George Clooney, who could have shown up in my office that I would have gone back because I was so exhausted I just wanted to go home. So I got out, went back and he was the sweetest guy in the world. He’s a military guy so everything is yes sir, no sir, thank you sir. When he read the script he said thank you for making a movie about my life sir, it means so much to me sir and then”¦ he’s this sick mother fucker. The guy in the hardcore match. He’s a great guy. That scene when they talk about the staple gun, that was just improvised. I said “Have a conversation, tell him where you’re from, tell him about the match” and they just came up with the lines themselves and that’s what happened.

    CS: The music. Two things about the shift from your previous films ““ you went through a very long, long stretch in the beginning of that film and you just don’t hear anything. What was Clint’s job when he said, “What do I have to do with this?”

    ARONOFSKY: We almost went without a score with this one. The film ultimately didn’t need one but because whenever we stuck score music in it kind of made the emotion of the scene collapse. I think just because there was such a tender line and so naturalistic that if you stuck something unnatural like a score, it really hurt.

    So it was a very slim score but probably the hardest score he’s ever done according to himself. And I think the reason for that is because it just had to be atmospheric. It had to just kind of create the mood but not add to the emotional content of the actors. So, that’s what the score is doing. When we started to hear guitars that’s when we came up with the idea for Slash so he came in the recording. He’s a great guy. Really sweet guy. Not your typical rock star.

    And then the Bruce song was all because of Mickey. Mickey wrote him a letter and they are old friends and ended up doing it for free just to support the film. And to support Mickey really.

    THE MASSIE TWINS: You refer to your films”¦

    ARONOFSKY: Do you guys really wear the same shirts?

    (Laughs)

    THE MASSIE TWINS: It’s for a picture with you afterwards.

    ARONOFSKY: Oh, OK. You don’t do that everyday? That would be really upsetting.

    (Laughs)

    ARONOFSKY: One of you has got to get Lasik and screw with the other one.

    QUESTION: You refer to your films as wild style. How would you refer the Wrestler?

    ARONOFSKY: Wild style has definitely taken a trip away so I don’t know. I think, if I was going to use a hip-hop term because I used a hip-hop term back then, it would be something like, it’s more of a tag. Do you know what that is? It’s just very street style. I call it pro-active documentary style because I wanted to do a documentary style because I’m a verite but because I knew somewhat what the actors were going to do and what the plot was you can lead them a bit or be ahead of them a tiny bit or really work with them almost like dancing with them. We knew what they were going to do so we were with them. If something different happened, we were able to adjust as well because there was a human operator holding the camera. That’s why it’s a proactive documentary style.

    QUESTION: Online it shows that you are going to be associated with the Robocop remake. Any truth to that at all?

    ARONOFSKY: Well, we’re working on a script. It’s just a development deal but we have a long way to go. We have a great writer and we’ll see what happens.

    QUESTION: Do you use the internet for feedback? Do you Google yourself and see what people are saying?

    ARONOFSKY: Not too much. I look at some of the film blogs just so I know what’s happening in the film business. Like Slash Film, Hollywood Elsewhere. There are a few sites I’ll check once a day just to see what’s the latest news is. But I think it’s bad to read your reviews because that’s not what it’s about. It’s about making stuff and then moving on and keep making stuff and you’ve wasted time looking at stuff.

    CS: I read an interview with Mickey Rourke when you approached him to do it. It was basically a Come to Jesus meeting of you telling him what you expected out of him. Can you explain the process of convincing the people who had the purse strings that he was the person you wanted and then to Mickey telling him, “There’s a lot on the line right now…”

    ARONOFSKY: First I went to Mickey because I knew it would be difficult to raise the money for Mickey but I first wanted to be sure that if I wanted to do the hard work of trying to find money to finance a film that he would show up and want to do it and wanted to get back to work. And once I got that kind of understanding with him, it was really hard to find the money. It took us about two years to finance the film and every single financier in the business said no.

    Every single financier in the business said no. Everyone.

    We went to all kinds of different types of financing ““ studios passed. Everyone passed. Independent. International. Except for one French company that was offering way too little money to make it but they at least were supporting us with full creative freedom. So we figured out how to make it for 6 million dollars and we did it.

    QUESTION: You have incredible detail for the visual elements, how was your dynamic with your cinematographer?

    ARONOFSKY: She was great. It was the first time I worked with Maryse Alberti. The whole crew was an improvement. I wanted to do something very different and reinvent myself. I’ve joked that if Madonna taught us anything, it’s that you need to reinvent yourself and I think that’s true as a creative person, you have to just keep mixing it up and changing and moving forward. So, Maryse was an interesting candidate because, not only has she done some great features like Happiness and Velvet Goldmine back in the day but then she ended up doing a lot of documentaries like Crumb and Enron and Taxi to the Dark Side. She had exactly what I needed, had a film background plus documentary. Once I heard about her I was very intrigued. We talked on the phone and got along pretty well. She’s a spunky French girl and she was just great. Basically I only had to wait 5 minutes, the longest time I had to wait. She would just go in, light it, no baloney and we would shoot.

    QUESTION: Do you have any plans on doing cameos in your films?

    ARONOFSKY: I used to back in the day but it’s too stressful and there’s enough people who do it. I’ll just stay behind the camera. I’m not really actor.

    CS: When you were writing this script and coming off The Fountain where your head was at after it got the reception that it did, how did you know that The Wrestler was going to be the one? The only reason I’m asking this question is that I’ve read about you wanting to make a tent pole, that you have the ambition that you could. It’s not that you want to be an independent guy for the rest of your life. This is a $6 million dollar picture and not a tent pole, was there any impetus for wanting to go the tent pole route or get back to basics with this?

    ARONOFSKY: It wasn’t about that. There was no tent pole that was that interesting which is probably going to be the case for a long time. This was the most interesting project in front of me. For me, The Fountain was the exact film I wanted to make and it’s got a great split of people who hate it and people who love it and I think the people who love it are starting to win as time goes by and I think choosing The Wrestler really was not a reaction to anything about The Fountain except that the first three films was the same filmmaking team, the same producer, the same dp, the same production designer, the same editor and it kind of just was the end of an era and I was a dad and just wanted to do something different. I looked for the most radically different thing I could do and it just seemed like it, and it was. It didn’t fit into anything I had done and I liked that idea of breaking out of molds.

    QUESTION: Did you see the film with an audience?

    ARONOFSKY: Yes, at festivals.

    QUESTION: What did you think about the reactions? There are some parts where people were laughing and they were comedic at a superficial level but if you really thought about it they were really tragic. Did you notice that?

    ARONOFSKY: Yes. I love that there’s humor. And yes, they are laughing at things that are really kind of tragic but it’s meant to be funny. That’s part of what Mickey brought to the table. It’s OK to laugh at him sometimes and it’s OK to laugh with him and he’s laughing a lot and even in sadness there’s a lot of humor. But even that deli scene, it’s a really sad scene that this guy’s been reduced to this level but you just kind of root for him deep down. I think it means they are connected with him. You are never really laughing at The Ram in a way that he wouldn’t be OK with.

    QUESTION: Building on that, how was it at Venice and getting the Golden Lion?

    ARONOFSKY: To be honest we finished the film two days before. And about two weeks before we were thinking about pulling out. Not because we weren’t going to finish but because I wasn’t sure the Venice crowd would go for it. It’s a small film and they like literary efforts it seems like. Everyone dreams about winning a gold medal but to be honest, I never, ever dreamt that the Golden Lion would be possible. I didn’t even fantasize about it. I just thought “OK, we’ll go, and hopefully survive and get some good notices internationally and maybe might get recognized” because I knew that Mickey was doing some good work but it was a complete surprise.

    I remember the first thing that happened was that we went out to lunch after the judges had seen the film and we were at lunch with one of the distributors and she got a phone call and she said the jury really liked it. So I thought, that’s cool. I still never put it together of what that meant because she kind of slipped it. But then we had a press conference and the press gave us a standing ovation which is something I’ve never seen. The press is usually jaded.

    (Laughs)

    At the film festival we were the last movie, the last film of the festival and usually the last film of the festival is the crappiest film because it’s the worst lot because everyone has left by that point. The sexy part is the first weekend and we were the final, 10th day or 12th day, the last film. So half the audience stood up and I’m like “OK, that’s weird” because the press was very friendly which in Venice they can be really tough and after our public screening, which was great, the audience really liked it. They didn’t really laugh at the humor which concerned me but I think the humor was very American and subtle in a lot of ways.

    The head of the jury pulled us into his office and popped some champagne and said you guys are going to have to stay. I said, what do you mean I’m going to have to stay? We have to go to Toronto to sell the movie. And he said, no you have to stay. So I said, do I have to stay or does Mickey have to stay? He said, no you both have to stay. So I said, do we sorta have to stay or do we really have to stay? I mean, how much? And so it was just wild. Way beyond our expectations.

    Wednesday we finished the film, Thursday we got to Venice, Friday we screened, Saturday we won The Golden Lion and Sunday we woke up at 5:00 AM, flew to Toronto, got there at 3:00 PM, screened it at 6:00 PM and sold it at 5:00 AM in the morning to Fox Searchlight. So it was really like in 6 days it was one of those things. It all seems surreal but it was a good time.

  • Trailer Park: Darren Aronofsky Interview – Part 1

    By Christopher Stipp

    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    While you’re at it, follow me over at Twitter! You can find me here at: Twitter.com/Stipp I’m not sure what I’m doing, I’m not positive I’ve gotten down what a “hash tag” is but I do know I haven’t asked anyone to get off my virtual lawn.

    Darren Aronofsky got jailed in East Germany. I had no clue. The arrest and the subsequent punishment made the press day all that more hilarious…From hiking mountains, his honest view of The Matrix and the latest Star Wars entries, what got Marisa Tomei in tip top shape to play a stripper, why we re-named a mountain because of its derogatory implications, why he’s angry about the digital releases of his films and oodles of completely useless but fascinating information.

    This is going to be a funky 2 part interview. I’m actually reversing things. Usually you would get the proper interview and the outtakes but I’m flipping it here because I feel like it. What’s contained in this thing was just too good not to run first. You’ll get the straight laced interview next week so I hope you dig this.

    What follows is, genuinely, a lunch with Darren Aronofsky. I talked to the guy, along with some other journos, during the Phoenix press day for THE WRESTLER. The interview was odd, and I’ll get into this later, in that it was just me and one more film site and then another guy who accidentally showed up late with about 5 minutes left in the interview. The situation was absolutely bizarre in that to further increase the oddity factor this interview was not held in some hotel room, it was in a vacated condominium. After I was about to leave the hotel where the interview took place, and I could have had the opportunity to talk to Marisa Tomei with the other guys, but I didn’t and don’t belong to the Phoenix Film Critics Society and was, therefore, denied entry into the interview room.

    Lord knows I would never be part of club that would have me as a member but considering that of the whole city of Phoenix you had 2 outlets representing the entire metropolitan area it didn’t make sense that my conditional membership would have prevented me from asking a few questions. Believe me, there were no sour grapes at all as I am comfortably numb to just go with the flow. One of the solid PR reps who has been an absolute godsend in my tenure here in the Phoenix area – he was the very first guy who helped me get Darren the last time he came through town for THE FOUNTAIN – suggested I walk across the hall to another abandoned condo that was being set up for what was a Meet and Greet luncheon with both Darren and Marisa. The spread was phenomenal. Meats and cheeses of all different varieties. Fruit and veggies and breads of various kinds. Now, while Darren eventually saddled up close to me at the one of two tables for the event (I believe there was only about a dozen or so people who were invited to this mid-day hootenanny) I decided to click on my recorder and capture some real interesting tidbits about THE WRESTLER and when we can expect a better version of PI on DVD.

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Was the deli scene improvised or was it all scripted?

    DARREN ARONOFSKY: It was 50/50. A lot of it was improvised. We couldn’t close the deli in the supermarket, people were coming by and ordering stuff, and I said, “Mickey, go serve them,” and he just said, “Do you mind if we shoot you?” People couldn’t really recognize him, he couldn’t really be famous, his hair was up. It was hard to recognize him.

    CS: Was the potato salad lady real?

    ARONOFSKY: A little more, a little less? She was a real actress. The woman who ordered the fried chicken was fake, half of them were fake. And at one point the manager of the deli came over to me and said, “Can you ask Mickey to improve his handwriting? ” And I said, “What are you talking about?” I guess people were really buying the meat!

    He was scribbling nonsense. Between takes he’s not sterile…he’s wiping his nose….

    (Laughs)

    QUESTION: The character reminds me in some odd way of Charlize Theron’s MONSTER. He’s not the kind of person that you would associate with, and you would almost avoid him, but he has so much heart, so much humanity that you are just pulling for him all the way. And I felt like, Marisa’s character, I didn’t want him to go in that ring, I wanted him to go with her. And of course I loved that you just leave it up to our imagination what happened there. You just root for him all the way.

    ARONOFSKY: Thank you so much. I’m glad. It’s kind of the magic of cinema. I’ve been watching My Neighbor Totoro, the Miyazaki film, with my 2 ½ year old and we watch it over and over again and that’s about a 7 year old Japanese animated film and that’s the beauty of film is that you can connect with Randy the Ram or a 7 year old animated Japanese girl and it’s just humanness.

    QUESTION: I was talking to Marisa, she mentioned that one of her favorite scenes was shopping for the clothes, and I said it was nerve wracking when he pulls out that sweater and I’m thinking, “You made the wrong decision.” And then here’s the second package and she said originally that there may have only been the one gift.

    ARONOFSKY: Yeah, the pea coat evolved because we realized that it was just too ridiculous just like that. It made sense because it made him more thankful to Marisa’s character and she kind of saved him as well. The script evolved a lot. There must have been 25-30 drafts. I tortured the writer. Normally I torture myself so it was really nice to have someone else do the heavy lifting.

    (Marisa Tomei enters the luncheon)

    Hello Marisa. Everybody this is Marisa.

    MARISA TOMEI: Hello everybody.

    (Applause)

    [Ed. note – I have no idea why people felt compelled to clap. I kept eating my hummus and pita.]

    SOME RANDOM A-HOLE: You look beautiful.

    [Ed. note – I have no idea what sycophant tossed this out there but they obviously had grand illusions of possibly scoring with her at the hot artichoke dip table]

    ARONOFSKY: Tell them your secret.

    TOMEI: Hula hoops.

    (Laughs)

    ARONOFSKY: Yeah, she had the hula hoop everywhere.

    QUESTION: How often do you hula hoop?

    TOMEI: I do do it everyday.

    QUESTION: How long to you do it?

    TOMEI: The longer you do it, the better. Less than an hour.

    ARONOFSKY: Would you drop it after an hour?

    TOMEI: I won’t do it longer than an hour anyway.

    QUESTION: You are a tough interviewer.

    [Ed. note – No, this person was not being ironic.]

    ARONOFSKY: She talks about it all the time and I never really asked.

    TOMEI: I try to get people into it. I gave a lot of people hoops for Christmas last year.

    QUESTION: Did you take a lot of dancing classes, especially with the pole work?

    TOMEI: I took pole classes. The pole is different than stripping. It’s more athletic, more like gymnastics. Like doing the uneven bars. I was always a balancing, floor work kind of girl. When I was young I went to tap school and jazz school and I do have a natural flexibility. I tried to use the assets that I had and then learned more skills. It’s very hard.

    He has a new found respect for wrestlers and I have a new found respect for strippers. It really is not easy.

    QUESTION: What attracted you to the role?

    TOMEI: Part of it was that. I wanted to do that. I wanted to work on this film.

    QUESTION: It was moving and I was really touched.

    [Ed. note – Can you see what I am up against here?]

    TOMEI: Women like it better than the men ““ at least my character. They really have a reaction.

    QUESTION TO ARONOFSKY: When did you finish the movie?

    ARONOFSKY: We finished filming in March. It was really quick work. We started filming in late January or early February. It took a long time to get the money ““ about two years. And during that time we kept working on the script.

    QUESTION: How’s Noah’s Ark?

    ARONOFSKY: Working on it. We’re doing a graphic novel of it. That will probably come out first probably. We’ve been interviewing a bunch of people and negotiating because we don’t know where we’re going to get the money for it.

    QUESTION: The guy who did The Fountain graphic novel is doing the story board for the Jodorowsky film, King Shot I believe it is?

    ARONOFSKY: Kent Williams? Really? So Jodorowsky is working now?

    QUESTION: Yeah, he’s working with Marilyn Manson and Nick Nolte in King Shot.

    ARONOFSKY: Have they started shooting?

    QUESTION: I think they were scheduled to start.

    ARONOFSKY: That’s wild. What’s the premise?

    QUESTION: It’s set in the desert and there is a casino which is the head of Christ, beard, everything. Marilyn Manson is going to be the pope.

    ARONOFSKY: Geez. So it’s buried up to here? Up to here? And the top is Christ’s head.

    QUESTION: Yeah, casino slash bar or whatever.

    ARONOFSKY: And some drama unfolds inside.

    Good for him. I met him at a film festival in Spain at a sci-fi fantasy film fest and he came to a screening of The Fountain and he was great.

    QUESTION: Have you read his comics?

    ARONOFSKY: A bit. But don’t really care for them too much. I like his films but his comics go too far I think. I think it’s good that he has limitations. But, he’s getting rediscovered now. His DVD boxed set. So, it’s pretty cool.

    QUESTION: Where’s the Aronofsky boxed set?

    ARONOFSKY: We’ll see.

    CS: Do you have any involvement in that at all?

    ARONOFSKY: A little bit. They did do a Pi / Requiem boxed set but I was pissed off.

    CS: You didn’t like that one?

    ARONOFSKY: No, because what happened is that I called them up and said it was the 10th anniversary of Pi. “We should do a 5.1 mix for it,” I said. We did it old school with a stereo mix. I think it might have surrounds but it’s not 5.1. My crew wanted to go in for free and just wanted to update it and they said, “Why don’t we just put out a box set?” I said, “No, I don’t want to put out a box set. I want to do a re-mix of Pi.” But they wouldn’t do it.

    The film comes back to me in 10 years. I sold it for 20 years. And at the time I remember they almost broke the deal. They said, “We’re not giving it back to you.” And I said, “Then I’m breaking the deal. I want it back.” And now it’s been 10 years. Amazing how time goes by. Maybe then I’ll do a 5.1 update.

    QUESTION: Any special edition for Requiem?

    ARONOFSKY: We got everything out on that DVD. It was a good DVD. There was so much on there ““ Easter Egg ““ we worked hard on that.

    CS: Not so much on The Fountain?

    ARONOFSKY: The Fountain? I was pissed off as shit, man. Whatever. It made less money internationally than Requiem did. Made less than Pi did. They just completely dumped it. If it doesn’t go for blockbuster they just”¦. I said, “Just do an art house release, you’ll get your money back. There’s enough people out there…” But they didn’t. When it went to DVD they just kind of dumped it and I didn’t give them any support.

    CS: The commentary track you did was a rare freebie.

    ARONOFSKY: That’s cool. It was one way of doing it. But at some point I’ll get enough power to put that out in the right way.

    (Laughs)

    It’s all about power.

    QUESTION: Is it out on Blue Ray yet?

    ARONOFSKY: It is out on Blu Ray. It looks OK and sounds OK. My sound guys still think it’s the best mix we ever did. So I think the sound mix is good.

    CS: Some filmmakers make their films, shooting material specifically for the DVD ““ this obviously was a low budget film. Did you do anything special?

    ARONOFSKY: For the Wrestler? Not really. There is going to be an hour long documentary which is going to be really great. I’ve already seen a trailer for it and it’s really cool. Same guy who did the documentary for The Fountain

    It’ll be a good one.

    CS: Commentary?

    ARONOFSKY: I don’t think so. I don’t think I have the energy to do it. Maybe if I can get Mickey to do it with me. We could just sit there and joke and smoke a couple cigars to get through it.

    CS: Do you have an aversion of seeing your films or are you just done with it?

    ARONOFSKY: I just think you shouldn’t go back there. You watch it so many times when you are finishing it because you have to go over it inch by inch and then when all the technical stuff you have to go over it and by the time you’re done you are so exhausted from it.

    CS: Why does Lucas keep going back to the well?

    ARONOFSKY: Howard the Duck.

    QUESTION: That was supposed to come out on DVD.

    ARONOFSKY: It’s not out on DVD?

    QUESTION: Not officially. But you can get it.

    ARONOFSKY: Those second pre-Star Wars sucked, didn’t they?

    CS: Yes.

    ARONOFSKY: Indiana Jones sucked.

    Question: But a lot of critics liked that one. They said it was right in the same vein as the other ones ““ and it was like, “No, it’s not. It’s terrible.”

    ARONOFSKY: I actually liked the aliens part of it ““ when the thing took off – I liked the ending but the action scene through the jungle and stretching of the jeeps and stuff…it was just terrible action.

    QUESTION: Cate Blanchett. She looked cool in the trailers.

    ARONOFSKY: She did look cool in the trailers.

    Question: I was waiting for the face melting off scene but then it was so stupid ““ just this blur of special effects ““ couldn’t even tell what was going on. What was funny that a lot of people don’t realize that early on she was supposed to have psychic powers and she goes to Harrison Ford “You’re a hard man to read” and then the rest of it was supposed to be about her powers.

    ARONOFSKY: She was supposed to have powers?

    QUESTION: Yeah, she was supposed to have psychic powers but couldn’t read Indiana Jones.

    ARONOFSKY: She quit. The other night I saw the 2nd or 3rd Matrix while I was surfing through the channels on TV. Oh man, that’s bad. I really kind of like them too but it doesn’t really hold up. There’s a scene in Zion…the costumes are terrible.

    The Massie Twins: The whole story falls apart because they tried to split it between two movies so then number 2 doesn’t make sense and number 3 doesn’t do a good job of resolving anything. It’s too abstract. Although I like the action in number 2. I liked the drunk.

    ARONOFSKY: I don’t remember the drunk. Oh yeah, the albino.

    The Massie Twins: Yeah, he dresses up for Halloween ““ we bought the official costumes from Matrix.com and had all the makeup.

    ARONOFSKY: Did you look good?

    The Massie Twins: Yeah, I thought we did.

    (Laughs)

    The Massie Twins: We were over on Mill Avenue and thousands and thousands of people gather there people were taking pictures. We took like 3rd place for the costumes. That was the best part about Matrix is the fact that they created those characters.

    ARONOFSKY: So, there you have it.

    (Laughs)

    CS: You mentioned you started out not knowing a whole lot about wrestlers.

    ARONOFSKY: Yeah.

    CS: On the other side when you saw that moment when The Ram was sitting at the table for a signing and you see a guy with a catheter and a lot of other broken men. Did you see a lot of that, guys all busted up?

    ARONOFSKY: We went to an autograph show that was just desperate. All these legends and nobody there. It was just desperate. The catheter and the urine bag was fictional but there was a guy in a wheelchair that we saw. Actually Lou Albano was there. I think I talked about that, but he looked terrible. I didn’t even recognize him, that’s how bad he looked. He had a lot of strokes and it was just sad, holding on to that glory.

    Can’t you wait to see what Paris Hilton will turn into?

    (Laughs)

    ARONOFSKY: It’s the reason I stay alive, just to watch her decay.

    (Laughs)

    CS: So how much longer are you on this tour?

    ARONOFSKY: I’m almost done. I’ve got two more cities. We’re going to go to San Francisco and Seattle. I’ve never done Russia so I want to go. My grandparents came from Russia and I’m very curious to see it.

    QUESTION: How many places have you been too before here?

    ARONOFSKY: Too many.

    Question: All over the U.S.?

    ARONOFSKY: Not really, just major cities. San Diego, Boston, D.C., Miami, Dallas.

    QUESTION: If they make you go all over the place they should make you go in a straight line.

    ARONOFSKY: Did Will Smith come through here for Seven Pounds? He seemed to be one city ahead of us. I think he’s doing St. Louis, Cleveland, he does tiny towns. I was talking to his people in Dallas, he comes with a private plane, 4 SUV’s, they got two giant tour buses that are wrapped with the poster and his face.

    (Laughs)

    It’s just like a circus. The fact that he does that at that level just shows you how hard a job it is. I guess he does it for every movie.

    QUESTION: What about Mickey? Did you try to get him to come on this thing?

    ARONOFSKY: I don’t think he could have handled the pace of it. He’s actually 57 years old or so ““ I don’t know how old he is, so don’t quote me on that, I don’t think he can handle it. I’m getting a day off tomorrow and I’m going to stay here. It was between here or going to San Fran. I know what San Fran looks like and I’m so glad I’m staying. I’m going to climb Camelback tomorrow. I’m very excited. And go to the Botanical Gardens, that’s my day.

    QUESTION: Take lots and lots of water.

    [Ed. Note – Keep reading this stream of consciousness. I have no idea who was talking but it’s quite a bizarre, hilarious exchange.]

    ARONOFSKY: Even though it’s cold you have to just keep drinking, right?

    QUESTION: Yes. And Run from the bees.

    ARONOFSKY: What bees? What are you talking about?

    QUESTION: Swarms.

    ARONOFSKY: There are bee swarms?

    QUESTION: Along the mountains there are.

    ARONOFSKY: Really? Tell me more.

    [Ed. Note – Point, Aronofsky]

    QUESTION: Mountain lions, jack-a-lopes.

    ARONOFSKY: Any of you climb that thing?

    QUESTION: Yeah.

    ARONOFSKY: Is it hard?

    CS: No. It’s all relative. You are not running up the mountain.

    ARONOFSKY: Four hours, right?

    CS: No, not a chance. Unless you’re 80 and have a heart condition. Maybe 45 minutes. Depending on how fast you move. Are you taking a leisurely stroll?

    ARONOFSKY: Yeah.

    QUESTION: It’s tougher than Squaw Peak.

    ARONOFSKY: I’ve heard that. That’s been renamed right? Is that because it’s a racist term?

    QUESTION: That was part of why they wanted to rename it. There was just a real outcry that she be recognized, which was nice.

    ARONOFSKY: Who was she?

    QUESTION: Laurie Piestewa was the first Native American killed in combat. She was ambushed with Jessica Lynch.

    ARONOFSKY: Was that the first Iraq war or the second Iraq war?

    QUESTION: That was the second one.

    ARONOFSKY: Jessica Lynch was the second war? This war?

    QUESTION: Yeah, can you believe it?

    ARONOFSKY: When George W. was in office?

    QUESTION: Yeah.

    ARONOFSKY: That’s crazy. That feels like the first war. Really? That’s when we were all pro-war and she was a hero and everything.

    QUESTION: It would be nice to be living in a time when we didn’t have a war.

    ARONOFSKY: Yea. Well that’s these kids. When were you born? 80’s?

    The Massie Twins: ’84.

    ARONOFSKY: Right when the Cold War was winding down. You don’t even remember the Cold War do you? But you’ve heard about it, right?

    The Massie Twins: Yeah. Just what’s in the history books.

    ARONOFSKY: I got arrested in East Berlin.

    CS: Really?

    ARONOFSKY: For stealing an East German flag. I was there on May Day and there were flags everywhere and I told someone I was going to steal a flag. So I lowered a flag and stuffed it down my pants and I hear, “Passport!”

    And they took me to this East German jail. We had to be back across the border by 10:00 PM to get through Checkpoint Charlie. So I was in jail. They took away my shoelaces, took away my belt so I wouldn’t hang myself. It was a concrete room with just a little peephole.

    I was crying.

    I was 17-18 years old. I was just sobbing. And finally they came and said they would let me go if I just raised the flag. I said absolutely. I don’t care. I’ll raise your flag. So we go and me and the Australian kid raised the flag and he said what are you doing because we were raising it upside down.

    (Laughs)

    We walked across Checkpoint Charlie at 1:00 o’clock in the morning.

    Question: That’s amazing.

    ARONOFSKY: It’s a good story though.

  • Trailer Park: Scoot McNairy


    By Christopher Stipp

    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    This film is something you need to see before the year is out.

    IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS is everything you wish you could have in a date movie but without all the annoying treacle that usually accompanies films of this variety. The picture has a warm gooey heart that sucks you in right away with its premise that a man who wants nothing more than to be alone on New Year’s Eve has a good buddy of a roommate who convinces him to post a personal ad on Craig’s List and has it answered by a woman who will provide the spark he needs to get out of his funk. The journey is sweet, funny and is simply one of the best films of this variety that I was able to see all year. When I had the chance to chat with the film’s star, Scoot McNairy, I absolutely jumped at the opportunity as this was a film that rekindled that sense that you can make a movie about two people coming together without it being overly contrived or false.

    You can catch the movie on DVD December 23rd and could not be coming out at a better time.

    SCOOT MCNAIRY: Hi Christopher. Where are you?

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: I’m in Scottsdale, Arizona.

    MCNAIRY: Oh nice.

    STIPP: The dust bowl of the West.

    MCNAIRY: I’ve been to Phoenix and Tucson but never been to Scottsdale. Isn’t Scottsdale the prettiest of the three?

    CS: Yeah, it’s got the most, I think “life” would be the word for it.

    MCNAIRY: OK. Like most golf courses and what have you.

    CS: Right…Now, I have to say that I loved the film. Roger Ebert made some hints, not even so much of a hit but flat out says, that it feels like a Linklater homage in a way ““ instead of Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, we have you two.

    MCNAIRY: I heard he wrote a great review. I haven’t read it yet but someone read it about a week ago and was like, two thumbs up from Ebert. And I was like, “No way.” I think you are the first person to tell me that so I need to go online and look at that.

    CS: It’s very nice and I couldn’t agree more with everything he said about the film.

    MCNAIRY: Thank you so much.

    CS: Explain to me ““ this film has been playing in the UK before it ever came here. How did that work?

    MCNAIRY: Yeah. We got it over here in February and they decided to push it and when they did as the UK as well, we were going to go ahead and go with it and they cleared it with America and they really got behind it and put a whole bunch of money into marketing and advertising. We were nervous about it but it went over to the UK and was just floored at the response. So we were really excited so coming back to America, the US, we were excited about the success it had in the UK and thought, “Well the Europeans liked it so”¦hope the Americans do to.”

    CS: I think they see what I see which is a well made romantic sort of comedy, not so much comedy in the wackiness but it’s got heart behind it.

    MCNAIRY: Yeah, my hat goes off to Alex Holdridge. I just cannot give him enough kudos. The guy is the director of the film and he’s so smart. The film was thought out for two years before a word was written. We’ve know each other for ten years and I don’t have that kind of trust with any other director. I know this guy so well and think that everyone else involved in the film was so close which gave a really rare organic chemistry to the whole film. Also we let Alex do whatever he wanted with us.

    CS: And you were obviously helped…I read a little bit about Alex that he kind of got scooped in a way by SUPERBAD when it came out based on the content of this film.

    MCNAIRY: Yeah. My first movie made, called Wrong Number, ten years ago, was made when I was 19. I don’t speak too freely about it but the similarities from the two films are ironically very similar. So he came out four years after that to make that movie. I’ve been working with him for so long rewriting the script and he said, “Hey guys, there’s another movie out there like this.” He was so frustrated and I watched him go though it and decided to make another movie and this is the movie he’s been talking about for 2 years. Really, I just called up a friend, Robert Murphy, we used to hang out 10 years ago, he was a DP and just got a new camera and knew Alex was really upset. So Alex said, “Do you want to shoot something?” So Alex wrote the script in two weeks and Robert got on a plane, flew out here, and we thought we were shooting a short film. At one point Robert looked over and said, “What’s that?” He said, “That’s the script.” To which he said, “Oh, I thought we were shooting a short.” Alex said, “No, Robert, we’re shooting a feature.”

    (Laughs)

    So it was just a whole bunch of guys getting together who used to make films together on the streets of Boston for no money and we all got back together to make another film in our life and we had no idea it was going to get the legs that it got. Everyday has been a surprise for us the last two years.

    CS: Now, obviously, based on the UK reaction it has some legs. When you go into a project, what do you hope comes out at the other end ? You obviously hope and you wish that it’s huge, but going into it are you realizing the odds going in?

    MCNAIRY: Yes Obviously, you hope for the best with every script that you read. But not every script that you read turns out to be what you thought it was going to be and some of the ones you think aren’t going to be so great turn out to be great. Alex’s last two films got critics awards and gone to festivals and stuff so it was kinda like when he said he was making another movie, everyone just dropped what they were doing and hopped on-board this film.
    That and making movies is just so much fun.
    There’s just a freedom you don’t really get with other projects because the time constraints. We just sit around and work things out. It’s not like we gotta move, we gotta make our days, but we’re like, “If we don’t make our day, we’ll just come back here tomorrow.” So there’s so much freedom and everyone is so relaxed and there is no pressure to get this done because I’m wasting everyone’s time and what have you. Everyone is just there to sit down and hash it out and make it the best they can. So I think when Alex said he wanted to make this film, everyone said let’s do it. We know it’s going to turn out amazing with Alex. He will spend so much time with it and he does ““ he nurses it and nurses it in the editing room. Like I said, my hat is totally off for the quality and the intelligence of the project.

    CS: Regarding the physicality of making it, I was reading that you would have to reshoot many times because you were on such a low budget, and you were filming out in the open in the city, people would be coming into the scene, you were bumping people, you didn’t even have a Steadicam”¦

    MCNAIRY: Yes! That was the strangest part about it. It’s weird for any negative critic that said anything about it I want to turn to him and say, “Dude, we made a movie for $12,000. Lay off. Do you know how hard that is?” We were not perfect but it was such a huge feat. We had nothing so the fact that it got distribution ““ people were trying to size it up against Batman. Golly. Easy.

    CS: That’s an excellent question about what you learned about the filmmaking process. You are credited as a producer on this film. Going into it and when you have the finished product did you eyes open to this whole new world of distributorship?

    MCNAIRY: ABSOLUTELY. I learned so much. I produced other things like some trailers to music videos and some shorts but nothing that ever had to deal with the business aspect of it. This was a huge learning curve for me and through the entire journey anything that happened, like, “Let’s go to Tribeca…should we get a publicist?” I was like I want to get a publicist, I know we don’t have the money for it, let’s just find it and we’ll put the money up for it because at the end of it I want to know that this film failed, if it does fail, I want to know that we did everything right and the film failed because it wasn’t good.
    So going down the road I made a whole bunch of mistakes and put money in some places that I shouldn’t have and it was a huge learning curve but at the same time it was a learning curve that was only $12,000 vs. a learning curve on a film that was half a million to a million. So I’m really glad I learned all this stuff on this particular project but it was hard. Distribution stuff ““ a lot of letdown stuff ““ that was really hard to go through but after talking to a lot of people they said your film got distributed, it got a theatrical release, you should be very excited about that because a lot of films right now aren’t even getting that. So, the other things I wished I would have changed on this last one was more advertising and more marketing because we did a lot of it, grassroots, ourselves but I felt like we should have put in another $35,000 for commercial spots, newspaper ads, but other than that it was fun. When you aren’t expecting anything any good news you get turns out to be great but sometimes there were letdowns but people say that’s normal in distribution but for me I worked so closely on this film for two years. I spent my entire life and all my money and all my time on this film.

    CS: One of those things about the film, you just mentioned, black and white, any decision about why black and white vs. color?

    MCNAIRY: It was supposed to be in black and white because it was a film that was a throwback to old actors and old movies. The reason we shot down in the old theatre district was it was a kickback to the Vaggo era and how LA was booming in the 20’s and 30’s and how it’s been completely abandoned and has this modern feel to it ““ we’re texting and IMing and internet dating but we never mention the year the film was made so we wanted to give it this beautiful old feel and old vibe of the film that is timeless. We never mention the date of the film. So you would know this movie had to happen between 1995 and 2010. It wasn’t New Year’s Eve, 2007. So the black and white just painted it so you get the feel of it’s romantic, you are feeling the buildings around you but hearing the characters talk and the connection to each other let down their walls and in color, it kind of takes away from some of those distractions.

    CS: It does. It’s more intimate in a way because it doesn’t allow you to focus on anything else.

    MCNAIRY: When we did some of the screenings it was so odd. Only 50% of the audience were like “Why black and white?” And then the other half didn’t even realize it was in black and white until after it was over. They just weren’t even paying attention to that. So we really fought for it. We shot it in color but when we watched the dailies, no one every saw one frame of footage in color. We always just turned the color and the tint off so we could see what it was going to look like.

    CS: The film itself, is like you mentioned, the era’s in which you filmed, it’s kind of like a love letter to Los Angeles and for all its negativity that people throw upon it, was it hard? I know Alex was from Austin. Is there something really romantic about Los Angeles in general?

    MCNAIRY: It’s a love/hate relationship, I think that really comes from Alex. He never wanted to move to Los Angeles. When he finally did, most of the script is sort of autobiographical to his life. He really did roll his car on the way out here and so much stuff that happened in the film, happened to him. But it was love letter. He did have a negative attitude towards Los Angeles and over the two years that he was living here, all these negative things happening, he was able to find all these beautiful things about it. The movie was going to be called, “If LA Fell Into the Ocean, I Wouldn’t Care”.

    (Laughs)

    But I think it changed based on his views from being out here and it turned into, and I don’t know that he even realized, it turned into a love letter to Los Angeles. There is hope in this town and people are so cruel out here but that’s OK because there is hope out here and things aren’t that bad. You just have to adjust your thoughts. Look for the best and try to find good people you can actually connect with.

    CS: And you certainly do with Sara Simmonds. I know you two knew each other before filming. Obviously, that must have helped with the filming ““ making this a believable love story.

    MCNAIRY: Absolutely, everybody, actually, had worked together. The DP, the director, Me, Sara, Brian. Me and Brian are really close friends and that really did help. Sara, when I hadn’t even seen her or hung out with her in at least a year, when she came to work, I went and picked her up at her house that day she had just come in from Texas and then all these people thought we were really good together but it was just two friends not seeing each other for a long time and connecting again, on set, and talking together on set “Hey, what are you up to, how’s your boyfriend?”, “Oh, I broke up with him”, “What, no way.” While were shooting we’re catching up with each other. So I think you get to see the two of them get to know each other but also what’s going on behind the camera we are actually re-acquainting ourselves. It came off very, very organic and the chemistry was great.

    CS: It did. It recalibrated my own expectations for what a film like this should be. It seems that this film, and why the movie is getting wonderful reviews, is that this film feels more genuine than anything Matthew McConaughey or any of his ilk put out.

    MCNAIRY: Well, it’s definitely a more real take on it. I think everyone that was involved in the project has all gone through that. We all moved out to Los Angeles. My first year, I was the first one of the group to move here, that first year you have no friends, know nobody, I hung out with this homeless guy at the gas station just to get out of my apartment and we just didn’t know anybody. I always told people, if you are going to move to Los Angeles, your first year is hell. If you can just get past your first year, your second year is alright, the third year you are really starting to enjoy the city. So I think everyone had that common ground of what it’s like to be in LA the first year and I think cautiously we all wanted to tell that story. Some people asked me, “So, you moved out to LA, how is it? Yada yada yada.” And you don’t want to tell them it’s horrible as hell.

    (Laughs)

    You want to be like, “Oh, it’s great. It’s really amazing. You guys should move out here. Really, please, move out here.” So I think that’s where that came from. Everyone really, really identified with that idea.

    CS: I’ve also read that instead of finding your own work, you have become a producer so you can actually produce and work for your own. How did that evolve? I looked at your resume and you’ve done these things over numerous years, where did you come to the point where you said, “You know what, I have to make my own magic if I want this to happen?”

    MCNAIRY: I’ve always been like that since I was a kid. I remember asking people, “Hey will you do this…or…help me build this fort?” I just learned at a very young age if you want something done, do it yourself. And I’ve been like that since I was a little kid and I think it came down to after four or five years went by out here it kind of hit me why did I change from doing it myself when I moved here? Let me go back to the way I was. I had a landscaping business when I was a kid. I’ll just do it myself. So I guess this is the product of that and since then my manager and my old agent we all decided to start a production company and make movies. So my manger shut down his office and my agent left his agencies and rented offices and started this company with a group of friends and just started plowing through movies. Making two more next year.

    CS: I saw that. You are obviously keeping really busy.

    MCNAIRY: Yes, busy producing and acting. Now that KISSING has opened up some new doors and”¦

    CS: Speaking of which, you said the critical reception has been phenomenal and this is everyone dream to make a movie and have it as well received as this, have you noticed a flood of new material coming your way?

    MCNAIRY: Yeah, but people who have projects that I’ve known for a while are just now thinking of me for their projects vs. thinking of me as an actor. It was before the movie was released but DVD’s were floating all around this town and so I get random calls. One day, Josh Radnor from How I Met Your Mother called me on my cell phone and said “Hey, I just want you to know I was just at a screen of MIDNIGHT KISS and you are amazing, I think it’s great, I just wrote a film and I’m interested in you to play the part” and I get another call from some other person at some other production company saying, “Hey, just saw the film, it’s hilarious, we love you, would you take a look at this project?” So, if anything, I gained a little bit of respect. Not really respect but some hats off from the peers out here in the town that weren’t’ thinking of me for projects that are now thinking of me. I’m on people’s radar I would say. But at the same time, I still go back to the way I was before Midnight Kiss.’ I’m still going to be making movies and not think about that kind of stuff.’ Keep doing my own thing and doing it myself.

    CS: If I could I just want to ask you one more question.’ I read about your project that you are thinking about, how serious you are I’m not sure, but I think it was rather interesting, that you want to do a movie about the apocalypse?

    MCNAIRY: Yes! Roland Emmerich ““ I just found out two nights ago he’s making a movie called 2012 and I was like “Oh, it’s not Revelations” but it’s pretty much like I think the film I want to make and he’s making it for $200 million which is around the budget that I would want to do too.’ We’ll see when the thing comes out. Maybe it’s the same. Maybe it’s different. I really want to focus on the second coming of Christ and what happens ““ planes crashing, two people that didn’t get taken in the resurrection and are here on this earth, what happens afterwards. We’ll see. I want to make a movie that begins with the new world after that happens.

  • Trailer Park: David Furnish Interview

    By Christopher Stipp
    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    It’s just got to be tough when your husband is Elton John.

    His closet has just GOT to be bigger than yours, he’s just GOT to have an ego much larger than yours and he just HAS to be impossible to deal with. When David Furnish turned the camera on his then partner, Elton, for the documentary TANTRUMS AND TIARAS you just had to think that all this would be captured much to the chagrin on Elton when he saw the mirror looking back on him. The funny thing is, though, there is all of that but Elton seemed much more sanguine about the process which chronicled a piece of his life that debuted to the world almost a decade and a half.

    The movie, which starts out with a genuine tantrum about the process of getting Elton to make a music video (he hates them) and follows his opinions on flower arrangements (he doesn’t much care for them either) transforms into a love letter from one human being to another. Furnish is even-handed in his depiction of Elton as a tireless marketer of himself and his music but also as a man who is partially trapped by the small things in his past that has made him who he is. The film is slightly shocking when you see how much actual clothing he travels with while on holiday, how much space he needs to house his CD collection but we get an intimate look, and by intimate I mean an honest and truthful dissertation on how Elton sees himself, on the spectacle that is Elton John.

    The movie was recently released on DVD and is available everywhere. While, like I mentioned, the film is nearly a decade and a half old the small steps that Elton was then taking to make himself a better individual is heartwarming when you see how fast he could have been lost to the booze and drug fueled lifestyle he was on so many years ago.

    Want an indication of how much has changed? Long before it became fashionable to wear your red AIDS pins Elton founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation which, up until that point, had raised a few million dollars. To date, the work Elton has put into it has raised over $150 million to the cause of obliterating the disease. David Furnish had a few moments to spend with me a few weeks ago and we chatted about life now after the documentary.

    CS: David, nice to talk with you.

    FURNISH: And to talk to you as well.

    CS: I have seen the film.I’ve never seen the film until this weekend.

    FURNISH: Oh really?

    CS: And I didn’t know about it when it came out 13 years ago and found it a fascinating portrait of Elton and from the title I think I was expecting more tantrums than I got.I think it was a rather well rounded documentary and the only thing that was rattling around in my head the whole time is how do you look at it now, 13 years removed from it?

    FURNISH: It had a much more significant effect on our life and our relationship I think that either of us appreciated at the time.I look at it today and we’ve been together 15 years now and when I made the documentary it was very early on into our relationship and I was almost ““ kind of want to call it video therapy ““ I was using the camera ““ I was very much an outsider in Elton’s world and the world of celebrity and music touring and the lifestyle that goes with it and used the camera almost as a weapon in a way and gave me the chance to interrogate and really get to the bottom of things that seemed odd to me and the way Elton looked at his life.

    I’ll give you an example.I found it frustrating that we go away on a holiday and my idea of going away on a holiday in the south of France would be going for a ride in a boat, going to visit places, lying in the sun kind of stuff and Elton at that stage would tend to spend most of his time in his hotel suite not going anywhere and there’s that funny scene on the terrace where I sort of interrogate him and ask him would you do this, would you do that, and he says, no, no, no.He was different then.I was different then.I think the documentary helped us, to answer your question correctly, to see a lot of ourselves and each other from a relationship standpoint, but when I look at 13 years later I don’t think I could make a film like that about someone like Elton again because I think I’m too accustomed to that world now.I don’t think I’d bring that same level of objectivity that I brought 13 years ago.Does that make sense?

    CS: Yes it does.That was one of the more amusing parts, apart from his take on flower arrangements,

    FURNISH: (Laughs)

    CS: I thought it very curious that he wouldn’t like to sit out by the pool or go out on a walk with you or wouldn’t want to do any of those things on holiday.Where does that come from?

    FURNISH: It really comes from him being a prisoner of his celebrity more than anything else.It’s a dynamic that still exists in our relationship.There are all sorts of things we do do and we get better at.You find those places you can go and places he can slip in really easily and places like the south of France and having security with you is a must and holidays are a time of rest, relaxation, and recharging and we do lots and lots of different things we didn’t do back then but now I understand that world better and understand the vulnerabilities in public situations from time to time and how to manage it and we do manage it and I take a much more active role in all that sort of planning now.We do lots of stuff and it’s great.

    CS: I know there was some to do a few years ago about his spending ““ his excess spending and again it was that south of France moment when we saw the amount of wardrobe he brings with him. Has that curtailed at all in the wake of recent years?

    FURNISH: It all depends.We need to define excess spending.A lot of that stuff came out of a trial where people were trying to paint Elton as being a financially irresponsible person.Elton is not a financially irresponsible person at all.Actually when the figures came out and they said you spent a whole lot of money in a short period of time, what Elton did was spend it on property and on collecting art work. All art work which creates a beautiful environment in your home which inspires him and myself artistically and also pieces of art that have hugely increased in value and actually proved to be an investment, so in the end he’s actually quite prudent with his money.I wouldn’t call it irresponsible or excessive.At the end of the day he earns what he earns and works very, very hard for what he does and gives more back to charity.

    The Sunday Times publishes their annual rich list and Elton is always the top ten most charitable people in Britain.He gives the highest percentage of his net worth to charitable time and charitable activities.Much more than any of his contemporaries and he wouldn’t view it as excessive, and I wouldn’t either, it’s just Elton’s zest for life and the way he loves life and appreciates life and one thing when you are a celebrity of the magnitude of Elton and you are so well known and so well recognized, going out in the world can be a challenging thing and so your homes become a very important environment.They become your sanctuaries.They become the places where you spend time and bring your life in and bring life inside and a lot of that spending that was brought up at that trial had to do with the acquisition of our house in the south of France which is probably gone up about 30 times in value since we bought it.I couldn’t even begin to estimate how much that has gone up.That house is such an important sanctuary to him and myself ““ it has brought us so much joy and so much pleasure I don’t consider that irresponsible spending.I consider it smart spending because a) it’s created a beautiful sanctuary, a place of peace and love, and secondly it’s turned out to be a bloody good investment.I would certainly shy away from the phrase irresponsible because I think it was actually quite responsible but because of that court case it was positioned in a different light.

    CS: Exactly.And you touched upon something there that I definitely want to talk about and that’s Elton’s charitable givings. At one point in the documentary we see, I think it was a figure of about $9 million that he already gained to the Elton John’s Aids Foundation and this was well before our little red lapel pins that everyone seemed to wear in the late 90’s early 2000’s ““ How has that foundation evolved since you actually did the documentary?

    FURNISH: The foundation has been a huge success.We are well over about $160 million now based worldwide.We work in 35 different countries, getting very successful projects and the foundation’s very much seen as being kind of a leader in terms of approaches that are taken in the fight against aids.There are programs that we pilot and pioneer in countries like the Ukraine, India, South Africa, where we come up with a particular approach or find something that seems unique and innovative and when we find success with it, a lot of bigger funds like the Gates Fund or the Clinton Foundation, they come in and not only match what we put in but actually multiply it and we are able to take those programs and roll them out to more and more people.It has become an increasingly big focus in our life and certainly when I was learning all about it, I’ve had friends that have contracted the disease and I lost a few friends to aids that have touched me personally, but now I sit on both boards and we are both very heavily and actively involved.The foundation is very well run ““ we just got the Charity Navigator award in America, the Four Star award for three consecutive years, which I think only about 8% of charities get that award three consecutive years in a row, our overheads run at about 5% which is incredibly low and we are very proud of the foundation and what it achieves but we continue to invest a lot of time and energy to it because the problem is so big and the need is so vital.

    CS: Right.There is another touching moment in the documentary of Elton’s reflection on the way he felt sort of remorse for his ex-wife ““ that whole situation ““ and looking back at 1995 that was still pretty fresh of a wound at least, and tying into all that as well, when you played bat for him the therapist talking about Elton’s buying people’s friendships and his response to it, how has he evolved in the last 13 years as a result of seeing this?

    FURNISH: One of the many things I love about him is he has this incredible capacity for change and for growth.I think at the time the documentary was made there as some unhealthy relationships in his life and I think he wasn’t in control of his life and feeling good about himself as he is today.He has never been in better form than he is now.His confidence has improved.His self esteem has improved.His sense of independence has improved.He’s more control of his career and his destiny.He’s diversified himself in so many ways.

    We just had Billy Elliott open in New York a couple weeks ago, at that time the Lion King was just a successful film and now 13 years later, he’s written 4 musicals and that’s opened a whole area for him that he loves and is very passionate about.The Aides Foundation, as I mentioned to you, he’s much more active and personal as the hands on approach that we take to it and events that we host and where we host them.We are incredibly happy ourselves.15 years is a wonderful time to be in a happy relationship and we are still very much in love and very happy and to have the laws change in Britain to allow same sex partnerships which afford all the benefits that marriage does in Britain is a real advance and is something that we were very happy to embrace and be a part of.The past 13 years since that’s been done has been a period of incredible change and growth for both of us and I think we will always have these moments when we just pinch ourselves and just say aren’t we so lucky to live the life that we live and to be blessed in the way that we are.We are very grateful for that but at the same time we don’t want to take it for granted.Just want to keep going forward and be good people and do everything we can to help the world be a slightly better place.

    CS: The other thing that I noticed in Elton’s creative process was that he was able to just knock these things out.These hit songs, he’d spend an hour with it.

    FURNISH: And that was a line in the documentary.I used to talk about him about his creative process because that used to fascinate me ““ the way that he writes in such an organic and it’s just unbelievable ““ he just channels something from somewhere and when I filmed him writing that song for Lulu in the studio, no one had ever filmed him writing a song before.So that’s one of the things in the documentary I admire very much.

    CS: And certainly if I have one more question for you, looking back on what you created 13 years ago finally now on DVD, how do the two of you look at what you made?Was it a snapshot of where you were or are there parts of it now that you look at as representative of who you still are now today?

    FURNISH: We both watched it together.We did an audio commentary for it and we both watched it and said, wow, it still continues to hold up so well.I think it stands up incredibly well 13 years later.It is very much a snapshot in time and it’s really nice to have it captured because you appreciate it even more how much life can move on and how things can continue to grow in your life and be positive so given it’s a marker in time it’s nice to see what progress has been made and where growth has taken place.I think in many respects it was a precursor to a lot of reality television we are seeing today because I don’t think a celebrity of Elton’s magnitude, not many famous people or infamous people have allowed that unlimited access to their lives, and now we live in this world where there seems to be so much television based on following people around with camera crews and getting inside their lives with a lot of detail, and really getting inside their lives.

    I think what Madonna did with Truth or Dare is a terrific documentary and is very entertaining and I remember loving it when it came out but I don’t think it nearly cuts below the surface in the same way that Tantrums does on the same level of intimacy and reality.I think that was done to paint a particular portrait and Tantrums was really was a year and a half of Elton’s and my life together.Sharon Osborne will openly admit that when she saw Tantrums she said that was one of the inspirations that she had when they did the Osborn’s on MTV.I thought well our life is crazier and more entertaining and look where that world has grown since then.

    It’s an astounding change in our cultural landscape.

  • Trailer Park: Chin Han from THE DARK KNIGHT

    By Christopher Stipp

    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    What was so important that Batman had to be dragged away from Gotham?

    I love to do interviews like this. Forget about the talks with the leads, the men and women who have more invested in keeping you entertained with their zany stories from the set than they do the actual nuts and bolts of making the film. I don’t fault those who are able to talk to these individuals and are granted their five minutes but when you have to serve an audience that is interested in these celebrities the last thing that will come out of their mouths will be talking about the kinds of things that make people like Chin Han completely fascinating to me.

    Operating on the fringes of what was a cinematic, fiscal juggernaut this summer THE DARK KNIGHT didn’t just break box office records it redefined the notion of what it means to be successful. Just name the moment when this film jumped from jazzy summer actioneer to tent pole classic. What I can tell you, from my standpoint, looking back on it now, was when Batman was lured away from Gotham. Where and when else has any of our heroes left the safe confines of their own turf, to take the fight somewhere else. This moment defined Bruce Wayne’s own insanity. Forget about the parallel line between Heath Ledger’s Joker and Christan Bale’s Batman you have everything you need to know about how far Bruce Wayne is steeped into his own self-righteousness in those moments.

    Chin Han knows about Batman. When he and I spoke months ago it was just after the world premiere and still when everyone was in the dark about what was behind all the hype. People were still wondering whether it was worth it. It was. Every moment. It’s amusing now, looking back on the level of secrecy surrounding every plot point and the highlight of this interview has to be Han’s reaction to seeing Bale in all his rubberized goodness…

    THE DARK KNIGHT is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray.


    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: I looked over your resume and, after talking to a few people, am I to believe that this is only your third feature length film?

    CHIN HAN: Yes, this is my one, two three ““ yes, this is my third feature length film.

    CS: How did you land this part?

    HAN: I landed it. Let me qualify that first question. It was my third feature film but I’ve worked in television before that and I was doing a lot of classical theatre as well ““ theatre basically. How did I land it? I think I did it old school basically. I auditioned for John Papsidera and I didn’t hear from them for a few weeks and then I heard from them and they wanted to see more of my work and I didn’t hear from them for another couple weeks and then other people wanted to see more of my work and then they called me back in again. So, all together it took about 6 weeks. It was kind of grueling.

    CS: I’m curious, just from the standpoint that you walked into this knowing that it was going to be a big movie. How is it being at the center of this swirl that this whole movie has taken on a life of it’s own and the media and marketing campaigns and what have you ““ what’s it like to be that fly on the wall?

    HAN: I’m still taking it in actually. We were at the premier two nights ago ““ I had to pinch myself to just make sure I was there on the red carpet with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Christian, Maggie and Morgan. But I’m still taking it in. Obviously, it’s very surreal and very humbling at the same time but I think I’ll get a better sense to what this means to me in a couple weeks.

    (Laughs)

    CS: And I’ve heard that Christopher Nolan’s IMAX material…I heard it’s amazing that the way he shot it is absolutely spectacular on IMAX.

    HAN: Yes. You’ll get vertigo watching it. It’s very stunning. And on top of that I think there are new vistas in this movie. I think some of the scenes were shot in Hong Kong as well so you get to see some very different sights and sounds basically in this film, which are stunning. He’s done a magnificent job on this film.

    CS: Did you shoot your scenes in Hong Kong or were you part of the Chicago shooting as well?

    HAN: I was part of the Chicago shooting as well. I shot in Chicago. I shot in London, for the most part of the movie.

    CS: The character you play, without giving anything away, how does Lau fit into the film?

    HAN: He’s an Asian business mogul who has now joined the ranks of these shadowy figures that have appeared in Gotham because of the demise of Carmine Falcone. I think that’s as much as I can tell you. I think you will have fun with this character because I did and he’s one of those characters that are quite hard to read.

    CS: Before any of this happened, did you go into this with an “I don’t care what my role is, I want into this”?

    HAN: Absolutely. I would do anything with Chris Nolan. I love his previous films. I love Memento, The Prestige, and I loved Insomnia as well and so I was very thrilled when they were interested in seeing me or reading me but when I got the type and they don’t give you the full script obviously on a movie this top secret, I was looking it over the sides and said there is something special here because there is just so much to his writing. It’s interesting to play those types of characters so that was the icing on the cake. But I would have done it, sight unseen.

    CS: How was that just getting part of the script? This whole idea of secrecy – I know there are a few directors out there, J.J. Abrams is notorious for secrecy, were you just given a few pages, were you like, “Come on, is this really necessary?”

    HAN: Even when I was looking at the sides for Lau you really had no idea how big the part is, because you have these few pages and obviously these few pages would let them know if you could carry the role but how do I feel about it? I think it makes the job of preparing for the audition challenging as well because you don’t know what to expect next. And when I got the full script I read it through and just delighted to have this kind of a role in a movie.

    CS: Now moving forward to where you’ve been as an actor, how was it working over in Singapore and thinking, “I want to make the jump to American films and American media”? What lead up to that moment where you said, “I’m going to give it a go”?

    HAN: I was doing television and I wanted to direct more so I wanted to take a break from acting and direct more and then this film came along, which is Blindness quite some time ago and I had fun on that but it wasn’t enough to warrant my taking a break from directing or producing. So I did a couple other projects and then I did 3 Needles with Thom Fitzgerald and that film was shot in 3 different countries that really whetted my passion for acting and that was a few years ago. So it just came at the perfect time. I was thinking of making the move to Los Angeles at that time so it came at the most perfect time really. It was not an overnight process. It took 8 years I think.

    CS: And if you have success in this it will be overnight success. Where I’ve looked at your 20 year career and you’ve been doing this for lots of years.

    HAN: Yes.

    CS: I’m also looking at the way some films overseas play. A lot of times when American films get released here they will do OK but in the international market it does very well. You’ve come from a market in Singapore where there is a different sensibility when it comes to movies and theater and what have you ““ is it a different sort of theatrical language if I can use that coming to working within American boundaries? Are there basic differences between Asian films and American films?

    HAN: I think that there are there are some differences ““ some differences in story telling techniques ““ the way Asians and Americans express themselves so that effects the way our scripts are written as well and how our actors communicate their emotions to the audience too. There are some differences ““ yes.

    CS: Where did you go for 7 years since your 1998 debut? There is a big hole for 7 years. What happened?

    (Laughs)

    HAN: That’s when I was producing and directing. I had produced the Asian premiere of The Blue Room which was the play that got a lot of attention on the West End of Broadway because Nicole Kidman did that play. But we did it with a Singapore cast and I was producing a lot of plays which subsequently moved me to musical theatre and I was one of the producers of the musical adaptation of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet. And had wonderful success in Singapore and Taiwan as well. So, those years were spent being on the other side of production.

    CS: Why did you go back? It seems like you have a lot of success doing that.

    HAN: Why did I go back to acting?

    CS: Yes.

    HAN: I don’t know. After working with Thom Fitsgerald and shooting in Taiwn for the most part with Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, I just realized that my passion really was in acting because of the scope of films. Not just the skill of production, which is very exciting but it’s the reach of film. And as an actor, as a person who creates, you want whatever you create to reach an audience.

    CS: Now going back to your Dark Knight experience and being directed by Christopher Nolan. I won’t ask what it’s like to work with him because I think I know the answer to that, but I’m curious to know behind your eyes when he was directing things on the set, what did you take away from the way he manages the film set?

    HAN: I think Chris Nolan is the picture of grace under pressure. Watching him direct on set you would never know he was directing a $180 million movie. I never heard him raise his voice. He’s always very collected and he’s always really precise in his direction and instruction. So that’s one thing I learned that you can ““ you don’t have to be a jerk that you sometimes find in the theater ““ the directors who have very unique visions but at the same time behave in a way that might not be constructive for actors and production and the thing I took away from it is that you can be talented and have that vision and at the same time be the perfect gentleman. I think Chris Nolan was that.

    CS: That’s insightful. I think a lot of directors get a little taste of their own hype and you hear stories of some that like to yell and make actors go through 40-50 takes in order to do that.

    HAN: You probably know who those directors are as well.

    (Laughs)

    HAN: Yes, Chris definitely isn’t one of them.

    CS: Growing up, were you familiar with Batman? Is that the international appeal for a movie like this that it will do well in other markets because everyone knows who Batman is?

    HAN: Batman has a 70 year history if I’m not mistaken. I remember reading the comics when I was younger and I remember when the first Batman movie came out so I do remember the time ““ there are a lot of good comic book movies and some bad ones ““ that was also the time of Superman, Superman II, Batman and yes, I was very familiar with the movies and a big fan of the series. When I heard that the sequel to Batman Begins was going to be called The Dark Knight that secretly gave me goose bumps because that movie didn’t even have the name Batman in it and you will see why when you see the movie tonight and you will see why it’s called The Dark Knight, it resonates on so many levels that way.

    CS: And even on that level, the giddy schoolboy, did you have a chance to see Bale dressed up as Batman and was it neat on some level?

    HAN: Yes, it was. The first day on the set they flew me in from Los Angeles to Heathrow. I got off the plane, been traveling for 15 hours now and then I think one of the production assistants tells me Chris is ready to see me. I go to the set which is huge and the first thing in front of me, the first thing I see day one is Christian Bale in the Batman outfit. That was pretty amazing.

    CS: I know a lot of actors I know would say “It’s work”, “It’s a job” but that just has to be a thrill on some level.

    HAN: No. On every level.

    (Laughs)

    HAN: I’m not going to pretend to be too cool for school here”¦

    (Laughs)

    HAN: I really did get a big kick out of seeing that and working with Bale as well.

    CS: How was he? The guy is not out there a whole lot in public ““ kind of introspective ““ how was it being as an actor being on the set with him?

    HAN: Two aspects of the business ““ one is the job at hand and the job of the actor and the other aspect in this business is you are doing press conferences or doing interviews, like this, and I think with Bale, as reserved as he may be, I found working with him to be quite wonderful because I think he’s very generous as an actor ““ he gives us a lot to work with and I really enjoy working with him.

    CS: And now I see you have gone from one small film to another small film, with 2012..

    HAN: Yeah, a very small film…

    (Laughs)

    CS: Not a lot of people are going to be able to see it so good luck to you on that one ““ you are shooting in August for 2012? Does this mean a bigger part for you?

    HAN: It’s a very interesting movie and I think that I would describe it as an ensemble cast and I am more than happy with my part in it. It’s hard to ask an actor that question because it’s all objectivity with respect to the importance ““ my part, yes, it’s very, very important”¦.

    (Laughs)

    But I will reserve judgment on that and say I am happy to work with this group of actors. Moving from one excellent group of actors to another. Another pretty impressive budget. I mean, John Cusak, Woody Harrelson has been added to the cast ““ a lot of people whose work I love. So, I’m very excited about it.

    CS: I’m trying to get a handle on it ““ is it a bunch of eco-warriors to prevent disaster?

    HAN: It’s about the end of the world basically.

    CS: Oh, one of those…

    HAN: It’s about the end of the world as we know it. 2012 in the Mayan calendar represents the end of the world and basically this movie is about the apocalypse. So obviously I go from one quiet movie to another one.

    (Laughs)

    CS: Well sir, I don’t want to take up any more of your time but I have one more question for you. You’ve done a lot of theater, a lot of classical training which I respect, these movies aren’t going to win any independent spirit awards ““ when you look at what jobs come on the horizon are you all for throwing yourself at whatever comes your way or do you have a plan, a trajectory of where you want to be in five years?

    HAN: No, I don’t have a plan. Different kinds of movies satisfy different appetites in me. I think The Dark Knight is a very unique movie ““ much more than a comic book movie so in terms of that I think I approached The Dark Knight as I would a drama really ““ like I did 3 Needles. Now Blindness which I did was a small movie, is more film noir and I always enjoyed that type of film. In 2012, obviously, we know the movie is going to be balls-out excitement and action so that fulfills another perhaps boyhood fantasy of wanting to be in a movie like that. So they all satisfy me in different ways and I don’t have a plan so to speak, as an actor.

  • Holiday Havoc: Russell Howard

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    Some people hang the holly, others decorate the tree, and a few even terrorize the neighborhood with off-key caroling.

    Not us.

    Here at Quick Stop Entertainment, we’re celebrating the holiday season by giving a little something back to you, our readers (you know who you are).

    Every weekday leading up to the holiday break, we’ve got uber-exclusive gifts provided by a whole range of artists, actors, comedians, and studios. One a day, straight from them to you (and you can check out last year’s fun here).

    Ain’t that cool?

    Today, we’ve got an in-depth audio interview with UK Comedian, Mock The Week regular, and all around funny guy, Russell Howard.

    If you’ve never heard of Russell Howard, do yourself a big favor and get your ass over to YouTube and look him up – there are plenty if stand-up and Mock The Week clips to be had. Then, be sure to pick up his new stand-up DVD, Russell Howard Live (It’s Region 2, but it’s about time you picked up an all-region DVD player or learned how easy it is to play them on your computer, anyway). You can visit Russell on the web at www.russell-howard.co.uk.

    This conversation with Russell is presented as an audio podcast between Russell and myself (Ken Plume), and is dedicated to all of you readers who have been clambering for me to present more of these interviews in audio form.

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    Download “A Conversation With Russell Howard & Ken Plume“:

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    Check out the rest of this year’s Holiday Havoc – and past Havoc – HERE

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  • Trailer Park: TWILIGHT Interview

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    By Christopher Stipp

    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    Does anyone have any idea how much people are willing to do anything to get close to those involved in TWILIGHT?

    Stores have been shut down, cops have been called in, teenage girls are crying at the mere mention of Robert Pattinson’s name, crowds have not packed and swelled malls to the kind of degree not seen since the last Menudo tour circa 1985 and some of those involved could not be more laid back and chill about it all.

    Edi Gathegi who plays Laurent, Rachelle Lefevre who plays Victoria and Taylor Lautner who plays Jacob Black could not have been more removed or reflective on the entire experience. They look at it with a bit of comedy, genuine amazement and are sanguine about how they feel towards any subsequent sequels.

    When I met them at the Valley Ho in Scottsdale, Arizona the film was about 2 weeks away from dropping, they were slated for an appearance at the local Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall where 750 teenagers paid $30 a pop for a t-shirt and a ticket that would allow them to get close enough for a photo and autograph. And I understand that. I won’t make fun of these people, although it’s awfully tempting when you see some of the nutters in line, but the real sports are the actors who put on a smiley face and braved the insanity.

    Note bene: This interview was conducted before me even seeing a frame of film or even reading a page of Arizona native Meyer’s book. So, keep your snarky comments to yourself. We join this interview with Rachelle and I talking, oddly enough, about how I once came from Chicago…

    RACHELLE LEFEVRE: You are? I’m a Bears fan.

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Nice. Cubs fan?

    LEFEVRE: No. Not a baseball person.

    CS: Then I’m done with you for the rest of the interview.

    LEFEVRE: Hey, I’m from Montreal, OK and I was an Expo’s fan until the 1994 strike ruined us on our way to win a World Series and we’ve never recovered and then we lost our team because Jeffrey Loria, who’s an American, bought up the team and sold it off for parts like it was art. So I do not watch baseball anymore. I am scared for life.

    EDI GATHEGI: That was the Expo’s?

    LEFEVRE: Yea. Hard to respect the team that played the second half of their last season in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

    CS: Regarding the film I know Pattinson is making an appearance in Chicago tonight, actually, and there are cops are being brought in to get ready

    LEFEVRE: They canceled the event in San Francisco.

    CS: I heard that. Did you guys know going in what you were getting yourselves into?

    TAYLOR LAUTNER: No, not really. The first time we realized the potential of this thing I think was ComiCon and our first night in Seattle was a pretty big taste of ComiCon again. I definitely was not expecting anything near what it was and they were just great. The fans are very supportive and we are very lucky to have them.

    GATHEGI: They are about as enthusiastic as you can get right up to the brink before they start breaking each others noses.

    LAUTNER: Exactly.

    (Laughs)

    GATHEGI: I think I lost a little bit of hearing though all that stuff.

    CS: I was actually there at ComiCon during all that. I only had a baseline understanding of the book series because Stephenie Miller is from here. I knew she was a local author but I had no idea that young girls, young people, really have attached themselves to this book series. As you guys were doing the film, what did you come to understand why young people are so connected to the story?

    GATHEGI: I think there are a lot of questions that come up when you are in high school and are a young adult. There’s a lot of teen angst, forbidden love, like the whole Romeo and Juliet story, she can’t really be with him because they are different species but they’ve fallen in love with each other and what do…does she want to turn, live the rest of her life as a vampire… and I think Stephenie does a wonderful job painting these characters in such a truthful and honest way.

    She does.

    She sets up our world as we know it. It’s our world and then she starts to justify or asks all the questions of how vampires could possibly exist in our world the way we would naturally. And then she has an answer for each question and you think, oh my god, this is a world that could possibly exist.

    LEFEVRE: Totally plausible.

    GATHEGI: Totally plausible. And I think people are rooting for their relationship as they read and it’s just so interesting and intense, it’s engaging and a pretty easy read so people fly though the book and attach themselves pretty quickly.

    CS: A lot has been made of vampires lately. True Blood on HBO has gone gangbusters. People love a good vampire story. Why? I think was fascinated just as a boy growing up with vampires in general, but it seems to be when you do the property right as in True Blood right now, TWILIGHT, from what everyone is saying…If you look at it from the right way it could just be huge. Why do people gravitate to vampires the way they do?

    LEFEVRE: We’ve been talking amongst ourselves about this too and there is certainly something that there are certain genre’s that just appeal to us for certain reasons at certain times and so vampires have always been around, they just keep coming in an out of fashion.

    But we are fascinated by one monster group at a time it seems in the zeitgeist. The thing that strikes me now about the vampire methodology, like True Blood and in Stephenie’s books, the genre, the methodology is being turned on it’s head. From what I’ve seen of True Blood it seems that Alan Ball is using it. It’s almost politically subversive. He’s using it to make arguments about the nature of humanity in a really interesting way about the nature of prejudice and it’s like he’s posited them as this minority group facing human challenges, which I find really interesting and the thing I find that I love about what Stephenie does is that it’s such an incredible metaphor for particularly at a young age but also like the Romeo and Juliet thing, for something that stands between two people being together.

    Whether that’s species in this case, or a class system, or whether it’s different religions, there a million reasons still today why we can’t all just be one group and so it highlights our differences in an extraordinary way. So, I think that’s one of the fascinations in society right now, why vampires are big. It allows us to ask those questions in a way that’s harmless because we are not asking about ourselves, we are asking about a hypothetical world. Sorry, I just rambled.

    (Laughs)

    CS: You’re right. I think we’re done here.

    GATHEGI: [Pointing at Taylor] He’s got nothing to contribute on the subject because he will be a werewolf.

    LEFEVRE: Why do we love werewolves so much?

    LAUTNER: Because they’re hot.

    (Laughs)

    GATHEGI: Literally. 180 degrees.

    CS: Well, to that point, Taylor and Edi, what did you bring to your own parts? You are asked to play a werewolf and vampire, respectively, and you are asked to step into these roles acting in disguise. You are essentially playing a werewolf and vampire for a vast majority of your screen time without ever brandishing scary teeth, hair all over your body…

    GATHEGI: Stephenie does a lot of the work for us with the rules of her methodology ““ there are no fangs, there are no garlic, no crosses. We go out in the daytime, but just can’t be seen in the direct sun or our skin will glitter. It doesn’t hurt us. It’s not like we have to be in a coffin during the day so a lot of the work is done for us and for me I just thought what would it be like to not ever sleep? What would it be like if I didn’t have to breathe? Like those simple things we do without thinking.

    A vampire has to consciously think to blink. Because humans blink naturally. Vampires don’t have to. So to appear human, vampires have to think about those things. So for me it was the stiller I could be, the more undead I would be. So it was an exercise in the economy in movement. I almost needed to do less. But it was serious concentration. Then on top of that not to play vampire, I play this character, this being that was once human and what were his interests when he was human and what are they now that he turned? I thought it would be interesting if he was a contemporary of some great figure in the 1700’s when he was turned and I picked St. George, this Renaissance man. He was a fencer, a very regal character and I thought what if they were friends so that gave him his gate so then I just added vampire on top of that.

    LAUTNER: It’s hard because I haven’t been transformed into a werewolf yet. I transform in the middle of the second book in the series. So, basically all I had to do is pretend which isn’t hard to have a huge crush on Kristin Stewart.

    (Laughs)

    That’s pretty much all I had to do because Jacob and Bella used to be very good friends when they were young and it’s the first time they’ve seen in other in quite a while when she moves back to Forks. He instantly has huge crush on her and cannot leave her alone, so that’s basically all I had to bring to life for Twilight.

    CS: The production itself, they say it wasn’t intentionally done to have a woman director, a woman writer, but in the notes I’ve been reading, it kind of was. Was it irrelevant by the time you guys were producing it or, for lack of a better term, did it feel like it had a woman’s touch?

    LAUTNER: I think for Katherine it doesn’t have to do anything whatsoever. Katherine has just shown in her past, with 13 and Lords of Dogtown and now this she is a professional at relating to the young. She has so much energy she is infectious. She brings the best out of us. She has such a creative imagination and that’s what Twilight needs is to take this book that is in words and bring it to life visually for the fans so they can see on the big screen what been on their minds the whole time they’ve been reading the story. I just think Katherine was the best choice we could have chosen do direct it.

    LEFEVRE: And her history is a production designer and so she does have exactly that. She does have an appreciation for the visual. And this was a world that was so specific on the page and needed to be brought to life exactly as it was written and needed somebody who could read the book and the script and have that intense visual. I don’t know. Maybe a female made a difference there ““ maybe having a female imagination helped in the visualizing.

    GATHEGI: We have good imaginations too.

    LEFEVRE: You do??? Someone told me you think also. Is that true?

    (Laughs)

    CS: Everyone says you can get though this in a week but one page in her book and one page in a script, you have X number of pages have to cut. As well, some people got on this film without seeing a script, they just latched on to it. Can you tell me a little bit about A) Did you see the script before you came on and then B) What was important to Stephenie in your characters that she wanted to be sure she got in within the running time of the movie?

    GATHEGI: I’ll try to go fast. I did not see a script when I auditioned. I just saw the sides ““ which is a scene that my character was in and I was not into it because I could tell it was an other worldly project and that was not my thing.

    I’m really not a vampire fan.

    When I met Katherine and had a great audition with Katherine I wanted to work with her and when I found out they wanted me to play the part then I picked up the books and I went, now this is not your traditional vampire story. She’s turned it upside down. This is an amazing story. It’s a romance set in the world of vampires. I absolutely want to be a part of this. I’m in love with this. What was the second part of the question?

    CS: What she wanted to retain?

    GATHEGI: And like you said, it was a 500 page book condensed into a two hour movie so I think for our characters, the nomads, we are the antagonists. There is no movie without conflict and I think that we’re not introduced in the book until page 300’s so in the movie for dramatic purposes I think it was important that they showed we exist before we exist in the books so the impending doom is there kind of a parallel story with the love story so you know there are some things about to go down.

    LEFEVRE: I think it’s exactly the story of the book just condensed. Whatever is different is only different for the purposes of time. For the purposes of condensing the story. There is nothing that I can think of that is really far away from what Stephenie wrote. It’s all Stephenie’s stuff. And if it is contorted in any way in order to make it fit into a two hour movie, it’s still Stephenie’s world and still things she wrote, they are just condensed or rearranged slightly.

    GATHEGI: And I’ll add to that condensed or rearranged slightly ““ if anything is different it’s movie making. It’s not a perfect science. There are certain things like locations and budgetary things and the sun is shining so you literally have to move the location, so maybe differences in that way but other than that, the attempt and the success of the attempt is very good.

    CS: {To Taylor] Did you read the script?

    LAUTNER: No, I didn’t. Just the sides. What I actually did, Jacob’s character basically just gets introduced in Twilight and develops later in the series but what they did for my audition process is take just in quotes from the second and third books and made it into sides and it was very interesting for me and I knew immediately, I love intimate relationships between boy and girl, I’ve always been a romance fan so I loved the sides, loved the writing, hadn’t read the books yet and as soon as I got cast in the film, that is when I read the books and the script.

    CS: And now looking at this not just as a book, or a movie, you are looking at two or three, are you comfortable to signing your self on this trilogy? Any reservations about going on to do more?

    LEFEVRE: I had no reservations before I signed on. I read the first book right before my audition and read the other two before I was cast and I read the script before I agreed to do it but having read all three books and knowing that someone had chosen Katherine, it could have gone one of two ways. They could have gotten a director who was an action person for all the action sequences and the chase stuff, and they could have gone with somebody who was really great with that and had experience doing that and then just allowed them to do the romance story. But they didn’t. They went the other way. They knew that Katherine would be able to pull off the action stuff and gave her an amazing – Andy who was our stunt coordinator and second unit director was an incredible ““ so they made a great team in the two of them so they let Katherine really do what she does best is really have organic behavior and an intense story from young actors. So knowing they had made that choice, I trusted Summit implicitly with the series so for that reason there were no hesitations for me. The story was great and they picked Katherine.

    GATHEGI: And I can speak for them we would all love to do the subsequent films if there are any but there aren’t any right now. We’re going to see what happens in a week and a half.

    LEFEVRE: And we’re always the last to know anyway. The actors. Last on the phone chain.

    CS: The Internet seems to always know first.

    (Laughs)

  • Trailer Park: Kaori Momoi

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    By Christopher Stipp

    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    Apart from the fact that it’s simply an awesomely constructed film that blends the traditional with the very modern SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO will leave you wanting. For some, the movie was a jarring blend of styles but, for me, there wasn’t a better film that dared to be bold in its execution and was different not for the sake of it but for what it could be if it was.

    Of all the highlights in the movie, however, wasn’t Takashi Miike’s curious choices for locales or the way he decided to twist language but it was in the performance of Japanese film star Kaori Momoi that caught me unaware. It’s not to say that the rest of the cast doesn’t do well enough on their own but seeing Kaori in this film shows you the kind of respect this woman commands.

    Those who need a quick primer of why Kaori is so compelling all you need to know is that in her career she worked with Akira Kurosawa, is a two time Japanese Academy Award winner, and pursues a life in, “producing, directing, screenwriting, and design in addition to her acting.” And, she’s released some 15 albums. She’s a real renaissance woman. Needless to say, when the opportunity presented itself to interview her there was no way I could pass it up.

    Needless to say one of the peculiar things about this interview is that this is the first one I’ve ever done through a translator. Kaori’s English is quite good but there was still the language barrier to contend with. However, her jubilant spirit would not daunt her ability to answer the questions I tossed her way.

    SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO is now out on DVD.

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: First I would like to thank you for taking time for me. I just want to ask you a few questions but want to start off by saying it’s a pleasure and an honor to be able to talk to you.

    TRANSLATOR: Please ask any questions.

    CS: Thank you. I know that Takashi Miike has made a film that has blended some various genres together ““ the American Western and Japanese Samurai. How did you respond initially to being asked to be in this picture?

    KAORI MOMOI: Now, I can speak a little bit English.

    I have to say that I love Miike. I love to work with Miiki very much because he is a genius and a genius director, and a crazy artist, and fun person. He looks like a youngster but he is a very nice person and a shy boy. He always experiments everywhere. I love to work with him. This movie is Japanese history. This is not just a Western movie. This is Heike Western. I love the sound of Heike Western. I love that. Maybe it’s my accent. What do you think?

    CS: As an actress, can you expound, or talk about how you approached the material in a way that could feel authentic, yet in the vein that Miike was going for?

    MOMOI: Well, I have never been in an action movie before. I am old enough. I was a ballerina. I wanted to play an action role and felt this was the last chance for me to do so.

    CS: You say you’ve never been in an action movie, how was it to actually see what eventually made it up onto the screen?

    MOMOI: I just say too heavy for my body.

    (Laughs)

    It was too cold. It was so scary like a bungie jump ““ I hate that.

    Laugh.

    CS: You mean it wasn’t fun?

    MOMOI: Yes! I enjoy it very much. It was fun, but it was scary.

    CS: I would definitely like to know your thoughts on the idea that many inside Hollywood like to take ideas and the riches of others like Japanese cinema, overtly, STAR WARS being influenced by THE HIDDEN FORTRESS being one example. In your years being in the film industry do you see a difference between how American’s like to see their films presented to them as opposed to, let’s say, the Japanese audience likes to have theirs presented to them?

    MOMOI: I do like to make films. Filmmakers make Japanese old movies ““ I don’t like it. We have to experiment. We have to have new directors to make new movies as an artist. Originality is very important, I think.

    CS: You’ve mentioned in other interviews about wanting to get work in some Hollywood productions. As an older woman in a market that loves it’s young talent, does going after jobs still thrill you as an older woman as it did when you were a younger one?

    MOMOI: I don’t feel so much different because I look young.

    (Laughs)

    Nobody knows about me in LA or USA or other countries other than Japan. As an actress, as a woman, no one knows how old I am. That’s good for me as an actress. I think actress has to be new. That’s good for me.

    CS: Speaking about your career, in other interviews I’ve read with you, it’s your energy to be relevant and to experiment with different ventures really exceeds anyone I’ve ever read about. Where does that motivation and that hopefulness and look-forwardness come from?

    MOMOI:     I’m so hyper and vocal. If you have power you have to smoke and drink lots of wine. That helps you.

    CS: You’ve challenged directors that you’ve worked with. How have directors responded to the idea that your job is not only to interpret the script but to add your own thoughts about the movie making process?

    MOMOI: Dialog is in English. I can’t speak English, somebody said. English is good for me. I can speak English dialogue. I was like a young girl in a conversation with Miike. I didn’t do anything. I was just loving him. The movie was so special for me. Some directors are not so great, and sometimes I have to kick them, and I will push them away and I will get the job as the director.

    (Laughs)

    CS: You got the chance to work with Akira Kurosawa. He’s revered here in America by those who really love film. How do you look back on the time that you got to spend with him?

    MOMOI: He is a great person. We Japanese are very proud of him. He is a great director now too. I want to work with him more and more. He was a big person for me. I worked with him on Kagemushma. He was a big person in the studio and every person was scared of him. I called him and said, “How are you today and what do you want?” I want to make him more relaxed. I asked him, “What do you want, my body or something?” Every morning I took him and made him feel not so lonely. One day he called me. It was his birthday. He said, “If you have the time, let’s have lunch.” Then I went to the restaurant and we had lunch ““ that was a memory. That’s all.

    CS: I know my time is short so I’ll ask one more question. You have done this movie with Takashi Miike, where do you see yourself going from here?

    MOMOI: I think I have to speak English more. Because I want the world to know more about Japanese movies and Japanese actress. Any Asian can speak English well. We have to speak English now. I want to speak English dialogue and I will get another country’s movie and I will live in Los Angeles some time and for my English. I will then give me the job!

  • Interview: Ricky Gervais

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    -by Ken Plume

    Ricky Gervais, along with Stephen Merchant, is the co-creator of both the original British and American versions of The Office and two series of the BBC/HBO hit Extras, as well co-host of the most downloaded podcast in history.

    He’s written an episode of The Simpsons, performed a trio of sold-out stand-up tours (all of which have been released on DVD in the UK as Animals, Politics, & Fame), co-starred in A Night At The Museum & For Your Consideration, written a series of Flanimals books for children, and won more awards than you can shake a stick at. He also fronted the big Hollywood flick Ghost Town and makes his big screen directorial debut with next year’s This Side Of The Truth.

    On Saturday, November 15th, he brings his US stand-up tour to HBO in the form of Ricky Gervais: Out Of England, airing at 9pm EST.

    I’ve spoken with Gervais more times than I can shake that aforementioned virtual stick at, and this is our latest…

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    KP: I was just looking over my records and this is actually the fourth time that I’ve done an in-depth piece with you…

    GERVAIS: Wow. Wow. There you go. Cool. I’ve got nothing new to tell you.

    KP: And not once have you interviewed me. I’m kind of hurt about that.

    GERVAIS: Well, we’ll do a mutual one. I’ll start. What’s the best interview you’ve ever done with me?

    KP: I think it would probably be the second one.

    GERVAIS: (laughs)

    KP: The nerves were kind of gone. You were successful but not quite as successful as you would eventually become.

    GERVAIS: So still humble.

    KP: You still had that touch of humility…

    GERVAIS: No… Now I know you’re lying, because I’ve always been an arrogant swine. Even when I was a nobody.

    KP: You covered it really well early on, though.

    GERVAIS: Okay.

    KP: It wasn’t until after Extras that really you just said, “Fuck it all.” Then all the pretense was gone.

    GERVAIS: I know. Exactly. I might as well just admit it.

    KP: But it was a beautiful point.

    GERVAIS: Lovely.

    KP: Now, though, I’m sure this is going to be a complete disaster.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, but that’s your job – to make it look good.

    KP: And I promise I will try my best.

    GERVAIS: All I do is give you one revelation.

    KP: Oh, I get one?

    GERVAIS: Yeah.

    KP: I like the fact that you’re parceling them out now.

    GERVAIS: The reason I’ll never box again is because I killed a man. That’s not true. I’ll have to make something up to be exciting. Look, I’ll tell you what; we’ll stick to the truth and you make it look exciting.

    KP: You should just throw out the name of a minor UK celebrity that I’ll never follow up on.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah. Oh dear.

    KP: Or you killed Bill Oddie.

    GERVAIS: Hey! Now there’s a reference.

    KP: You took out at least one of the Goodies.

    GERVAIS: Yeah! (laughs)

    KP: As part of your long, ongoing Goodie feud.

    GERVAIS: I knocked them off their bike.

    KP: Yes, yes. While they were doing the funky gibbon.

    GERVAIS: Wow. Well, that’s more than most British people know.

    KP: Probably with good reason.

    GERVAIS: You just summed up the Goodies.

    KP: Yes. A bike and a funky gibbon. And being knocked off something at some point.

    GERVAIS: (laughs)

    KP: I guess the big news since we last talked was that you finally took the plunge and tried to conquer the US.

    GERVAIS: Well, I don’t know if I’ve ever taken a plunge. It’s sort of been drip feeding. But they had The Office on BBC America, and then the Golden Globes helped a little bit – and then, you know, Extras on cable, but I think it’s that nice sort of cult thing. The right people are aware of you and the offers came in and I took a few little cameos. Obviously with Christopher Guest. He’s a comedy hero. Ben Stiller, I’d worked with him on Extras. I returned the favor there. And we know what happened with Night At The Museum. I think it made about 800 million dollars or something. That was fun. I only got half of that, obviously.

    KP: That’s why you’re now on your third agent.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) And I did a film called Stardust to work with De Niro. I got him in Extras. So yeah, I need more than one reason to do a film. And Ghost Town, there was loads of reasons. It was the funniest script I’d read. It was really collaborative. It was just my sort of role. It was that sort of unsympathetic sort of smart assed curmudgeon, and it had some redemption – which is one of my favorite themes now. But I’ve never really done things to up my profile or further my career. I’ve done things that were fun and were right. And I probably turned down some things that were fun and were right, but I was busy on other things that were more fun and more right.

    KP: Now, when you say redemption is one of your favorite themes now…

    GERVAIS: I never understood it growing up. I was one of those kids that didn’t understand things like the prodigal son. I thought, “Well, why is he getting all the attention? He screwed up once.” But as you get older you understand that, you know, forgiveness is possibly the greatest virtue. You’ve got to be a very cold person not to genuinely accept a heartfelt apology. And in fiction it is the most beautiful theme. I think we did it in The Office. I’m particularly proud of how we did it in Extras with Andy Millman, who was basically body snatched by fame – this trivial, awful, shallow, shiny object – and left behind the total opposite of that, which is friendship. And that was a joy. I was more excited about that than all the guests and all the funny lines put together.

    KP: I would say that Andy was a willing participant in his body snatching…

    GERVAIS: Well, of course he was, but that’s what it is, isn’t it? When you become a zombie you like eating flesh…

    KP: And you’re wondering why all your friends don’t…

    GERVAIS: Yeah. This metaphor’s gone… I don’t know what we’re doing now.

    KP: I’m waiting to see how far you take it.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Wow. What I’m saying is he was a willing participant, but it wasn’t his fault. It’s like that episode of Batman when they gave Robin a pill and he was suddenly bad. Batman knew he couldn’t help it. He had to fight him, but he still loves him.

    KP: Do you think it’s sort of a case where you get in too deep after a certain point?

    GERVAIS: Are we still on Batman now?

    KP: We could still be on Batman if you want to talk about that instead…

    GERVAIS: No. (laughs) I tried to throw in a worse metaphor so you took your eye off the first one.

    KP: You almost accomplished that.

    GERVAIS: What I’m saying is yeah, these people are willing participants, but it’s not their fault because, by definition, they have been body snatched. It was gradual. It started off, you think he’s an alright guy – and he was a very normal man. More so than David Brent. Cleverer than David Brent. A more normal person than David Brent. But because of all those things, he was a more dangerous man than David Brent in many ways. And when he put his mind to it, he decided that if he couldn’t beat them, he’d join them. And when we were first writing Extras, we realized that there was something missing with Andy Millman, and that was that he was alright and he didn’t care. And we had to give him that obsession. We had to give him this foible. We had to give him this jeopardy. And that was the fun duality with Andy Millman – that he was normal and funny and he was surrounded by idiots except when he needed something from someone. So when he talked to a director he was suddenly a bumbling fool who was on the back foot and would sell his soul, and he did sell his soul at the beginning of series 2 when, you know… and I wasn’t even saying he should have walked away. I’m saying that that’s one scenario that might happen when you give up integrity for success, in a way. I just think he would have been happier going away and doing something he liked on possibly even a smaller scale. And of course, a lot of it was a little bit of a parallel universe with my career. There but for the grace of God, go I. I always took the other route. But who knows. What if the BBC had said, “We want The Office to have catchphrases and we want you to appeal to four year olds.”

    KP: Andy always struck me as a character that had a delayed sense of self-awareness.

    GERVAIS: Well yeah, because… you see, that’s what happens as well, because these things are flattering. Some people say, “Oh, he’d never do that.” And sometimes the money goes up. Or their appeal goes down. Or they look around and they’re very Nietzschean about it. They start… people grow stronger on the things you leave behind. It starts getting to them. Some actors take roles because they don’t want another actor to take it. Some actors take roles because even though it’s a bad film, and they know it’s a bad film, they think they can make it a good one. Some actors take films because they think they won’t be asked again. Some actors take films because they don’t give a shit about the film and they want the paycheck. You know, there’s loads of reasons why these people take it. And they’re all fine. All those reasons are fine. But integrity is doing something that you know you shouldn’t really. There’s nothing wrong with doing a comedy that’s catchphrases and putting on wigs if that’s what you like. But it’s if you don’t like that – if you know there’s something better, if you know there’s something more in you, if you know you think you might regret it, if it’s not what you set out to do – than it’s a compromise. And I think compromise in art is a bad thing. And I think it’s a bad thing across the board, by definition, because you either care or you don’t. And if you care, I don’t know what a compromise is, really. One of my favorite sayings is “comedy is a horse designed by committee”. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a camel. Let me say now – I’ve got nothing against the camel…

    KP: Well, that’s just to placate the Camel League…

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah. My favorite bit of the camel is the hump. So let’s get that out there. All I’m saying is, Andy knew… he took a risk with his happiness, and it didn’t pay out.

    KP: So how close have you personally come to crossing that line?

    GERVAIS: Well, you know, I get these little challenges all the time. Again, there’s nothing wrong with doing adverts. I think I did a couple first out, but I wasn’t proud of them. And when you don’t need to do them, how rich do you need to be? I remember I said I don’t do adverts, and I got offered… it was a drinks company in America, offered me a million pounds for a day’s work. And I thought about it and I thought, “That is a lot of money.” But I thought, “I’d hate myself.” And I said no. They came up with two million. They thought I was negotiating. Which annoyed me. So then I really wanted to take that two million, but I couldn’t. (laughs)

    KP: So, because of your nonparticipation, you killed the re-launch of Mr. Pibb.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) There’s things that sometimes I don’t do because I don’t want to have people sick of the sight of me. I could be on every panel show in England. I could be on telly every day. But what good would it… why? These people who look through the paper and go, “Where am I? Where am I? I’m not in the paper today. Maybe I don’t exist any more.” Jesus. You know, we put that in there when Maggie says to Andy, “You’ll never be happy because you’ll never be famous enough.” If you judge your happiness on how famous you are or how many column inches you’ve got, or ratings… then you won’t be happy. You’ll never be happy. You’ve got to be happy in what you do. And I couldn’t be prouder of The Office if it had got no ratings, no awards, I couldn’t be prouder of it. Because I enjoyed every minute of it. I enjoyed every minute of writing, acting, and editing. I did love the awards because I like the look on the other people’s faces. (laughs)

    KP: Did you ever go up with a camera just to capture that moment personally?

    GERVAIS: (laughs) It’s usually captured for me, but they always clap and smile like they’re going, “Oh, I’m glad you won.”

    KP: See, at that point, you might as well get the digital camera out, go up to each of them in turn, ask someone to hold the camera, and take the photo as you’re holding the trophy.

    GERVAIS: And go, “Look at you. Say it, admit it – you’re gutted. Admit it – you are absolutely dying inside.”

    KP: “Would you like to touch it?”

    GERVAIS: Yeah. “Admit it – you want to shove this Golden Globe right up my ass, don’t you?”

    KP: “Come on, say it…”

    GERVAIS: The Golden Globe is actually the perfect shape. It is a giant metal suppository. The Emmy? That would be like something out of Se7en. But the Globe, I think, wouldn’t cause too much pain.

    KP: See, you should just invite the other four nominees on stage. You get them all together with you holding the trophy in the center.

    GERVAIS: Hmm. Exactly. It would be like a group of firemen with a battering ram. It would be like that statue when they’re putting up the flag.

    KP: Yes, with you holding it aloft.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Oh dear!

    KP: That is the moment, I think, where they show their true acting skills.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. (laughs) Oh dear.

    KP: That’s a career defining moment. I noticed that, particularly on the panel shows when you rarely used to do it in the past…. I wouldn’t say panel shows – when you were a guest on a show…

    GERVAIS: Yeah, I do chat shows…

    KP: I was thinking like a Room 101…

    GERVAIS: Oh, that was fun ’cause that was almost like a piece of work. Because… yeah, I mean, I try to be funny and stuff, so I would do things like that where it’s… I do chat shows and I do things like Room 101 and I do things like Desert Island Discs because it feels almost nearly a part of your body of work. Whereas when it’s like this… yeah. I mean, I would still do those. I do those sort of things.

    KP: I was just looking at you as a guest on Vic Reeves Examines…

    GERVAIS: My god. I think that may have been the first show that I did as a guest when I was just starting out.

    KP: You were still on the 11 O’Clock Show…

    GERVAIS: I know. I think that was the very first thing, and it was this thing about whistling, and it was… there was no pre-interview. Well, you could tell. It was totally made up as it went along. He’d made it up as he went along, and I had to react. It was quite a nice sort of shambles, as I remember.

    KP: It certainly plays as an interesting piece of make it up on the fly TV.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, yeah. I don’t think anyone was watching it.

    KP: No, and I think Vic knew that.

    GERVAIS: Yes, I think that’s exactly right. It was almost like radio that they filmed.

    KP: There was a little segment showing what art little Vic had done at school…

    GERVAIS: I think he takes those pictures quite seriously. I think he sells them now.

    KP: He does, but I could see the look on your face going, “Should I give my real opinion?”

    GERVAIS: (laughs) I can’t remember them. I did go to an exhibition and he was very funny. The art, you know… he’s very funny.

    KP: And then you had the whistling gentleman from the pub come in.

    GERVAIS: I can’t remember that.

    KP: You sorta gave a look like, “I’m gonna have to react to this. I’m gonna have to be really positive.”

    GERVAIS: Oh god. What was this on YouTube?

    KP: Oh no. It wound up on the internet. Somebody put the entire series up that they had recorded on VHS.

    GERVAIS: Jesus Christ. Yeah.

    KP: Everyone has copies of something somewhere.

    GERVAIS: Well, this interview is already on YouTube.

    KP: It is. It’s already a two star rating.

    GERVAIS: I’m listening to it back now just a few seconds out of synch just to make sure what I said.

    KP: Have I already been reviewed negatively?

    GERVAIS: Yeah, there’s some comments coming up now. I’ve never found either of them funny.

    KP: Yeah. Well.

    GERVAIS: Oh, there’s a good one. They go, “They both rock,” so it’s even.

    KP: Yeah, but that’s probably John Hodgman saying that.

    GERVAIS: Oh, now there’s a man. There’s a man who I can’t get enough of. He asked for a quote for his book, so I said he was a very clever, brilliant man, but he has a face like a giant baby.

    KP: You’re right. I mean, you’re not wrong.

    GERVAIS: I like that in an intellectual.

    KP: John’s a friend of mine. In fact I’m the one who send John your way all those many years ago.

    GERVAIS: Oh, right. He interviewed me for The New Yorker.

    KP: He was basically running up against a brick wall trying to get in contact with you, so I discretely passed along your cell number and said, “Just call him.”

    GERVAIS: Excellent. Well he’s done a lovely turn in The Other Side Of The Truth.

    KP: And now look, he gets in the movie.

    GERVAIS: He’s great.

    KP: And I never got a phone call.

    GERVAIS: I didn’t know you could play a funny vicar.

    KP: You know what? I’m probably less versatile than I think.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) I would love that on my CV. Just the opening sentence. “Dear Sir or Madam, I would like to start by saying I am probably less versatile than I think. But this is what I think anyway. I am very versatile. And you just turn it around in the first two sentences.

    KP: “My entire goal with this CV is to keep expectations low. I cannot fail to impress.”

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Oh dear.

    KP: “I’ve done very little in my life. As you will see.”

    GERVAIS: “Remember – you have to gauge everything by calibrating it at 50% lower than everything I say, and then you will get a true reading of what I am really like as a person.”

    KP: “I perceive myself as mostly competent.”

    GERVAIS: Yeah. (laughs) “Although others have always disagreed.”

    KP: Yes. “And I am always willing to be more competent.”

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah, “I am not capable. I’m very willing but incapable.”

    KP: “Responds well to most criticism.”

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Oh dear! “PS – my anger management classes are going very well.”

    KP: Yes, “and you’ll be seeing me shortly.”

    GERVAIS: John Hodgman is a very funny, nice man.

    KP: And I see that you had many debates. We had a massive two and a half hour argument about what I thought was a vital choice that one should have to make. In fact, I’ll ask you the question if John hasn’t already.

    GERVAIS: What’s that?

    KP: If you had to choose – you could lose one thing painlessly, and your choice is either a finger or a toe. Which would you choose?

    GERVAIS: Yeah, but do I get to choose which finger and which toe?

    KP: Yes.

    GERVAIS: Well, it would probably be a little toe on my right foot.

    KP: That’s what he went with. I went with the finger because I was more interested in the balance issues.

    GERVAIS: Well, I did think of the balance, but I think I use my right big toe a lot more on my right foot than I do on my left. I think I might be right footed and use that right toe a lot more. I’ve got a huge right big toe. It’s twice as big as my left one. In fact, it’s got toes of its own. It’s actually another foot. I’ve got two right feet and one left foot, so it’s nothing to me, that little toe.

    KP: Purely for balance.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. I swim in circles. Yeah I think so. I asked him what would he rather have – I think this is on YouTube – tiny penises for nipples or breasts for testicles. And he said it’s a no brainer. He said tiny penises for nipples.

    KP: I thought his rationale was well thought out. Those breasticles…

    GERVAIS: (laughs)

    KP: You know, he didn’t do the ultimate monkey’s paw and say maybe you could just wish for a small cup size…

    GERVAIS: Yeah.

    KP: He automatically thought they would be double D’s hanging between. He could have specified.

    GERVAIS: He asked me also, flight or invisibility.

    KP: I think you made the valid point of saying it would have to be powered flight.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. That was my fear, was that I’d choose that like in the monkey’s paw and it’s a stitch up and I’m just flying six feet off the ground and people are punching me in the face.

    KP: So, if you had to choose salt or sugar for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

    GERVAIS: You mean to add to things? Obviously you can’t live without either, but you mean… so I could eat a plate of food…

    KP: As the sole additive that you had.

    GERVAIS: As the sole additive, no doubt about it, I’d lose sugar.

    KP: So salt is a no go for loss for you.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, I’d like salt, I think. These are like Maggie questions from Extras. We do this all the time.

    KP: But really, these are the questions that define who you are.

    GERVAIS: In fact, I think in one episode she says what would you rather eat, too salty or too sweet? I said it doesn’t matter. If it’s too anything it would taste disgusting. She went, “Well, I’d have too salty, because I like crisps.”

    KP: Let’s see if you think your way out of this one. So you’re only allowed one food item…

    GERVAIS: Right.

    KP: And you have to eat that food item every day.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, but you have to define what an item is. Because obviously, you’re not going to break it down to its component food groups. You’re obviously not gonna say a roast dinner. So what is an item?

    KP: No, you could say a roast dinner.

    GERVAIS: Oh, you can have a meal.

    KP: Yes, but what is your meal that you would choose for perpetuity.

    GERVAIS: Jesus.

    KP: But you can’t have anything else. No other variation. It would be that exact same meal for every meal for the rest of your life.

    GERVAIS: Well obviously, I mean, surviving and health is very different to what you get sick of. So assuming you’d get sick of everything, I would go for something that would at least bring me health. So a rough estimate I’d probably have to go something like… oh god, it’s difficult. Because you’d need a chicken or fish in there, wouldn’t you. You’d have to have a chicken or fish. Oh god. It would all get bad, wouldn’t it? It would all get really bad.

    KP: I’d say after the first week you’d pretty much regret it.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, you’re screwed anyway, so you want to get all the groups. Oh, it’s got to be like a meat and two… I mean, the sensible thing to do would be something like a Cobb salad. I think you’re pretty much covered there.

    KP: Yeah, but what kind of life are you leading then?

    GERVAIS: Well, you started it. Cobb salad. I think you’re annoyed that I’ve come up with the best idea you’ve ever heard. And it shot through your head. You thought, “That’s brilliant.” It’s so much, it’s got everything. Avocados, it’s got chicken, it’s got bacon, it’s got the salad. It’s got every vitamin under the sun there and it’s got an egg. And you’re kicking yourself, and that shot through and you felt slightly stupid and you lashed out. And shame on you.

    KP: And now that you called me out, I’m crying right now.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. So Cobb salad. There you go.

    KP: I chose a pizza with literally everything.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) I take back my speech. You win! Why didn’t I think of that? A pizza with literally everything is the best answer I’ve ever heard. A pizza with literally everything!! Oh god.

    KP: Now, admittedly, it’s gonna take a while to pick through things each meal.

    GERVAIS: Oh god. I’d just have a piece of toast. I’m fine.

    KP: But you got a buffet on a crust.

    GERVAIS: It’s amazing. That’s amazing. A pizza with literally everything. Yeah. I mean, I’m looking at it now and it’s actually got a can of Coke and a pint of beer. Oh, amazing.

    KP: You gotta monkey’s paw through these things.

    GERVAIS: But you’d be fat and happy, but I’d be healthy and bored.

    KP: It is a remarkable trade off that I probably would have to deal with, wouldn’t I?

    GERVAIS: It’s funny, because that is… I am fat and happy. Where I see a lot of other people healthy and bored. (laughs) It’s like, that’s what I chose in life. I chose the pizza with everything.

    KP: When was the last time you had a Cobb salad?

    GERVAIS: I can tell you exactly when. It was the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles about a month ago.

    KP: And prior to that, the last time you were in the Four Seasons Hotel?

    GERVAIS: I think it was. I think the last time was when I was in the Four Seasons in Los Angeles. (laughs)

    KP: So the Four Seasons is literally the personification of your wish.

    GERVAIS: But salad makes sense when it’s 85 degrees and you’re sitting outside.

    KP: No it really doesn’t, I wouldn’t think.

    GERVAIS: It… yeah. Well, I only had it once. I was there a week and I had it once. I didn’t make a habit of it.

    KP: Was it based on a recommendation? Had you had Cobb salad prior…

    GERVAIS: No, but I like it because it is a little bit of everything.

    KP: So you can feel healthy.

    GERVAIS: There’s nothing quite like… I laugh at vegetables. They’ve got nothing. They’re smug and I laugh in their face. I should dismiss the avocado. But when you taste it, it’s like the banana of the vegetable world. It’s tasty, it’s fatty, chewy. There’s a bit of substance to it. And I respect it.

    KP: That’s why the early Californians called it the calana.

    GERVAIS: What does that mean?

    KP: I don’t know, I just made it up.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Okay. Yeah. Oh dear. It’s like the chicken of the tree.

    KP: It is literally the chicken of the tree.

    GERVAIS: It’s the chicken of the tree. I want…

    KP: That’s what avocado means in the native language.

    GERVAIS: If the Avocado Society of America need a slogan: “Avocado – It’s the chicken of the tree.”

    KP: I want to see the PSA that you do for them.

    GERVAIS: I don’t even know if they grow on trees. Do they? I imagine they’re more on bushes, aren’t they?

    KP: No, I believe they’re avocado trees.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, but you believe some strange things.

    KP: And I’m willing to put my complete sincerity behind it in hopes that you’ll go along with it.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, but the difference between me and you is you’re gonna look it up afterwards on Wikipedia.

    KP: I could look it up right now to make it really awkward.

    GERVAIS: Okay, go on then. What is an avocado, as well? I think it must be a fruit. It’s got a seed, it’s got flesh, and it’s got a skin, so it must be a fruit, surely.

    KP: Let’s see… avocado. We’ll go to Wikipedia because they’re never wrong.

    GERVAIS: Don’t diss Wikipedia. I’ve dissed it before and I felt guilty because they’re a non profit-making organization.

    KP: No, they are trees.

    GERVAIS: They’re fruit then, aren’t they…

    KP: It is a fruit, yes.

    GERVAIS: It is a fruit, but I’ll tell you what…

    KP: Also known as the butter pear, or the alligator pear.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. It may be a fruit, but in a war, it would side with the vegetables.

    KP: I would love to see the fruit-vegetable war.

    GERVAIS: The tomato would be… well, it would literally go red because it wouldn’t know what to do, but I think they would sort of… The fruit goes, “You’re a fruit…” and it would look over the vegetables and the vegetables go, “Think of everything we’ve been through. Think of it.” And the tomatoes would go, “Okay, we’re gonna fight with the vegetables.” And all the plums and tomatoes would be going, “Fucking tossers. You fucking…” and the avocado would go over there and the fruits wouldn’t even know it’s a fruit. The avocado would go, “Leave him alone, leave him alone!” And the fruit…

    KP: You sure they wouldn’t just call them, like, the Vichy fruit?

    GERVAIS: Yeah, they’d be caught in the middle, I think. I don’t know. That’s interesting. I really don’t know what would happen there. Maybe you could talk to John Hodgman.

    KP: Or would the tomatoes be the ultimate double agent?

    GERVAIS: I don’t know, but I feel…

    KP: The fruits going, “Listen, you’re the one who can pull it off. You need to go in there as a vegetable and find out what they’re doing.”

    GERVAIS: I really think a tomato feels more at home with other vegetables than fruits. I genuinely believe that. There’s no tomato jam; there’s tomato ketchup.

    KP: I think there’s no tomato jam because no one had ever tried.

    GERVAIS: I know but it wouldn’t… it’s silly. There’s marmalade that’s made of oranges. There’s strawberry jam. You’ve got all the fruit jams you want. And likewise there’s no strawberry ketchup. So let’s be grown up about this. Let’s not look at the biology – let’s look into the heart and ask it, “What are you?” It would say, “I’m a vegetable.” It would look at other vegetables and go, “Listen, I don’t care about who my biological… you’re my real dad.”

    KP: But do you ever think about the hurt that might be there? He might be the outcast of the fruit world, going, “I could have the taste really if you just give me…” “No. You do not taste like us.”

    GERVAIS: Yeah, I think it’s been kept from him. I think no one has ever… I think it’s a revelation. I don’t think the tomato knows it’s a fruit, really. It’s so vegetable-y. It’s so…

    KP: Do you think it’s like the white child raised by Indians?

    GERVAIS: Exactly like that. Although we call them Native Americans.

    KP: As do we.

    GERVAIS: (laughs)

    KP: You know, really this interview is just a function of you tearing me down now, isn’t it?

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah, but you still are winning. You’re still up because you got ten out of ten for pizza with literally everything.

    KP: I appreciate that. It’s how I win all arguments now. I just pull that out.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. Have we done anything so far that you can use?

    KP: Believe me, this is on par with all of our previous interviews.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Well, then I can only blame you.

    KP: I’m completely fine with that. Really, aren’t these the important topics we’re discussing?

    GERVAIS: They are. I mean they’re things that…

    KP: They’re timeless.

    GERVAIS: I was asking Karl Pilkington today… He was getting really stressed…

    KP: No…

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah. I was saying, if you’re the last man on a desert island and there’s one orangutan, a female orangutan, and you have kids with it, little kids…

    KP: So we’re already pushing past that initial choice…

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah. And I get him hooked in, like, he’s got no choice. And I can see it happening. I can see my slight of hand work when his eyebrows go down and now he’s… ’cause I don’t give him a chance to go, “Definitely not.” He’s already there.

    KP: Now he’s a committed family man.

    GERVAIS: And I know that I’ve got him there, sitting on the beach. And now he’s, like, fifty, and he’s shaved her arms and done something with her hair, and she’s slimmed down a little bit, and he’s got his three little oranguhumans just sort of running around. They look a bit like him but with shorter legs. And I say, and then the kids grow up and you’re there and you’re in your twilight years and you’re just sitting there holding hands with your wife. I said, would you look back and think it was weird, the first 30 years? You know, “I had houses.” And he thought about it for a while, and he goes, “I wouldn’t do it.” And he’d gone through this whole thing, the whole scenario with me, and then at the end he said he wouldn’t do it. I said, “Is it the sex?” He goes, “Well, yeah, but I wouldn’t…” I said, “Well, what if you can artificially inseminate her?” And he went, “I wouldn’t want to. Forget it.” I go, “Then you’ve got to populate the world.” He goes, “Forget it. If we couldn’t survive, we don’t deserve to survive.” (laughs) Oh god!

    KP: I love how he called you out on your slight of hand, though.

    GERVAIS: I know.

    KP: Which was marvelous. The fact that you pushed right through that initial shock and go, “No, you’ve already got the kids. You’re committed.”

    GERVAIS: But the thing is I know that I can hook Karl with a story. I know he’s just like the best person to tell anything to. So I go Karl… and he knows. And I go, “Imagine this…” And I’ve already got him because his brain’s going. It’s in there. I’ve caught him. I’ve trapped him. He’s come into the jam jar.

    KP: You’ve already done the “ooh shiny” moment.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, exactly. (laughs) “Oh, it’s amazing!”

    KP: We were supposed to do an interview with Karl and never heard back.

    GERVAIS: Oh, that’s ridiculous.

    KP: He’s almost as elusive as Jonathan Ross.

    GERVAIS: Oh yeah. He gets enough publicity. Speak to Karl.

    KP: Although considering how much money he’s getting from the license payers, maybe I should just call the government and ask for an interview with Jonathan.

    GERVAIS: Me and Karl have to earn our money in the free market.

    KP: I have noticed over the past year or so Jonathan is making more and more awkward jokes about how much he’s wasting.

    GERVAIS: Well, that’s probably to annoy the papers that say he’s not worth it. You get to a point where… that’s why I still say I tend to be arrogant at awards shows, because I like annoying the people it annoys. (laughs) So you get to that position where you think, “Why is my life annoying someone else?”

    KP: So you’re saying you’re just going for the Daily Mail readers.

    GERVAIS: Well, I’ve named nothing.

    KP: I have, though, and you haven’t denied it.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Wow. (laughs)

    KP: That was my own cunning trap, Ricky.

    GERVAIS: I don’t know that I am going for the Daily Mail reader.

    KP: I’m sorry, the ones who go for the coloring.

    GERVAIS: I don’t know that…

    KP: Because we both know about…

    GERVAIS: I don’t think people are that are stupid, anyway. I think people read these things, but I don’t think they’re swayed either way. It’s a weird thing. It’s like… I don’t know.

    KP: So who are the people that test you at this point?

    GERVAIS: No, what I mean is… yeah, if a journalist says…

    KP: You hate Simon Pegg…

    GERVAIS: Oh, that was mental, wasn’t it? Because Simon was clearly joking.

    KP: I love how they’re so desperate for some kind of feud – because there’s nothing happening in the news right now, by the way.

    GERVAIS: Of course. Well, apart from the war and the credit crunch, yeah.

    KP: They need to start a feud between you two.

    GERVAIS: And Simon sent me a thing saying, “Apparently we’re at war because I called you a fat idiot.” And I sent back, “It’s glandular, you cunt.” (laughs)

    KP: He wasn’t buying it though. Are you familiar with The Little Rascals in the UK? The black and white comedies?

    GERVAIS: Yeah, I’ve heard of that.

    KP: You just brought up glandular. I was doing some research about the film series. And they had, starring in the early versions of the series, these incredibly overweight kids to the point that they looked like they were three and a half foot tall and stuffed in sausage casings. That kind of overweight.

    GERVAIS: Where they actually lose their eyes. Where their forehead starts meeting their cheeks.

    KP: Yes, where it’s just a gradual descent and enveloping of all sensory organs. And they found out that one of the kids was glandular.

    GERVAIS: Apparently it’s about 2% of obesity is glandular. That could be called genetically… basically not their fault.

    KP: I think it’s the ones that you see in the papers when they’re two and they’re called, like, “Thunder Baby”.

    GERVAIS: Then there’s the ones that we’re getting now, and you see the ones that are really fat, and then you see the parents are really fat, and you wanna go, “Well, yeah, because you’re feeding them what you eat. You’re feeding them too much.” Kids are mammals. They’ll eat what is put in front of them and they crave fat and sugar. You’ve got to control it. It’s killing them with kindness, that’s what they think. It’s terrible. And they’ve started something now – we’ve talked about this on the new podcast – they’re weighing the kids at school and they’re sending a letter to the parents saying “Your child is obese.” And my point is the parents will go, “Yeah, I know – we have to push him out the door to get him to school. We know how fat he is. We have to change his trousers every two months because he eats too much.” Like the parents don’t know when their kid is waddling and sweating from going one room to the other, of course they know he’s obese. But when he goes, “Mom, I want a biscuit.” They go, “Oh, give him a biscuit. It’ll shut him up. Give him a biscuit.” It’s ridiculous.

    KP: Well, that’s why they’ve started spray painting them with those scarlet O’s.

    GERVAIS: The scarlet what?

    KP: O’s.

    GERVAIS: What are they?

    KP: O for “Obese”.

    GERVAIS: Oh, I see. (laughs)

    KP: “Oh, see, the fatty’s got the mark.”

    GERVAIS: Although I don’t think you need to spray them. I think you can tell. It’s the ones that block out more light than the other children.

    KP: They’ve also installed them with those backing up beepers.

    GERVAIS: Yeah exactly. They have other children spinning around them in their orbit.

    KP: “Child Reversing.”

    GERVAIS: They start appearing on the ordinance survey map.

    KP: Yes. “Oh, he’s now a landmark.”

    GERVAIS: Yeah – “You can’t move him; he’s a permanent fixture.”

    KP: That’s horrible. This is the audience of the future, Ricky, if they make it that far.

    GERVAIS: Well, they’re good, fat people, because they can’t move. They can’t even use the remote after a while because their fingers are too fat. So if you’re on the channel their telly is stuck on, they just watch you.

    KP: Yes, but imagine if you had the corner on the muumuu market at this point.

    GERVAIS: That would be good.

    KP: Now the market’s supplying all of these overweight people.

    GERVAIS: Well, some of them don’t even bother getting dressed. They just lay in bed.

    KP: Just lay in bed?

    GERVAIS: Yeah. I’m starting to feel sorry for them now.

    KP: They’d change if they could, Ricky. It’s not their fault they wished for the pizza with everything.

    GERVAIS: Well, I do this on my standup…

    KP: You go down…

    GERVAIS: He weighs a thousand pounds, and my point is when he got to 500 pounds, didn’t he start thinking, “That’s a bit much?” That that’s heavy for what is essentially a land mammal? How does it get to that? How do you suddenly start getting 500… I mean, it’s different… by then, something else kicks in, doesn’t it? Something else kicks in.

    KP: Sort of a self denial, or…

    GERVAIS: I don’t know.

    KP: Maybe they live close to a canal.

    GERVAIS: Well, maybe some of them who do get to this point already have some sort of genuine mental illness. I don’t know. I don’t know why they don’t… because… Oh, it’s incredible. Some of them literally can’t move. There was this awful program…

    KP: You’re going to name one of those wonderful documentaries that air in the UK…

    GERVAIS: It was in the UK, yeah. It was called Fat Girls and Feeders. And it’s about these men who find women on the internet and they’re attracted to them, and these women are flattered, and then they feed them until they can’t walk anymore, and that’s their thing. It’s like something from a horror film. I mean, the mentality of the men.

    KP: So it’s sort of like Hansel and Gretel?

    GERVAIS: It’s weird. And they’re trapped. And they have to be saved by their family, and they just keep feeding them And they want to get them to the point… and what it is, it is a psychological disorder on the male part. They want to get them to the point where they’re totally dependant on them, so it’s a power thing over another human. So they have to wash them and clean them. Empty their bedpan. And it’s really, really strange.

    KP: I’m really glad I found out about that.

    GERVAIS: See, I brought the tone down.

    KP: But now what you’ve done is you’ve rock bottomed it, so now we can only go up.

    GERVAIS: Well, sort of. Except I could probably find some more horrific things to talk about. Or find some really horrific things to talk about and then laugh about them so you’re really in a turmoil. You don’t know what to believe anymore. I’ve actually changed your moral compass to a point where you would leave here now and you’d be a different person and you probably would do something quite horrendous.

    KP: I’m waiting.

    GERVAIS: (laughs)

    KP: When you throw the gauntlet down you’ve got to follow up on it.

    GERVAIS: You can’t use any of this.

    KP: Have you read the other interviews that we’ve done with other people? Surely you haven’t.

    GERVAIS: Damn, I’m worried now. I was saying this because I thought you couldn’t use it. Now I have to go back and look at what I said..

    KP: Trust me. One of the things we enjoy is the fact that at least there’s a conversational aspect to it. Even if, frankly, I’m gonna have sleepless nights over it.

    GERVAIS: I think this will have people rushing to watch my standup special. They go, “Well, if he says those sort of things to a learned member of the press, what is he gonna say to a load of people in a room that are drunk?”

    KP: Now, who are you saying it to again?

    GERVAIS: I don’t know. I’m like one of those people – I’ve lost the will to live now. I just want a Mars bar.

    KP: That’s good. We’ll call up Jamie Oliver.

    GERVAIS: I’m seeing him tomorrow.

    KP: Oh really. Are you now on social terms with him?

    GERVAIS: Yeah.

    KP: Or does he have, like, a weekly barbecue?

    GERVAIS: No, he’s a nice bloke. I’ve only met him a few times. He’s coming to a screening of Ghost Town.

    KP: Is that what you’re going on Jonathan for this Thursday?

    GERVAIS: Exactly, yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Wow. It’s like you’ve got a big telescope.

    KP: Well, I keep up on happenings within the UK.

    GERVAIS: I know. I was impressed last time when you started saying things from… you shocked me with one that was really obscure.

    KP: Well, give me time, I’m sure there’ll be another. Now going back, speaking of the standup, I remember pitching and railing and wondering and questioning and querying you in one of our first interviews, after having seen you UK standup, about why it wasn’t being released to DVD in the US, and you claimed that the humor wouldn’t travel and you were wary about it crossing over…

    GERVAIS: No, I did have to… well, there’s two reasons. Obviously, some of it won’t travel. Cultural references won’t travel. You would get references to some of my Big Brother winners and the Goodies and Jonathan Ross, but most people wouldn’t. So I take out all those very specific cultural references. And then anything else goes, really. I don’t take out anything else on concept or taste and decency. And the things that are left are all the universal subjects: Hitler, famine…

    KP: Again, it’s a feel good night.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) I could have released the videos, but I think 30% of it would be lost. So what I did was…

    KP: It certainly would have cut off the bootlegging market.

    GERVAIS: … I conflated them, and so it’s like you’ve got the greatest hits. I gave you the greatest hits.

    KP: So we’re seeing the Amalgamated Ricky Gervais Stand-Up Special.

    GERVAIS: You’re seeing like, oh, um… you’re seeing all three shows with all the bits referencing people you’ve never heard of taken out. And so who’s left? Hitler. Gandhi. Stephen Hawking. And I think when you’ve got those three…

    KP: And you’re assuming Americans have heard of at least two of those.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) When we have to do the DVD for The Office, we repackaged it for BBC America, and there was a glossary. And I understood the glossary of terms like “wanker” and “bender”. But they put in Shakespeare. And I thought, “Now that is too patronizing.” Because if someone’s getting that DVD and they haven’t heard of William Shakespeare, they are not gonna like The Office. Let me guarantee you that now.

    KP: But you’re not looking at the other side. Maybe this was their clever way of getting some poor American to look at that and go, “Who’s this Shakespeare guy?” And that person went to the library they’d never gone to before, found Shakespeare, and went, “You know what? The Office has opened up an entire literary world to me.”

    GERVAIS: I still stand by it. If you have heard and seen the British version of The Office, you have definitely heard of William Shakespeare. My Venn diagram would be two complete circles; one engulfed in the other.

    KP: It’s not really a Venn diagram at that point, is it?

    GERVAIS: And if you know what a Venn diagram is, you’ve seen the English version of The Office and you know who William Shakespeare is. (laughs) That would be another subset.

    KP: Yeah, with about 15 or 16 states in the US that exist outside that Venn diagram.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, exactly. (laughs)

    KP: Now, if it also included, I don’t know, Days Of Our Lives, or some other soap opera…

    GERVAIS: Well, yeah. It’s not a perfect system.

    KP: It’s not, but you need to fix it, Ricky.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. But then again, what sort of weird society is it that goes around giving you one choice of meal for the rest of your life?

    KP: A society that realized that choices must be made.

    GERVAIS: Death row is the only establishment that gives you one meal for the rest of your life, and it is only one meal.

    KP: No, I think by law there’s a requirement of some kind of variety even there.

    GERVAIS: Is there? That’s the saddest thing in the world, being given a last meal. I can’t even think about it.

    KP: What if you were to ask for a taste of freedom?

    GERVAIS: Yeah, exactly. A pizza with literally everything, and that includes a key to the cell. Oh, why is there still death row. Now I’ve brought the tone down again.

    KP: You have. I think this is becoming one of the most philosophical interviews you’ve probably ever done.

    GERVAIS: Yeah… May I just get serious? Stop capital punishment. There you go. Stop capital punishment. Stop killing people. Stop state condoned violence. It doesn’t do any good.

    KP: This is why you’re so good on Comic Relief.

    GERVAIS: (laughs)

    KP: Now I see why you don’t do any in-studio bits.

    GERVAIS: Did you see the bit I did last year when I pretended to be in Africa and cry?

    KP: Yeah, actually, I showed it to an audience at a film festival a few months back.

    GERVAIS: Well, one of the execs at BBC said that when I cried, donations hit the peak of the night. And then when they realized it was a joke, they dropped. So in my own way, I have affected Africa.

    KP: Yes. Someone can’t be cured of some kind of very simple disease now.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. And that’s my fault.

    KP: They lost the ability to buy at least a thousand mosquito nets because of you.

    GERVAIS: And if you haven’t heard of The Office, don’t know what a Venn diagram is, and never heard of William Shakespeare, you’ve never heard of Africa, either.

    KP: Well, that’s true. I think you need to start a Venn diagram of things that Americans have never heard of.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) That’s easy. That’s everything in England. Everything in England except Simon Cowell.

    KP: Just one circle that says Americans and one circle that says the world.

    GERVAIS: America is the world. Let’s face it.

    KP: You gotta think, “All we need is a war there.” Then we’ll know more than we ever want to know about it.

    GERVAIS: No, you can’t have a war here. We’re an island. No one travels to have a war in.

    KP: Could happen.

    GERVAIS: Well, France would have a go. They’re very close. That’s happened before.

    KP: Yes. I love the fact that France is waiting on the sidelines going, “Oh, we’re just itching for a fight.”

    GERVAIS: Exactly, yeah.

    KP: “Give us a moment – you’ll be ours.”

    GERVAIS: It’s 22 miles. You can nearly walk it.

    KP: For the people there, the wars of the Middle Ages never ended.

    GERVAIS: Well, that’s where… oh, you don’t have that sign, do you – putting two fingers up. You have one finger, don’t you?

    KP: I know which gesture you’re speaking of.

    GERVAIS: You know what it comes from, don’t you?

    KP: Yes.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, exactly.

    KP: Now we’ve got literally five or six people scrambling who are reading this interview looking to find our what we’re talking about, because we’re not gonna tell them.

    GERVAIS: Well, I suppose it sort of makes sense, as well, because Americans are a lot younger. The post bow and arrow era. You’re showing that middle finger that was on the trigger.

    KP: Yes – when you’ve had your pointer finger shot off.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah, exactly. I can’t pull a trigger. Well, John Hodgman couldn’t, anyway, because he’s had his fingers removed instead of his toes… Oh no, that’s you, isn’t it?

    KP: That was me. He chose toe.

    GERVAIS: Yeah, exactly.

    KP: See, that’s my own way of making sure that warfare doesn’t perpetuate itself.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. People can’t pull the trigger.

    KP: But they can run. With a nice, even gait. And that was all I was really looking for in the end.

    GERVAIS: Run away. Being able to run away.

    KP: That is exactly it. That is what I chose. I don’t want to fight. I don’t need that fighting finger.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. You can run away and count your nine fingers.

    KP: I’ll still be alive to do so.

    GERVAIS: I suppose so.

    KP: So, in the end, I think I made the smarter decision. Obviously John, being the warring fellow that he is… as you’ve seen, he’s a very violent man.

    GERVAIS: I think he wants to continue playing piano but without the pedal.

    KP: The pedal just holds you back.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

    KP: That’s because he was born and raised playing just saloon piano.

    GERVAIS: I can imagine. John is the man least likely you’d ever see in the saloon. Except he’d be the doc who would go, “I don’t want to get involved. I’m just taking a bullet out. I don’t know anything.”

    KP: “Why did I come from the East? Why did I let my wife talk me into this? I had a nice practice in Boston. She said, ‘Yeah, but the land is so cheap…’”

    GERVAIS: (laughs) I’d love to see him in a really rough saloon!

    KP: Sitting there with his fruity drink.

    GERVAIS: Imagine if he got drafted. Imagine John in Saigon in 1972. Just with the same glasses on. Just in all his equipment.

    KP: Sitting back, singing a Doors tune to himself.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Oh god!

    KP: “This pack is really chafing on me. Can any of you help?”

    GERVAIS: “My good man, if you don’t know what chafing is, please look it up. I have a dictionary in my…” (laughs)

    KP: “Is anyone up for Scrabble?”

    GERVAIS: Poor John! It’s like we’re a couple of bullies! It’s like we’re calling him a little bookworm behind his back. Just because he likes to read books.

    KP: He’s rough and tumble. Have you seen the photos of him with his ponytail?

    GERVAIS: I don’t want to.

    KP: Oh, it’s a completely different John.

    GERVAIS: No, I don’t like that at all. I don’t like the idea of that. That’s brought the tone down. That’s brought the tone down worse than having the go at capital punishment.

    KP: So you haven’t seen the new book yet?

    GERVAIS: No I haven’t, no. I wonder if he used my quote. I’ll be so insulted if he didn’t.

    KP: Oh, it’s on the back.

    GERVAIS: Oh is it?

    KP: It’s rather prominent.

    GERVAIS: You know everything. You’re like some sort of weird oracle. Unless you’re part… I think you’re, like, some sort of cyber creature. You’re permanently plugged into Wikipedia.

    KP: Yes, I exist within my own matrix.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. So have you got anything you can use for the interview yet?

    KP: I think so.

    GERVAIS: I think these are the highlights. Jesus I’m struggling.

    KP: You’re struggling to find highlights?

    GERVAIS: Right. I love the fruit vegetable war. That’s got to make it in the top ten. I love the one meal. I was so smug when I thought I did a better answer than you.

    KP: I know. I was letting you go with that.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) And the more we can insult John Hodgman, I think we’ve got a great interview.

    KP: But I will say this. Let me make it clear – he is a wonderful person.

    GERVAIS: Well, yeah, but you don’t need to worry about this because you’re in charge of the edit, anyway. So you can just leave out all the nasty things that you’ve said and you probably will.

    KP: No no, I tend to leave them in because it preserves the flavor of the awkwardness.

    GERVAIS: I quite like the fact that you couldn’t just cheat and say it’s editorial – you had to use it as a quote. You had to say it in this interview for real so you could say it as a quote.

    KP: It’s the only way to preserve the integrity of this entire conversation, isn’t it?

    GERVAIS: I started off taking this interview quite seriously and now I feel like a fool.

    KP: So did I, and so do I.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Oh good. Well good. It’s been a pleasure.

    KP: And so the standup, were you happy with the US tour?

    GERVAIS: Loved it. Absolutely loved it.

    KP: Was there anything that surprised you?

    GERVAIS: It was great. I love the Kodak. I did two nights at the Kodak, and then that was my favorite venue in the world. And then I did Madison Square Garden, and that was just as good. I thought they were amazing crowds. In fact, doing America made me really love standup, and I’ve started working… I now work on my standup every day, a little bit, and I never did before. I used to sort of do it in… and now I can’t wait. I go to sleep at night and I wake up, and I’ve got a routine. I think of something new every, every night now. I can’t wait. I get a little adrenaline rush thinking, “This will be my best standup ever.” And it was because of the American dates. They were so smart, they were so on it. They all knew their Shakespeare. They knew what a Venn diagram was. And they’d all seen the English version of The Office.

    KP: Now, which cities did you play?

    GERVAIS: LA and New York.

    KP: Cased closed.

    GERVAIS: Well. In fact, on it I say it’s lovely to be doing this American tour. I go, “It’s not a tour. Let’s face it. I messed up and left out the middle bit.” I think that’s in the finished cut.

    KP: Have you ever traversed the US via car or other means of transport?

    GERVAIS: I haven’t. I’ve only been to LA and New York. No – I’ve been to Boston, obviously. And I think Texas, I went once. But no, it’s…yeah, it’s New York and LA all the way. And I think I’ve spent a lot more time in New York. Well, I know I have. It’s probably 95% of all my time in America has been New York. And when I say New York, I mean Manhattan.

    KP: Don’t you have a residence now in New York?

    GERVAIS: I do, yeah. So now when I say Manhattan, I mean the Upper East Side.

    KP: So not only have you gone to only the elite centers of the US, you now live in the elitist part of the elite center.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. It’s funny as well, because I’ve never been interested in politics. I never even watch British politics. But I’ve been following this election more than anything else. Maybe it’s ’cause I’m gonna be there. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent more time in America. Maybe it’s because Obama’s, like, the most charismatic senator in my living memory. But I can’t believe that one of the criticisms of him is that he’s elitist. What they mean is he’s educated. It’s sort of like, imagine not trusting a man because he knows about stuff. (laughs) It’s like the whole of America do to him what we just did to John Hodgman.

    KP: Now you’re making me feel bad all over again.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. It’s like, “Well, how were we meant to choose our president?” Just a drinking competition?

    KP: Rock paper scissors?

    GERVAIS: I don’t know what he’s done wrong by being sort of thoughtful and intelligent…

    KP: I think you really just give them a wedgie, and whoever doesn’t cry gets to be president.

    GERVAIS: Someone asked me what I thought of Sarah Palin the other day, and I said I know one thing about her and I don’t need to know anything else. And that is that she thinks that if you’re raped by even a family member, you should not have an abortion. There is nothing… I don’t need to know any more about her. In fact, I don’t want to know anything. That’s the only thing I ever want to know about her.

    KP: And beyond that, in her municipality when she was mayor, she made rape victims pay for their own rape kit.

    GERVAIS: Okay. Yeah. But the thing is… it’s like you’ve told me that Hitler cheated at Trivial Pursuit. I’m not going to hate him any more.

    KP: Oh no, I’m not saying that that was meant to push you over the edge you’ve so clearly crossed.

    GERVAIS: No, that is mental though. That’s proper… that’s mental, because that’s slightly weird because it’s almost like a psychological torture.

    KP: Well, that’s like slapping someone and having them say thank you.

    GERVAIS: It’s genuinely… Okay, yeah, now I got a little bit of an adrenaline rush there. That is worse. Okay, now I know two things. Jesus Christ.

    KP: She’s just insane. Have you seen the video of her being exorcised of witchcraft?

    GERVAIS: Oh, for fuck’s sake.

    KP: Oh, YouTube is great. You can do a double watch of that and her talent portion of the beauty contest…

    GERVAIS: Oh, someone’s put one on today that I saw. “Sarah Palin is like David Brent.”

    KP: Oh really?

    GERVAIS: Yeah, and she does this thing. They show the thing from The Office and this thing from Sarah Palin, and it’s just like it. It’s like when Brent lies, it’s really good. It’s really funny. I laughed, I laughed. Because I knew what was coming. I knew what they meant before they showed the bit from The Office, and it’s really, really good.

    KP: So how does it feel to be a cultural touchstone?

    GERVAIS: Well, the other day someone said McCain was like David Brent, so maybe David Brent’s just like everyone.

    KP: So he’s an archetype.

    GERVAIS: Yeah. Maybe he’s a cliché. Maybe I’m not as clever as I first thought.

    KP: Maybe he’s an archiché.

    GERVAIS: (laughs)

    KP: I’m glad that such a simple, stupid joke as combining two words got a laugh out of you.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) That’s good. I like that. Unfortunately, I’m gonna have to go now.

    KP: Well it’s not the first time I’ve head you say that.

    GERVAIS: This is always a pleasure.

    KP: And I still say finger and not toe. I should email you the contract… because we made a bet on the finger or toe thing. I was about to do a convention with the people we were debating with, and we made a public bet about who would be the winner and who would have more people choosing finger or toe.

    GERVAIS: People are always gonna choose the toe.

    KP: You know, and I don’t get it.

    GERVAIS: People are always gonna choose the toe. Same as anything to do with eyes. Nothing’s gonna be eyes. I think they’d lose both hands before they lost both eyes. People want to see. People want to be out there and people want to…

    KP: Why don’t people want to have good balance? And a steady gait?

    GERVAIS: (laughs) I love this new campaign.

    KP: And here’s the thing; we actually were so bad in our argument we pulled in the table next to us at the bar we were arguing at. And this lovely couple who were having dinner, going, “You know, we couldn’t help overhearing – what the hell are you arguing about?” So we let them in, and the woman goes, “Well, I’d pick finger.” “Why would you pick finger?” “Well, I’m a runner.” That made sense. That person’s a runner.

    GERVAIS: That’s true.

    KP: Her boyfriend, at that point, then picked toe. And we proceeded over the next 40 minutes…

    GERVAIS: Because he’s a pianist.

    KP: Well, we proceeded to destroy their relationship as they began arguing about it.

    GERVAIS: Brilliant.

    KP: And eventually left the pub ticked off at each other about the choices they had made.

    GERVAIS: That’s amazing.

    KP: I’m just saying – John and I bring people together.

    GERVAIS: Yeah.

    KP: And tear them apart.

    GERVAIS: It’s like the opposite of the Nobel Peace Prize.

    KP: It is the Hodgman-Plume Peace Prize.

    GERVAIS: And say hello to John for me.

    KP: I will do so. His book comes out next week.

    GERVAIS: Brilliant.

    KP: Then he starts on his book tour.

    GERVAIS: If it does better than the last one, it’s mainly due to my quote.

    KP: That should be your quote on the third one.

    GERVAIS: On the third one, yeah.

    KP: “I would like to claim all responsibility for any sale that he might have gotten.”

    GERVAIS: I think it should be all my quotes and just him on the back saying, “This is a book of Ricky Gervais’ quotes.”

    KP: I don’t know why you don’t market that.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) Yeah. I suppose that’s sort of what writing a book is, isn’t it? A book full of your quotes.

    KP: Here’s something that aggravated me. There’s an author named Sarah Vowell in the US who does these wonderful books exploring history. Very much like what John does, but she does it for history and it’s actually true. I was reading the reviews of her new book on Amazon, and one of the criticisms was “It’s too wordy.”

    GERVAIS: (laughs)

    KP: I mean, by it’s very definition, shouldn’t a book be wordy?

    GERVAIS: That’s really good.

    KP: Otherwise it’s just blank pages!

    GERVAIS: Yeah. I think Leonardo DaVinci had a similar criticism where there was “too many pictures.”

    KP: “You’re too thinky.”

    GERVAIS: Yeah, “too thinky.” (laughs) That’s good. I like that. “John Hodgman’s too thinky.”

    KP: Well, it’s been a pleasure yet again. We’ll have to make this like a yearly thing.

    GERVAIS: It’s a deal.

    KP: Yeah, I’ve heard that before.

    GERVAIS: (laughs) No, definitely.

    ##

  • Trailer Park: Juliana Hatfield

    header_stipp.jpg

    By Christopher Stipp

    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    This is one of the issues with conducting an e-mail interview: you could get one sentence answers.

    I’ve been vacillating between being thankful that Juliana Hatfield, whose new album “How To Walk Away” and new book “When I Grow Up” is now available, answered what I punted over to her in-box and downright disappointed at what followed. Yes, maybe she’s just not that into what I was asking. Maybe I was a wretched question asker. Maybe it was just me. What I am positive of, though, is that Juliana was at the nexus and genesis of a musical shift for me. I went from listening to Top 10 radio to being ensconced and swaddled in rough power chords that connoted a youthful sensibility that just spoke to me.

    On that same note, though, there is a trap you can fall in if you look at acts like Juliana or a host of other bands that just happened to be fronted by women. It was seen as a movement of sorts but no one asked those labeled as such if that was the intention. Many times it wasn’t. Juliana happened to be lumped into that group that was looked at with a feminine eye. She just wanted to express herself. And that she did as she scored big with “My Sister”, “Spin The Bottle” on the Reality Bites soundtrack and enjoyed a “guilt by association” lifestyle until the fickle tastes of music lovers went on to something else. Juliana didn’t change, though. Unlike the musical stylings of Jewel, changing from folksie to dance (!) to country, Juliana kept refining and experimenting with her sound. Her live shows were, and still are, unique in that she’s a true musician insofar that her concerts are shockingly more focused on the music than they are on the theatrics. While many of those acts many would remember from the 1990s have long since ditched their guitars for day jobs Juliana has been on an even keel of sorts in releasing music in the years following the alternative craze.

    This interview came about for the reason that, like the Remington pitchman, I’ve been financially supporting her operation one release at a time since 1992. I’ve become a lot less obsessive since my days in college when I had to absolutely, positively needed to own anything she put to CD and being able to promote her latest effort which is simply solid in every regard. It almost makes the rather brief responses worth it but I am still wondering it had anything to do with my delivery.

    Here, now, are the questions I sent out and what I received in return:

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: After listening to the first song of the new album, How To Walk Away, I was struck by the guitar bridge near the end. (It made me think of Fleetwood Mac back in their heyday) I’m curious to know a little bit about how the song came together. Did the melody come first or did the lyrics define where you wanted to go with this?

    JULIANA HATFIELD: Melody and lyrics kind of came together together, if I remember correctly. I probably had a chord progression before anything, though.

    CS: You’ve mentioned that when you look back at the 90’s you wish you would’ve kept your mouth shut on things. You were young, you didn’t know better, etc”¦ Is it really possible to just stick these songs out into the world without anyone knowing about the artist who is putting them out there? I ask this because your music, for the most part, has never strayed into superficial territory and there seems to be a complexity with your lyrics. A little background about the process of making the album, I would think, would help frame it as a whole.

    HATFIELD: Yes I think it is possible for an artist to maintain total privacy and/or a shroud of mystery or non-information. Look at, say, Jandek, or Bonnie Prince Billy. What do we know about them, really?

    CS: And, as a follow-up to the above question, what part of you wanted to make this album at this time? It seems a little more hopeful, if not melancholy, than previous efforts.

    HATFIELD: I feel a little more hopeful and a little less melancholy with each passing year and so the music is a reflection of that- of where my head and heart are at.

    CS: I haven’t been able to read your book but as a card-carrying member of the Juliana Hatfield Fan Club I will have to allocate money to buy it. I know you want to be able and give people a better idea of who you are and your reflections on what has come before this but what prompted you to break through the notion that your life is your life and no one needs to know anything more than what you give them, i.e. your albums? Was it liberating to write the book?

    HATFIELD: I really just wanted to write a book because writing prose is fun and exciting and so challenging.

    CS: I was, and still am, a huge fan, huge fan, of the video for What A Life. I managed to record it on my VCR during a rather good episode of 120 Minutes on MTV eons ago. You getting knocked around by unseen forces, the blood, it was stark. Where have these creative videos gone? I don’t care to watch dudes in their hoopties, sipping on champagne or women exploiting their sexuality to move a few more units. Surely you have a thought or two about the modern business model of music. It’s sad that I have to work really hard to find original music out there and it’s no longer the MTV’s of the world that are helping this situation out. By that point, and it should be obvious that I’ve been saving this question for years, over decade in fact, did you enjoy the video making process?

    HATFIELD: I did not love the video making process back then- I felt I was not a good actor and one must act in videos. I felt a bit like a fish out of water.now, though, the process is more fun for me, if only because I have more control over it and there is less at stake- I can mess around and do what I want, low-budget-style, and it’s just fun and another creative outlet. No high-profile directors or record companies breathing down my neck.

    Though I did make cool videos back then- I too love the What A Life vid. And I still can’t believe the record company paid for us to do that. The video’s really sort of shocking and subversive, don’t you think? I have to give the label (Atlantic) a lot of credit for bankrolling that sort of sick vision (the director’s vision, mostly. He is and was a good friend of mine.)

    CS: How has touring been for you through the years? I have to imagine that through the early 90’s you were seeing a much different crowd than the ones you’re seeing today. I remember going out to see a lot of different bands back then and I’ve seen that opportunity slowly evaporating as all those who I followed back then have stopped making music?

    HATFIELD: Touring is tiring and physically draining, over the long term. But playing shows is fun and cathartic so I guess it all works out in the end.

    CS: Speaking of that, a lot of your contemporaries have stopped churning out music at the rate you still do. One artist in particular, Tanya Donelly (who I interviewed last year and was an absolute gem to talk to), has taken a longer time between albums. I know you can’t speak to anyone else besides you but it seems to be a recurring theme with a lot of older bands; they just stop producing music. You, though, seem to be blessed with the ability to have new perspectives, thoughts and ideas. What do you do to keep things going, creatively?

    HATFIELD: I just try to work hard and work all the time. Writing, looking for ideas, reading, looking at art, keeping my mind open to new things and inspirations.

    CS: What things do you find comfort in with regard to making music? What makes you happy to put something to tape, CD, etc”¦

    HATFIELD: Writing is like worshiping or meditating. it’s spiritual. It takes the place of church/religion in my life.

    CS: Does performing live still hold a thrill for you?

    HATFIELD: See question/answer #6

    CS: I know you hate the notion of being a part of the women in rock explosion in the media landscape, Lord knows I didn’t know better but had it not happened I’m not sure I would’ve stumbled upon My Sister, but years after hearing that song I now find myself with two girls of my own, 2 and 5. I now have something vested in the way my girls come to know what it means to be a woman through the pop culture they’re going to be exposed to. You’ve managed to eschew attempts to co-opt your music though making you something you’re not (the video for What A Life is an excellent example of this) but do you think women are in a better place today than they were in the 90’s in the music industry?

    HATFIELD: Yes and no. it seems there are fewer females being played on the radio and in fact there just are fewer all-girl bands. Remember Luscious Jackson, L7, Babes in Toyland, Scrawl, etc. etc., etc? Where have all the all-girl bands gone?

    But on the up side , I guess, being a girl and playing guitar is not seen, anymore, as a novelty or as something out of the ordinary. It’s commonplace now for girls to play in bands. That is, I suppose, progress.

    But definitely not as much girl action on the airwaves today.

    CS: You listen to a lot of NPR. I do too. I think some of them are a bit smarmy at times but, on the whole, you can’t beat it. Are you hooked on any programs in particular? I was equally surprised to see you listen to a lot of baseball. Any teams in particular? I’ll share that I’m a Cubs fan so any other team listed from their division that you list will be promptly deleted and a “Refused to Answer” will be put in its place. Oh, and if it’s not too much of a problem, can you list one book you’ve read this year that you just have to recommend or talk highly of?

    HATFIELD: I like the Red Sox. I’m from Boston. “˜The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy was pretty devastating. Probably my favorite of all his books. But was that last year or this year?

    CS: It’s your life, it’s your career, you can obfuscate all you like if you so wish, but reading about whether this is something (making music) you want to keep doing is a bit disconcerting when you’ve said this might be your last album. I say this only because I don’t know where else I might spend the money I hide from my wife in order to buy things like your albums (I waited two weeks for the official release, with the b-side album”¦and the poster”¦I am officially uncool for admitting all this publicly) so that’s a bit of alarming issue for me, but, honestly, and seriously, does making music not hold that same kind of ambition to best your past efforts anymore?

    HATFIELD: I’m not as desperate to be heard and loved, anymore. Now I just want to make music for my own pleasure.

    CS: Lastly, and this is just something I’ve asked people over the years, when you’re accosted by some random person who tells you that they’ve enjoyed your work or they really enjoy X CD you’ve put out is there a point where that becomes white noise? Do these chance encounters or moments after a show do something inside of you that would have you believe that what you’re doing means something to someone out there?

    HATFIELD: It’s nice to be told that your work has had meaning in someone else’s life.

  • Video Interview: Rhett & Link

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    Today, we’ve got a special spotlight on the interweb singer-songwriter/comedy duo, Rhett & Link. Below you’ll find a featurette giving you an overview of the guys and their work, followed by a 4-part interview. Wrapping things up is a music video for their song “All Rising”, made by Quick Stop’s own Bonnie Rose – who you might remember as the winner of the “Colbert Report Green Screen Challenge“.

    Bonnie pitched this look at the guys to me, and I said “Sure…” (as is my usual mode of command). Here’s the story behind her video – and the interview – in Bonnie’s own words…

    Sometime last year, someone on the neilinnes.org message board started a “What YouTube videos are you currently watching?” thread, and someone posted Rhett & Link’s “Fireworks” song on there. I clicked on it and instantly fell in love with the song.

    I thought it was a real country song and they were a real country band.

    I recorded it off You Tube into an MP3 and had it there on my rotation for a few months. Then one day, my sister was in the room when it came on and I said, “Sharon, this is a country song I actually like.” She listened to the whole thing and she too instantly fell in love with it. Then we both went off on our separate computers and looked them up to see what else they did.

    That’s when I found out they weren’t a country band.

    I watched a lot of their videos and loved a lot of them, but I thought the American Idol song was particularly brilliant. I had been wanting to do an animation project, so I thought I’d do an animation to that.

    And so I did.

    It took me about a month to make it, working 4-10 hours a day. Then I posted it one night as a video response on You Tube to their own American Idol song video. The next morning I got an email from Rhett saying it was the best video response they’d ever had and would I be on their web show that week…

    So I did. And that was fun.

    But the Rhett & Link muse was still burning strong inside me, and so I came up with the idea to do this thing. Then I asked Ken and he said, “Okay.” Then I interviewed them, they video taped it and sent me the raw footage, and two months later, here you go.

    The end.

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  • Trailer Park: Christian Oliver

    By Christopher Stipp

    The Archives, Right Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    Would you leave the Wachowski’s in charge of your children?

    The studios hope you do just that this weekend.

    In one of the most visually blended mash-up of what every kid would want to see on the screen, think loud lights and enough flashing yellow, blue and reds that you would swear was done by a DOP who wanted to bring a Grateful Dead LSD experience into full Technicolor, SPEED RACER is bringing a decades old comic property to a whole new generation. And if there’s two guys out there who at least know what it would take to bring a cartoon out of Saturday morning and into more relevance it would be Larry and Andy.

    christian8.jpgEven though this marks the brothers’ return to the directorial lens, some would take contention with that and point out V FOR VENDETTA as a possible return to form, it is SPEED RACER which is wholly theirs. One of those who are in the thick with the brothers Wachowski, Christian Oliver, stars as Snake Oiler, a rival racer who has his own eye on winning the Casa Cristo Classic cross-country road rally.

    Christian is an international actor who doesn’t limit his experience with just acting jobs in the United States. He has starred in the excellently titled, long running series “Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei” in his German home country and it was that very land which played host to SPEED RACER’s production. Further, Christian will also be seen next year in Bryan Singer’s VALKYRIE. A busy working actor, to be sure, Christian also takes time to spend his talents evenly across multiple disciplines and locations, mixing in his television work in Germany with film work in America with theater work in Chicago.

    Good looking to be sure, talented being a given, possessing multi-lingual abilities being a marketable asset, by the time I was given the interview I wanted to be completely jealous of the guy.

    I couldn’t be.

    By the time you’re done reading the interview you’ll see why Christian is one of those guys who you are just rooting for at the end of the day because he is completely without ego and is very realistic about those things which he has been given. His international credentials make him more than a reliable authority on what it means to be a working actor but it’s really his perspective which has catapulted him to the top of my list of the most entertaining celebrities I’ve talked to this year.

    SPEED RACER opens today.

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: One of the first questions I have is regarding your role in SPEED RACER. How did that opportunity present itself?

    CHRISTIAN OLIVER: ‘Present itself’ sounds so great but I had to really fight for it and go after it. Do an audition, do the casting process like everyone else and at the end of the day I was excited to finally get in the room with the brothers, get to play with them, and that was it. That was the whole casting process and that’s the process that we as actors (I can’t say that people like it) but for me that’s the hardest part and the most unpleasant part. As soon as you have the part it’s all good. You get to play. You have fun and all your insecurities go out the door ““ usually. This was just something I heard of, something I really wanted to be involved in and something I really went for.

    christian7.jpgCS: What kind of part are you playing in the movie?

    OLIVER: His name is Snake Oiler. And like the name already says, he is a whack job. A fun, fun snake oiler kind of guy who is head of the Hydra-Cell team. In the original cartoon he was the head of the Acrobatic team. So basically, I have my own little crew and want to be the best racer in the world, I think of myself as the best racer in the world and I want to take down anybody who gets in my way. That’s exactly what I do and I do it well.

    CS: Tell me this, the trailers came out and it’s a mess of color and action and quick cuts, when you were acting against it ““ I take it there was a lot of green screen – how did you visualize, how did the brothers tell you what they wanted the movie to look like?

    OLIVER: I don’t think anyone really knew, the brothers are such geniuses in their own world that nobody could imagine what they were imagining. It was amazing that they kind of already had this digital world created and we did get a peek at some animated stuff but it was way far, far, away from what it would ever look like. When I see it today, I am amazed like anybody else.

    I see it as just unreal and very exciting.

    We were, like you said, in front of a green screen. My cockpit was all snake wheels, steering wheel of snakes, gear shift ““ it was just the inside of the cockpit ““ I didn’t even know what the car was going to look like because the car wasn’t built. Every driver had a different cockpit. But it was amazing to see already ““ when I realized what an imaginary world it was going to be ““ when I went to costume fitting and put on my costume; it was all snake skin and snake boots and snake buckles and snake tattoos and my hair ““ I literally became like Snake Oiler little by little. It was great to just jump in there and play and have fun with this character.

    CS: And that idea ““ this idea that this production was going to be a big summer movie – was every day punctuated with the idea that this was going to be larger than anything you’ve worked on”¦. That it’s supposed to be loud, look loud”¦.did you feel that when you were on the set?

    OLIVER: On set I’ve never felt the freedom like I felt before. It’s an amazing cast and I felt that everybody knew they were working on something very special and unique.

    Sometimes you go to a job and you just dial it in collect your paycheck and meet some interesting people. This is the opposite. You realize that everybody that was there was there because they want to be a part of something special ““ something unique – something that hasn’t been done before. I think that was the excitement every day at work. And the way the brothers worked with the actors was amazing – so hands on ““ giving me and pushing me to go for it and be over the top and be crazy. I literally felt like I was jumping off a cliff just hoping that somebody was going to catch me. For an actor that’s an amazing freedom but it’s also scary. There was nothing safe. Playing it safe, we actors like to call it ““ we know how to play it safe ““ it’s boring. And this was really exciting because it was just fun. Let’s play ball. It’s what it should be all about.

    I would love to work with them again it was exciting to see how enthusiastic they were at work and how well they work together, it was amazing. And then you have Christina Ricci ““ you drive home with her after her day and she’s like, “I think this is the most amazing movie I’ve ever worked on.” And you are like, “Holy shit, this girl ““ ” You look over her resume and how can she say that? You know? So I think for everybody it was really special and unique.

    CS: Did you have any preconceptions? I mean, the Wachowski’s are very private ““ they are not out there at all to be studied on a personal, human level. Were you at least intimidated or have any preconceived notions about who they were or what they would be like to work with on set?

    OLIVER: To be completely honest, I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t know what to expect with Speed Racer in my character so I just prepared the hell out of it, you know, did my homework, did all the research and played like this Snake Oiler thing in every possible way you could. And the way it turned out is nothing that I had imagined. So it’s a beauty that it doesn’t matter what my preconceived notions were as long as you are open minded enough to go and be directed and guided ““ it was amazing. And they are amazing to work with.

    christian2.jpgLike you said, they are very private. They are very much all about the work. And I love that. I respect that. I think they don’t need to be in the limelight ““ they don’t want to be in the limelight. They are like kids. They want to play. They want to have fun. They want to push the envelope. It’s fun when you get to be a part of that ““ it’s very exciting. And then you want to do whatever you can to bring something to the game. So, it was fun.

    CS: It seems that the opportunity really presented itself at the right time. You are going to be in two really big films this year, the second one being VALKYRIE with Tom Cruise. It seems like it is going to be a real banner year, professionally, for you.

    OLIVER: Hopefully. All these things present themselves. They all look good on paper, they all look good when you are doing it. The beautiful thing about the movie industry, and the not so beautiful, you have no control. And wherever the waves may take you, they take you. You usually end up on the beach anyway. And it’s about paddling out again and take the next great wave out there – finding the right wave. And now I am very fortunate and happy that I get to ride this wave but I’m sure I’ll be paddling out again trying to find the next one.

    (Laughs)

    It’s constantly trying to look for other work. I started working with a production company trying to create my own waves so to speak, working with friends that do what these people do with hundreds of million dollar budgets do it in a small, confined independent way. It’s fun. It’s great to do both. I’m very excited about that.

    CS: Looking over your resume, you have been doing this for quite a while ““ almost 15 years now as an actor, just working, what has the experience taught you, just from a working point of view, about what it takes to be a working actor?

    OLIVER: It’s tough. Like you said, 15 years it sounds like a lifetime and I’m very fortunate in the way I’ve been able to work in different countries. I shot a movie in Ireland over Christmas for the BBC, I shot a TV show in Germany for two years, so it’s great to be able to leave this town as well and come back and not get stuck in a rut. I felt stuck in it from time to time. Just keep on treading water and keep on going forward ““ even if it’s a little tiny step and if someone makes you go five steps back you have to keep fighting for it and keep going and keep going. I’m in waist deep too.

    (Laughs)

    I love this. I love what I’m doing. I love the business and I love the people that are involved in it. It doesn’t mean all of them ““ there are a lot of egos and a lot of negativity ““ but I’ve been fortunate to work with those few highlights that has showed me it can be amazing even on a level with the George Clooney’s and people that are keeping it real and keeping it fun and keeping it passionate and are in it for the right reasons and I want to be in it for the right reasons. Hopefully just create some more opportunities and inspire others to do the same. It’s a team sport. You can’t fight this by yourself. You have to fight it with everyone around you.

    CS: You were obviously born in Germany ““ the movie VALKYRIE ““ were you able to get back to your home country? And were you able to break out some of your native tongue in the movie?

    OLIVER: Actually ““ no it was all in English. But the beautiful thing is SPEED RACER was shot in Berlin so I got to spend the whole summer ““ it was back to back ““ it overlapped which was fortunate because I was up for a couple other parts in VALKYRIE and at the end of the day I was just excited to be part of that cast at all. I would do anything and really the casting director had me in mind for some other roles and at the end of the day he invited me to come, while I was shooting SPEED RACER, to come to the set and meet Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer basically I got cast right on the set for a role they still hadn’t cast so I was excited to be a part of that. So, it was amazing that I got to stay another two months in Berlin and really after so many years I was able to combine those two worlds. Big Hollywood blockbusters and my hometown Berlin family, friends, my sister had a baby”¦it was amazing. It was great.

    CS: I definitely have to ask about that show you were on for two years in Germany. I’m going to butcher this but I’m going to try and get it right ““ Alarm fur Cobra 11?

    OLIVER: Yes.

    CS: What a sweet ass show just by name. You’ve got umlauts, you’ve got cobra, you got a prime number in there…

    OLIVER: It’s a badass show. It’s really fun. I would do anything to have that kind of show on NBC. It’s still on. It’s the longest running show in Europe in Germany. Over 10 years ““ sold all over the world. It’s like Chips on the Autobahn. It’s two cops chasing bad people ““ drug dealer, pusher anything and I was one of the cops taking them all down.

    CS: Really?

    OLIVER: It was amazing. It was really fun. A lot of stunts. A lot of explosions. It was like 24.

    CS: And you did it for 2 years?

    OLIVER: Oh yeah, it was great.

    CS: Then did you just cycle out of it, did they write you out of it?

    OLIVER: I think I was cast on a Thursday here and I had to be at work in Cologne, Germany on Monday and commit for 2 years. So, to leave LA on that short notice and to leave everything behind ““ it was amazing experience but for me it was always clear that I wanted to come back to LA and wanted to live her and pursue what I was doing here so they replaced me with another guy and he was actually on it before. I actually replaced him. They had one main cop that’s been on there for 10 years and the other guys only last for 2 years before they go on. Yeah, it was perfect. It couldn’t have been better. Literally, I could still be on the show and make some really, really nice money but I would have missed out on the opportunity to work on the Good German and all these movies ““ SPEED RACER. I just want to mix it up. I’m still at the point in my career where I dare to fail gloriously. I want to put myself out there and don’t play it safe yet. If I get on a TV show here I would love to ride that wave as well.

    christian5.jpgCS: And certainly it shouldn’t pass without notice that you are a theater buff and I’m very impressed with the kind of credentials and one of my favorite stories, Candide, a brilliant story. I’m utterly fascinated and I want to know how the playwright was able to translate such a big story into a theater length show.

    OLIVER: Are you talking about Candide?

    CS: Absolutely.

    OLIVER: Oh, beautiful. I haven’t spoken about this for years. That was my introduction ““ not really introduction – but I would say my acting bug originates from. That play was done in Frankfurt where I grew up. It was a huge production at the new playhouse in Frankfurt and it was done for students by professionals. Theater professionals. Professional director”¦.. It was done at the main theater in Frankfurt and that was the reason I think I became an actor. It was such a wonderful experience. It was an amazing run, up for a year, and sold out the whole year and I got to play the small Candide, the little Candide ““ literally there were 4 different Candide’s. He grew up during the show. It was his whole lifetime. I got to play 5 other parts. It was great. A lot of people from the theater group went on and become quite well known actors in Germany. The guy that played grown up Candide ““ I followed his career for years and years. He was always an inspiration to me because I started acting with him. So it’s great to have that as a background. Theater is something that I will always go back to. I love it. Your hometown Chicago was probably one of my most surreal and most amazing theatrical experience when I got to be in an opera. The Chicago Opera Theater. Millineum Park, 1500 people and I was shitting in my pants.

    (Laughs)

    It was with some of the greatest voices in Chicago. It was great.

    CS: Did you get to sing in that one?

    OLIVER: No, that’s the beauty or I never would have been in an opera.

    (Laughs)

    Mozart, the abduction from the Seraglio, one of the lead guys, he only speaks. And when you see the opera no one really realizes that he only speaks. After the show people would compliment me on my beautiful voice. People just assume that you sing. But he speaks in these small little amazing scenes. The opera singer loves it when an actor takes those parts because they get to play a little bit as well so it was my first introduction into that world. I had a great time. Just an unbelievable time.

    CS: How many times ““ was it just once ““ how long did it run?

    OLIVER: No, I was there for the whole season. Three months. It was great. I loved it.

    christian6.jpgCS: You have been around ““ it’s obscene how many cities and countries you have been in doing acting. I know a lot of actors just go to LA and just hope to God they can spend their life in LA but you have obviously spread yourself around all over the world and one of my questions is I don’t know if it has played but the BBC mini-series coming up ““

    OLIVER: Yes, that’s the one I just shot in Dublin, Ireland.

    CS: I would like to know ““ you would be the resident expert in the differences in the way Americans run their productions and people internationally run their productions. Is it pretty same across the board or are the nuances?

    OLIVER: Definitely differences. Definitely the best of both worlds and it would be great to have a happy medium. Obviously everybody wants to come here and work here and infatuated with the whole Hollywood scenario. That’s the way it is ““ that’s a fact. So right off the bat, if you come from here people don’t know how to deal with you because they have their pre-conceived notions about Hollywood. With that being said it’s great ““ amazing how taken care of you really are ““ how protected you really are in this country with the unions and stuff. We keep forgetting that. Especially with the strike and then another strike and everyone is freaking out but I’ve seen it and I’ve been on the other side and on a TV show that’s been sold to over 100 countries and I’ve never seen a dime for any of the countries. So it’s great what’s happening here, it’s great being protected, but it’s also limiting because people get to do it cheaper and without the other hassles in the other countries. So I’m essentially a pro American way it’s all done but there is also freedom in Europe that sometimes I wish they had here on productions.

    I’m so happy that I’m able to work both worlds and I’m so happy Europe ““ the world ““ China, India ““ all these great movies that we finally get to see over here. And more and more we get to see them. And foreign actors are recognizable here ““ it’s great. The melting of the best of both worlds. It’s very exciting to see that.

    CS: How do you choose ““ take for example the BBC series you just shot in Ireland ““ how do you come upon this kind of work? Do you actively look for this or do you have people looking for you?

    OLIVER: No, I wish. Tell everybody to look for me.

    (Laughs)

    Tell them ““ tell them ““ ask that question all over. Unfortunately I am not at that point. I have to go out there and people just think you sit by the phone waiting for it to ring and your agent sends you for auditions. I go after these things. And when I find them, I go after them and really commit. Exactly what happened with the BBC thing. It never would have happened. I was in Germany with SPEED RACER and VALKYRIE and had a lot of time on my hands because of scheduling issues and people were freaking out and decided to call my agent and said I’m going to London and want to meet with agents in London. I want to meet with anyone you can set me up with and meet with. I want to meet with cast directors and be there whenever they want me to be there and pay my flight. So I do that. Just hop on a plane and go for it. I met with the director, the cast director and I auditioned for it. The same thing with the Chicago Opera. I put myself on tape, sent the tape into them, and said I want to play this guy. So it’s things that I find ““ or they find me ““ makes me happy that they find me sometimes. I just did an interesting project for a student film for AFI. I did a graduate film for them ““ short film ““ in Uganda and that’s the same thing. The movie found me. I never would have come up with the idea to go to AFI and ask if you have any great graduate movies this year?

    (Laughs)

    But it found me in a sense that I heard about this project about the Northern Uganda civil war that’s been going on for the last 20 years ““ about the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and these kids that have been abducted and become child soldiers. There was story that was very close to my heart ““ years ago I went to Uganda to visit and see the country and it struck me that I was so upset and shaken that this thing in the north ““ the horror and can’t always pay attention to all of them ““ but I never understood why nobody paid attention to Uganda and what has gone on for 20 years. Luckily now it’s getting a little bit more under control. The other project, the same thing. It found me. I don’t know. I guess you have to be open in that sense. I’m open to anything. Anything that comes my way I will not close the door and look what’s behind it. You know?

    Then I started my own production company and started producing with my friends. Got an HD camera, went up an Aspen mountain, 12,000 feet high in the middle of winter, shot a movie, got very lucky, got invited to Sundance Film Festival, sold it there to First Look. So these are all things I’m just like, you know, keep trying to keep myself creative and not sit by the phone and go crazy.

    CS: Just one more question ““ when you are looking for work and it’s something you are willing to go and do, what do you really look for when you weigh whether or not to get into the production?

    christian4.jpgOLIVER: For me, personally, I always need to be challenged. In the sense, that if I get to play like ““ I don’t even want to go there ““ but if you put me in a typecast clean machine ““ I can dial it in anytime but make sure you pay me. Other than that I’m looking for something to be challenged.

    It doesn’t matter what it pays, who is involved, I want to work with people that are all very passionate about what they are doing and that passion comes for me when I’m putting a foot into territory that I’m not familiar with ““ that I’m not really secure. I get a little insecure, I get scared and I like that. I like to explore ““ you have to. If you don’t take any risks, not just in this business in life I think, where are you going to get all your kicks and thrills? I want to grow as an actor and I want to grow as a person and all these parts and projects have not only done something for my career but also as a human being and I’ve met amazing people.

    That’s all that matters.

    Going from Steven Soderberg, the Wachowski’s, Bryan Singer, the last two movies were people who have never been behind a camera before ““ never directed anything before. So it doesn’t matter in that sense. I want to feel the heat. I want feel the passion. I want to be a part of it. I want to be challenged.

  • Trailer Park: Garth Jennings

    By Christopher Stipp

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    It’s easy to by cynical about films nowadays.

    There is a lot of talk about the excesses and bloated nature of some high-budget spectacles, costs spiraling out of control to try and outdo what the last guy did. To say nothing of stories that seem purposely manipulative and out of touch with any reality.

    That’s what makes SON OF RAMBOW so disarming. When you watch the film unfold you’re half-expecting there to be some kind of spectacle but it never does come. You have to steep yourself in a narrative where it genuinely is all about the story and the soft nuances that pepper each moment we’re given into the lives of these two young boys on a quest to recreate RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD.

    At first glance, even if you read the movie’s description, you wouldn’t expect to find one of the most well-crafted movies this year but the movie is one which will reward each and every viewer if you believe that is possible to make a movie that is both humorous and touching without straying into saccharine sweet territory. The movie that Garth Jennings has made is one that takes the lives of young boys and, without minimizing or patronizing the childhood experience, he has distilled one of the most objective and endearing portraits of what it’s like to be young. Further, the movie works on a level where it’s not constrained by the normal boundaries of culture; it may take place across the pond but the story has a transcendent resonance that it doesn’t matter if it was taking place in England, France, Russia or America.

    I took some of the time with 1/2 of Hammer and Tongs, Mr. Garth Jennings, to talk about the film, the language of youth and about who else has made videos as a kid.

    SON OF RAMBOW is now in theaters.

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Garth. How are you doing?

    GARTH JENNINGS: Pretty good ““ my first cup of tea has just arrived so I’m feeling pretty excited about it.

    CS: Thank you for making time for me.

    JENNINGS: No problem. It’s my pleasure.

    CS: First of all, brilliant, brilliant film. One of the best I’ve seen this year.

    JENNINGS: Oh, thank you very much. That’s very kind of you.

    CS: Absolutely. I think after I saw it I was wrestling with what I like most and I think the way to kick things off is to ask was it intentional to give these kids sort of a language of their own? They exist in a place that adults just don’t live in.

    JENNINGS: Well, I suppose I remember being a kid and you just have this language with one another. You have your own little way of doing things and saying things. It was certainly our intention to capture how we remember being kids. We really tried to find memories of that time. We used to make strange faces and that sort of thing. Is that what you meant?

    CS: Yes, I think it’s like a sensibility, maybe I should say it that way.

    JENNINGS: I thought you meant that. The whole thing was we were trying to capture how it we remember being when we were 11 or 12 and really felt like all things were possible. It never occurred to us things weren’t. And never thought about the consequences of your actions or ideas. You never really worried about failing or making mistakes until it was too late. That’s definitely what we were trying to do. So I wasn’t at all trying to make a movie on my own experiences. To write about my own experiences would have been quite a bit dull. We tried to conjure up those feelings in people when they watched it.

    CS: I have to agree with you. I remember making movies of my own with my own video camera and this movie made me reflect on that and I still don’t have any solid reasons why I did it but I’m finding out that a lot of other people did that as well.

    JENNINGS: Yes, when we were making this film 8 years ago we were laughing that so many people we knew made these things ““ kids live in an imaginary world and that’s not a cliché it’s really how it is. It’s only when you get older you think that’s not a good thing anymore and you start to lose that but it’s a lovely period of time in your life.

    CS: I don’t think it’s bound by any time or space or anything like that.

    JENNINGS: That’s certainly what we were trying to avoid.

    CS: It’ s really timeless, almost kind of perfunctory, to think that RAMBOW would only exist in that time but if you looked at it in any time I think it would fit just as well. Additionally, as I watched seeing the effects on the screen, obviously this film has a lower budget, but the cinematography, the photography of the film it looked like you really wanted to capture details. It seemed the physical details were important to capture.

    JENNINGS: The detail was just how I remember doing things as well. Whether I was doing the drawings in my books or just the things you notice in films. We never saw the bigger picture ““ at that age I never knew what the Viet Nam War was and that Rambow was being rejected and bullied by other people. I did like the way he sawed off his own arm. He’s not even crying ““ it’s unbelievable. Those are the little things we pick up on, aren’t they? Sometimes we obsess about the details and then it irritates everybody. It’s more about quirky detail than about character and stuff. Hopefully the detail cover the characters and doesn’t become too overbearing. Nostalgia too. People think we have gone out of our way to wake up quirky nostalgia but actually we had no intention of doing that. It was only as things started to come to set with hairstyles ducked and it was like, oh my god, this is getting ridiculous.CS: Certainly within the subplot, the French foreign exchange students. Was that intended to be so absurdly funny?

    JENNINGS: Well, the thing was, I remember”¦have you had the French or European Foreign Exchange Program?

    CS: Yes.

    JENNINGS: We had the French exchange. And I’m sure if I were to go back in time it wasn’t the way I remember it but I remember these kids getting off their coach and the seemed so exhausted compared to us and so much cooler and so European. And then they had mustaches and we thought that was really cool because I was the latest developer in the history of time. We tried to make it so that anyone watching this film would understand that feeling. Obviously in order to get that we played around with it and he becomes a peacock ““ a Pied Piper and everyone can relate to the kid that people follow or are awestruck by even though you look back and say that guy was kind of a jerk ““ what was I thinking? It sorta came out and tried also to capture that when you look back you often realized that things weren’t so straight forward, like I said about RAMBOW. I remember the kids we thought were cool were invariably, they were but also more to it than that. There was always more to it. We were trying to get that across in the film. There was another side to it.

    CS: On that, I think the brother issues, the mother issues…It ties things down on a more serious level. I’m curious as to why when you were creating the script, obviously first and foremost, you wanted to create this love of imagination in youth but on the other hand you have something that is quite heavy.

    JENNINGS: Yeah. I just wanted to make a proper movie and a lot of movies miss that mark for me. I just like to feel the whole range, especially when you are a kid you feel things more passionately, your friendships, your great disappointments when things go wrong, we wanted to just push those buttons but without pushing people away. When you are telling a story you are kind of manipulating people but do it in a way that doesn’t shut them off and make them uncomfortable.

    CS: Right. The budget for the film obviously was not on par with HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY.

    JENNINGS: No. 6 million dollars was SON OF RAMBOW and HITCHHIKER’S was $60.

    CS: I would imagine that that would absolutely have played in your favor. That the film, itself, is an homage that time in their life. It should be a little rougher around the edges.

    JENNINGS: And it’s not that we asked for more money. We budgeted SON OF RAMBOW at that figure. That’s how much we needed to make the film.

    CS: Really?

    JENNINGS: We’re not really in it to overwhelm ourselves with money and opulence. We like to explain our positions up front and work out the movie before we arrive on the set, very carefully, so that we’re compared and know what we are going for. Because it is very expensive and it is somebody else’s money and it is a lot of time and effort and it’s very important to us to know what we want and that seems to be “¦. I don’t care what the budget is as long as we can do it right. I didn’t find a difference really ““ there is no great difference between music videos and films in some ways because you always try to get what you want in the short space of time that you have and someone always hurt their foot, it’s always raining when you want it to be sunny, there’s always something to be worked out and it doesn’t matter if you’ve got hundreds of monitors and tons of catering ““ the problems are always the same.

    CS: Right. And on the subject of the script, at least in previous interviews I’ve read about you talking about fundamental influences coming in where Bill and Will are, do you think things are different today with the speed and access in which kids now are able to be exposed to so many different messages?

    JENNINGS: I suppose there must be a bit. But to be honest with you I’m not really sure. I think you get to see more stuff I suppose than we would have done because of the access but most of the kids I’ve spoken to in the last few weeks, certainly when we were screening the movie, kids 8 years old up ““ they get it. They still feel the same way about things ““ they still get excited. If something’s good they’ll respond to it. But I don’t really know ““ I’ve got two of my own and they are very young and haven’t got to that age where they notice all this stuff but I’ve very curious to find out how different it will really be. But everyone thinks their youth was the best, don’t they? We got it right.

    (Laughs)

    CS: Exactly. Do you think ““ maybe even for yourself or the way you wanted Will and Bill to ultimately come out of the film ““ do you think at the end of this film it’s at that point where the kids are able to reflect on what they’ve done or do you think they still retain that sort of childish sensibility?

    JENNINGS: In terms of the film? Or the boys themselves?

    CS: No, I was thinking the story itself. It ends perfectly.

    JENNINGS: I like those films where you get the sense that it might be alright, things might work out. It like at the end where they’re in the apartment sitting there. It’s not been resolved, not sure where they are going, but you’ve got a good ““ you like these people they might be better for having gone through the experience. Does that make sense?

    CS: Yes, it does.

    JENNINGS: I still feel that they worked out what was important. I think that’s their friendship. When they did things together, that was when he was the most fun. And they realized what was important at the end of the movie and I like the idea that it was a happy ending. I don’t think I could bear it if one of them had died or one of them didn’t like the other one.

    (Laughs)

    But it’s perfectly alright. When you are watching it you’re thinking ““ we’ve all had friendships like that at some point and probably around the same age as well. But then it gets dissolved and fades away ““ it’s not by any animosity by any means. You just grow up and you suddenly don’t like the same things ““ something happens. And it’s quite funny to look back and see how rich and how deep that friendship was and then everything changed. Not in a sad way but you can’t help but miss it.

    CS: I do. It’s what a lot of people who have seen it have reflected on saying, I remember having friendship like these and all of a sudden you’re in 8th grade, 9th grade and you just turn around and they are not there anymore and you don’t ““ no one is angry at one another ““ it just happens.

    JENNINGS: Yeah, and I went through that and I think those two would have separated down the line, only because that was my experience. I can’t imagine it any other way – hopefully with very, very fond memories of each other. And those are the foundations of friendships to come I guess.

    CS: I know we are short on time but I want to quickly talk about the animated sequence that comes in the middle of the film ““ the intricate, handmade drawings ““ How long did it take to make that sequence?

    JENNINGS: Well, it’s a mixture of live action, isn’t it? It took about 3 hours to shoot the live action element just because of the blue screen and then I think David was drawing all by hand and then scanning the images into the manipulator in 3-D, I think he pretty much remarked, all in all, about 2 weeks work.

    CS: Really?

    JENNINGS: Yeah.

    CS: It’s brilliant. It’s a sequence that fits perfectly within the realm of imagination while it doesn’t, again looking towards HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE, it doesn’t look like an effect that was too polished.

    JENNINGS: The thing was that David O’Reilly was doing everything himself. I can’t help but thinking that the fewer people you empower the more focused they are and the more they get on with it. And I don’t mean that in the driving workforce way, purely, it’s just that that’s David’s sequence. It’s his baby in a way. So he puts all of himself into it rather than one guy, doing one scene”¦.you know what I mean?

    CS: Yes.

    JENNINGS: And he would stay up all night. I would come in some mornings and he’d be waking up from having fallen asleep in his chair. And it’s not that we needed it done in a hurry it’s he loved it and worked very hard on it. It worked out great. I might be wrong, it might have taken a bit longer, it might have been a bit less. But once we got the money, which took forever, the shoot was 40 days and we had the picture 4 weeks after the wrap, which is fast, some films take months to edit, and gave it to David after that. He would give us a mock up of the animation within a few hours. We’d have a rough ““ we both worked out a rough storyboard together and he would do an animatic of that and I’d give it to the editor and wait for a while he was cutting while David was busy making trees.

    CS: Does it seem that lower budget means more efficiency?

    JENNINGS: Oh yeah. But it’s not just the budget thing. I think you could do a big movie ““ I’m always in favor of post count but you don’t know who you are getting. In every aspect of your film you have to cherry pick your crew. Every member. But once it gets to post production you’re told to go to a big company where they just have loads of people ““ but you don’t know these people and they are doing your things and suddenly it’s changed from one week to another into a different project. I used to find that very irritating. Because you can’t”¦..I just find it irritating.

    (Laughs)

    And then cherry picking skillful people and then giving it to them ““ it’s their thing ““ they are not just one of many people working on something that we could take or leave ““ it’s absolutely their responsibility ““ the more you make people responsible for it the more creative they are and the better the results I’m sure of it.

    CS: Well, I know I have to wrap this up and if I could ask just one more question ““ I think a lot of times when directors make movies they say people can take whatever they want to take from it and give a short answer whenever pushed to explain what their work means but I’d like to hear what you hope people take away from the film.

    JENNINGS: Well, Nick and I just wanted to make a film that captures how we felt at that age. It was like I was saying before that I just hope they enjoy it but more than that I hope they go away feeling better for having seen it. Like the old ones ““ get an uplifting feeling at the end ““ like they’ve really been through it and be rewarded at the end ““ it feels good and more of a feeling than I have no real message or anything like that. I don’t want people to come out and say oh the special effects were kinda quirky – that can come later. If they get a good feeling, I’ll be happy.

    CS: Brilliant. Brilliant. Garth, thank you very much for your time.

    JENNINGS: It’s my pleasure.

  • Trailer Park: Whitney Cummings

    By Christopher Stipp

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    If I could interview subjects, people, like Whitney Cummings I could forever be content with being the guy on the sidelines who simply learns about what happens on the set of a film while trying to understand what the project means to someone’s overarching career goals. Whitney was deftly able to take my questions and give me honest answers in a way that I found genuinely refreshing, person to person. There wasn’t any pretense, there wasn’t a facade, there wasn’t anything between her job as backup to Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan and my questions about what she felt her place was in the grand scheme of things.

    Opening today, MADE OF HONOR simply seems like one of those films which might actually depend more on the talents of the film’s leading man instead of the popular female lead. Dempsey has proven himself more than capable of holding his own in ENCHANTED, one of Disney’s greatest feats on the big screen in recent years, and who among us can argue with the Goliath-ian power it took Patrick to get from CAN’T BUY ME LOVE and LOVERBOY to prime-time prince of relevancy; it should have been an impossibility but it’s that guy’s charm which is proving to be his greatest asset. That’s partially why an interview with Whitney was alluring. The other part of it is that Whitney makes her living touring the country as a practicing comedienne and there isn’t anything more tempting than the opportunity to get an honest taste of what it’s like to step onto a blackened stage and having a pack of people treat you like it’s Roman circuses all over again: We are here. Entertain us!

    Whitney and I discuss all sorts of things, like comedy, inspirations, education, why Patrick Dempsey is a gay crush of mine, films, traveling and whether Carrot Top deserves to live. You can’t help but wish all sorts of positive things for Whitney and as she broke down the ways in which she realizes how she fits in to the cosmic order of things, regardless of how big or small the project she’s being paid to be in, she just has the kind of easy breezy attitude I wish I could have just navigating my own job.

    We open on a conversation between Whitney and myself, discussing the topic of what films Molly Ringwold has notoriously turned down. One of those, reportedly, was GHOST and the other was the widely well received whore cum (pun intended) princess fairy tale, PRETTY WOMAN. It’s best to just jump right into the middle of the fray.

    CUMMINGS: It’s interesting, isn’t it?

    CS: Fascinating. I love to hear stories like that of things that people have passed on.

    CUMMINGS: She wasn’t really working around that time, was she? PRETTY WOMAN was what, ’92?

    CS: Yeah, it was like ’90, ’91, sometime around there.

    CUMMINGS: What was she doing with herself? If you think about it, that movie was literally a comedy about a prostitute. That movie would never get made today. Can you imagine a writer going through auditions ““ hilarious comedy about a prostitute who is doing a rich guy and she gets out there and then someone tries to rape her ““ it’s such a dark premise when you think about it.

    CS: That’s very true.

    CUMMINGS: That’s George from Seinfeld trying to rape her in that movie.

    CS: But she’s got a heart of gold.

    CUMMINGS: She does have a heart of gold. But in the first script she died at the end. The other movie I saw the other day is DIRTY DANCING. DIRTY DANCING is a movie about abortion. That was the whole reason that Baby needed to learn how to dance. It was an abortion movie.

    CS: Just a fool to believe…

    CUMMINGS: It’s just kind of funny at how dark the movies were in the late 80’s.

    CS: But you know, those guys were salesmen. They were able to convince somebody, “Oh yeah, sounds like a really good idea.”

    CUMMINGS: But the movie is about abortion. No, it’s about dancing. Abortion is just why they danced. It’s just so funny when you think about it because that would never fly today. We’ve gotten more conservative I guess.

    CS: I would absolutely agree with that. Things have gotten a little more tame. But you got to be in a movie ““ watch this segue ““ you got to be in a movie with a man that embodied that 80’s movie vibe.

    CUMMINGS: You know what’s really funny? When I was going in to do voice over after the movie was finished, we were looking at it ““ the movie was shot in England ““ really beautiful shots on film, lush green rolling hills and I’m looking at it and I’m thinking this movie looks like the 80’s. It had that vivid feel of like Robin Hood. It’s amazing the demographic he has because he’s so famous. What was that, 18 years ago? That movie was so meaningful to so many people. And now he has been reborn with his new show, so his demographic literally is 16 to 65. Where with some actors they have the teen audience ““ Zach Efron has the teens, Brad Pitt has the 30 year old women, but he has got every generation. It is so wild.

    CS: You know, I have no shame saying this, I think my gay crush would be Patrick Dempsey.

    CUMMINGS: You are not alone. Guys would even say Patrick Dempsey or Tom Brady.

    (Laughs)

    Tom Brady ““ I know guys would even say, “If I had sex with him it doesn’t mean I’m gay.”

    CS: But you have to say, “If I HAD to ““ If someone put a gun to my head…”

    (Laughs)

    CUMMINGS: Yes, Patrick Dempsey ““ women want him, men want to be like him. That’s what I have to say about that. And I totally get it. He’s so charming, so talented, so fun to be with. I think this movie will catapult him back into leading man, opening movies, movie star land again.

    CS: I saw him in ENCHANTED and I thought he did a great job in that.

    CUMMINGS: I think that ENCHANTED was a tough film for him because he had to play it real but he had to sort of mock her a little bit. He was given a tough task in that movie because he couldn’t make fun of her because she was so likable and I think in the script she wasn’t written as so likeable. He had a lot of challenges in that movie. And Patrick, his charm and likeability can overcome anything.

    CS: Like a gigolo pizza guy.

    CUMMINGS: Yeah, remember that?

    CS: I could go on all day about that guy’s roles.

    CUMMINGS: He’s so likable and I think the key to him being a movie star is having women love you and men love you and he is just able to do that. He’s such a pro. He comes and says his stuff and improvises and just has IT. That guy has star quality. He’s got it for sure.

    CS: Tell me ““ based on that ““ in the new movie, MADE OF HONOR, how do you compete ““ it’s not competing in that same space but if he’s being funny and you have to be the best friend ““ the funny person ““ how do you navigate that territory to let them be the stars that they are and you provide that backup?

    CUMMINGS: It’s interesting and that’s a very good question, because I’m a comedian. I do stand-up every night and doing jokes is my thing. So it’s like going into the ring you have to know what your role is is really important. Are you the singer? Are you the drummer? Are you the bassist? Where you come in is very important. Because when you are doing a movie, especially with talented actors who have been doing it 20 years longer than you it’s important to know you place and to work for the good of the movie, not for the good of you. Selfish acting never gets you anywhere except on the cutting room floor. You don’t come in and try and be funny around Patrick ““ it’s just stupid. It’s best to just trust the writer and their vision instead of your own agenda wanting to be the funniest person. So that was a tough challenge because as a comedian my job is to always be the funniest person all the time and make everybody laugh every 20 seconds. I really did have to restrain myself but after a while ““ after coming in and seeing how funny Patrick was it was best to just leave it to the pro and stick to what the writer wrote for me.

    CS: Certainly this differs from TV where you are able to be more fluid ““ this was more set up and practiced and having to channel”¦.

    CUMMINGS: I just have to be so conscious of the fact that there are 200 people working on this movie ““ the lighting guys, the grip and the camera guys, the sound guys have set up the theme around what the writer wrote and what the stage directions are and you start messing around trying to be funny and trying to be cute ““ people’s jobs are why is she doing that ““ why is she going off – sometimes, because they knew I was a comedian they would say now we can do a take and you can mess around or now you can improvise but that was different. When all those people are working so hard to create a shot that has been planned out for days, you can’t go in and mess around and give them a damn heart attack.

    CS: Right.

    CUMMINGS: That was a hard thing for me to accept.

    CS: Was it sort of a lesson learned or did you know when you went into things other than television and your stand-up how these unwritten rules play themselves out?

    CUMMINGS: Interesting. I was actually blessed to have a job ““ my first job out here in LA was a show called Punk’d on MTV ““ it was a hidden camera prank show with Ashton Kutcher and we would have to do all these hidden pranks to get celebrities in compromised situations and get them to embarrass themselves or whatever and the key was to be very real ““ I did everything from being in the ballet to being a wardrobe stylist to a paramedic to a this or that and created situations where celebrities would really feel the stakes were high that they’re car was stolen or someone got kidnapped or all these crazy things and it had to be so real so they believed it. It would be very easy to give something like that away if you’re trying to make jokes too much because after the 3rd season all celebrities in LA were really paranoid about being punked. Whenever something weird happened, they would be like, “Is this Punk’d?” So we had the challenge to keep it really real and honest and keep it grounded.

    I remember my first punk I was doing was with Adam Brody and I was trying to be cute and trying to be funny and doing the wrong thing. He started to catch on and then I had to quickly go back to be real and honest and quickly learned this is not about me, not about my agenda ““ if you just do the task at hand and do the best job at entertaining being honest and trusting the writers and directors, you will succeed, instead of trying to do your own thing and being selfish. So I guess I learned it there and I’m very grateful for that.

    So, I learned it on cable instead of in a studio. But it was helpful.

    CS: And how was that transitioning from a television atmosphere to a film? Does the scale change?

    CUMMINGS: Definitely. I don’t have to bring my own wardrobe that’s for sure. At the end of the day it’s all fulfilling ““ it’s all food for your soul for yourself as an artist. But working on a studio movie ““ granted on every cable thing I’ve ever worked on I’ve always worked with people I admire ““ Ashton Kutcher is extremely talented and such a great guy and all the actors are amazing. But when you work on a studio movie you work with much bigger celebrities. At first I was thinking it was going to be a nightmare ““ working with divas, rude and sure enough they are the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. Patrick, Michelle, Sydney Pollak and everyone that worked on the movie were so great. So wonderful people from cable all the way up to working on big studio movies where the stress is high and pressure is on and instead of shooting in Burbank we were shooting in London and Scotland in all these amazingly beautiful castles. Catering is better.

    (Laughs)

    CS: How did you get picked? Is this something you went out and auditioned for?

    CUMMINGS: They saw a lot of people but I think what set me apart was that I was a comedian and they wanted someone who could add a little bit of comedy to it. It’s really amazing because it’s so hard to get a job in a studio movie if you are not a model or had been working forever because they don’t want to take risks and they are trying to sell it overseas and they need financiers to invest and be able to distribute all over the world and the more famous people that are in it the better and Sony was amazing and I think they were excited about me because I was a comedian and there was this fresh young person and that was really cool.

    CS: The story itself ““ I apologize for not knowing a whole lot about it – but why does it take place overseas?

    CUMMINGS: Well, there is no way you could know anything about it. Patrick Dempsey has a platonic friend, Michelle Monaghan’s character ““ they are best friends who realizes that he’s in love with her and she goes overseas to Scotland to work, meets a Scottish man and comes back 5 weeks later, engaged, and she asks him to be her Maid of Honor, says she’s marrying a Scottish man and they all have to go over to Scotland for the wedding. So we’re over in Scotland planning the wedding, doing the rehearsal dinner, doing the bridal showers and all this stuff and doing these Scottish games and all these crazy antics over in Scotland so we got to go over there for a month. It was all very, very cool.

    CS: So they got to shoot on location?

    CUMMINGS: Yes, it was amazing.

    CS: Were you basically tagging along for the whole thing?

    CUMMINGS: Yeah. They shot in New York for about 2 weeks that I wasn’t there but they didn’t have the bridesmaids. So, we shot in LA for about a week and shot in Scotland for about 6 weeks and London for 3 weeks.

    CS: When you’re doing multiple takes is it difficult from the comedy standpoint to make it seem just as witty and just as spontaneous the 3rd, 4th, or 5th take?

    CUMMINGS: Yes, and it’s nice to be able to do something different every time unless we are on a major time crunch and we just have to move on. Being a comedian my impulse is to make people laugh, so every time I want to do something different and fresh and make everyone laugh but, again, you just have to know when to be professional and give them just what they need so we can move on. Sometimes in the editing because I’ve done something different every time they can’t cut it ““ that would be my worst nightmare.

    CS: I’m also just as curious to find out why ““ I’m reading your condensed bio ““ that you finished college in 3 years vs. 4 yet you chose a career that insures maximum instability.

    (Laughs)

    CUMMINGS: I love you for that. Well, because I knew that this was going to be my career I knew I wanted to go to college. I got through high school and I knew that every girl who goes out to LA after graduation and doesn’t have an education, they don’t have anything to fall back on but as a performer and having so much training the best thing to do for me would be to not go out to LA and get on a bad sitcom. The best thing I could do was to go improve myself as a person and make myself more interesting and pursue my interests and curiosities and get an education so I have something to say and have a point of view and when I get new material I have some perspective on it and I have some goals, I’m doing a period piece, I’m doing a mystery. And also for my own confidence that when you go into a career that is so unstable the best thing you can do is to have something really solid to fall back on to keep your pride up. And I really wanted to develop as a person. I didn’t want to be an empty person. Not that people that don’t go to college don’t, but it’s something I really wanted to do the compromise was OK I’m going to go to college and do it in 3 years.

    CS: Overachieving while being funny. I have to believe it’s one of the hardest things in the world to try to do but do you ever get to the point where you are doing sets every night, obviously some nights go better than others, is being funny a draining thing? Are there times you don’t want to laugh or do anything associated with comedy?

    CUMMINGS: Doing stand up is the most enlivening, energizing thing you can possibly do but yes, during the day, it’s really funny because people say for a comedian you are such a serious person. It’s just that, no, I’m off work right now. I don’t always want to be doing jokes, I don’t always want to be on. I can’t always be doing quips. When it’s your job for a living you want to save it for the stage. You don’t see lawyers on their off hours reading paperwork for no reason. After you do it long enough ““ people get into comedy because they like to make people laugh ““ sort of have a need to entertain people and the need to make people laugh so if you’re not doing it on stage they don’t do it all the time. Everyone has their class clown, always making jokes, always on but when you start having 20 minutes, sometimes 40 minutes to an hour a night ““ that need to make people laugh, you get your fix, most of the time, thankfully. So I get it out of my system.

    CS: Where did you find your roots? For me, I’ve always been fascinated with comedians ““ one of the first albums I bought was Bob Goldthwait’s album as a kid and I’ve always admired of taking average, normal everyday things and warping the hell out of them. Who were your comedic measuring sticks growing up?

    CUMMINGS: My first ever was Paul Reiser. I found a book he wrote called “Couplehood” that he wrote in 89 or 90 and it’s kind of like what Mad About You was based on. It’s all about couples living together and the mundane goofy things that happen. Just like you said, it was about buttering bread in the morning, making coffee all of these little things and made these hysterical, brilliant commentary about the most mundane things and open it up to a hysterical world. The things we take for granted every day ““ you get up, take a shower, get in the car ““ all these things he had such interesting, funny observations. I was so fascinated ““ his sense of humor was so insane. Followed by George Carlin and big for me too was Bill Cosby. I used to watch his show religiously because so much of that was based on his stand up and then later ““ Dave Attell ““ he’s a legend now but he’s very edgy and then I got introduced to Lenny Bruce and then Bill Hicks and it was kind of over.

    CS: Oh yeah, Bill Hicks.

    CUMMINGS: People are changing the world of comedy. When I was in college I thought I’d change the world and be a journalist. Then I thought the ones that are really making a difference are the ones who do it with a sense of humor. Bill Hicks, George Carlin, those are the people who are making the most profound social commentary followed by Chris Rock, Bill Mahr, Jon Stewart. Humor is a way to endear people.

    CS: Now, I am going to ask you a yes or no question and please answer it immediately when I ask: Do prop comedians deserve to live?

    (Laughs)

    CUMMINGS: Yes. Yes, they do.

    (Laughs)

    I cannot live without prop comedians. I just think of my jokes as props. That’s my way out. The thing about prop comedians is that ““ Carrot Top makes more than all combined… So I want to get on that train of negativity but you have to respect someone making one hundred million dollars a year with a baton and a teddy bear and some toys.

    CS: Actually, I agree with you ““ I think at the end of the day I think the measuring stick is how much money ““ if he’s successful that’s great, it’s game on but why is there such a movement against people perceived as doing easy comedy?

    CUMMINGS: Are you kidding? No comedy is easy. No comedy is easy. And guess what, I have to come to his defense, prop comedy is harder than real comedy. Not only is he telling jokes, he is juggling fire, he’s doing a marathon exercise and telling jokes. He does a two hour show with pyrotechnics acrobatically, doing magic, it’s mindblowing, where I just have to sit up there and talk. At the end of the day, funny is a democracy. People are lining up and filling auditoriums and they are making millions and millions of dollars and entertaining people and people are laughing. Carrot Top is sold out every night. People have paid $100 a ticket to go be entertained by him so you can’t say he is not funny. At the end of the day that’s the statistic.

    CS: Seriously, I do not want to hijack your whole day so I want to be able to ask you one more question: With whatever kind of success that MADE OF HONOR gets, if indeed it does well and helps propel you forward in your career, what do you hope is the next step in your career progression?

    CUMMINGS: I would like a studio project but there are not very many good funny, funny roles for women and it’s sort of hard to find those and I would love to find a role like that. Really big movie directors are doing TV ““ like 30 Rock and Weeds ““ there’s some really good stuff on and I just want to be doing stuff that moves me and makes me laugh. I want it to be meaningful. Stand up is big for me ““ I’d like to do a half hour special.

    CS: Anything that might come about in the near future? Comedy Central loves doing those.

    CUMMINGS: Yeah, that’s the idea, so check back in a couple months.

    (Laughs)

  • Trailer Park: Glenda Pannell

    By Christopher Stipp

    Archives? Right Here…And The Way Way Back Archives Are Here

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    It’s tough to get a movie made.

    If you don’t have A-List stars attached or a bankroll where you can make the film on your own terms there is a lot you have to look to others for in order to help a production go forward. In writer and director Jeff Nichols’ case the production needed to get to where it needed to go by sheer force of will. The will of the story that needed to be told, the will of those who had to believe in what was being shot, so many different behind-the-scenes hook or by crook moments that never made it in front of the lens. Glenda Pannell is an actress in Nichols’ latest, SHOTGUN STORIES, in which she stands on the sidelines watching two sets of half-brothers rage against one another following the death of the family’s patriarch. The film’s subject matter is a bit heady but the movie is one that has garnered attention from film festivals and ample praise from the likes of Variety and Roger Ebert.

    Glenda has made a name for herself playing roles in productions like WALK THE LINE, playing a lead role in MEET THE LUCKY ONES and will next be seen in STREAKER. To say that speaking with an actress who has such an exuberance for a role like this was a pleasure would be a gross understatement. Glenda had a realistic sense of how this role fits into her overall resume and about what you’re willing to do when the story is as good as this. To see the film in the coming weeks check to see when it might be playing at a theater near you:

    Laemmle’s Sunset 5: Los Angeles, CA 4/11
    Northwest Film Forum: Seattle, WA 5/9
    Starz Film Center: Denver, CO 5/16
    Olympia Film Society Capitol Theater: Olympia, WA 5/24- 5/29

    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: I’ll be honest, you have a one paragraph bio, I haven’t seen this film, I’m not going to ask you to take it from the top and ask you what the movie is about, so the only real recourse I have is to inquire what drew you to this story from a first time director?

    GLENDA PANNELL: When I got the script I pretty much knew, the way the script read, the story had a real solid narrative.

    Funny thing is I’m from Tennessee and we shot it in Little Rock, Arkansas and that’s where the director was from so I felt a kindred southern connection with Jeff. They are real people to me. Every single character in the film is people I have encountered or in my life and have certain characteristics of people that I knew. Knowing the people in my life and having the story told to me, it was such an easy read. I had no questions and just had a great visual of what the film would look like once it was made. I just knew it was going to be very special.

    Shooting a film in the south is always so picturesque. It’s such beautiful country to shoot in. Late afternoon, early evening, it is so beautiful on these wonderful golden fields. It’s a wonderful environment.

    CS: The trailer I saw for the film, there is nothing really quirky about the marketing ““ it feels just like a verite kind of film. It doesn’t seem to be anything else but a relationship kind of film. Would that be a close assessment?

    PANNELL: Once you see the film, I think you’ll be able to support your thoughts on that. It is a story that is told visually in front of your eyes. You feel great empathy for everybody in the film.

    There is a conflict going on between two sets of brothers. It really about the relationship of original set of brothers, Son, Boy and Kid. The lead, Mike Shannon who plays Son, is the first born to a set a parents. They had these children and they split up. The father goes off and starts a family with another lady and those children are raised in a more loving environment. And those children are named, which is a poignant part of the film, one of the children in that set of Boy’s is given his name; that’s a big thing in the South for a father to pass his name to a son. Even though there is conflict between these sets of brothers, because they are blood brothers but not raised in the same family, there’s a lot of unnecessary words exchanged and a lot of bad behavior that most people will look down upon but “¦.. they weren’t raised to love one another so that’s just how they handle things.

    It’s difficult to tell the story but it’s a great narration.

    CS: How do you factor in to this all? What part do you play?

    PANNELL: I’m Annie Hayes and I’m married to Son Hayes in the film. I think she’s Son’s anchor. He wasn’t raised in a loving home. And definitely wasn’t raised with a loving maternal figure and certainly weren’t raised by his father, those boys were left to raise each other on their own to develop their own values and own survival skills. And I think by the time he got married, Annie came along and came from a home that was not broken, had a mother and a father. I think he’s trying to create different values and learn from her because they have a child together ““ he takes off trying to get his stuff together – she loves him and doesn’t want to let go – they need to stay together for the kids ““ but at the same time she doesn’t want to live that way. She wants him to progress and not “f” up.

    CS: And do you think Jeff was able to distill everything? From when you read the script, to when you actually shoot it can be two different beasts. Obviously looking at the accolades the film has received already can say he has… but was there anything while he was producing or directing it where things on paper and trying to get it on screen that didn’t quite work?

    PANNELL: I think pretty much everything he intended pretty much worked out. If it seemed like something wasn’t going to work, he was always in discussion with us. He was always asking us how do you feel and how we feel about our characters and welcomed opinions but we weren’t running around trying to run the set but very open and we felt very comfortable ““ at least I did, speaking for myself. If I didn’t quite understand something I would try to understand it with questions. It’s really like a novel ““ a great narrative piece of work ““ and you want to show that justice especially when the director is the writer.

    CS: Is this really a southern film at heart? I know everyone can make generalizations that this is everyone’s kind of film but is this something unique just to the south?

    PANNELL: I don’t think so. The characters are true to the south but pull back and you make a general observation ““ I don’t care what family you are from ““ they might put up this picturesque facade but everyone has a past ““ everybody has a history nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. I don’t think it’s unique to the south, I think it’s more unique to our generation quite honestly.

    CS: How so?

    PANNELL: The world isn’t the easiest place to live in at the moment with the economy being what it is and it’s just tough times we are living in. When people go home it’s not always the 9 to 5’er going home with dinner on the table, everybody sits around, eats and watch television and goes to bed. I just think everybody needs comfort. Anybody that goes to see this film can relate.

    CS: And the title SHOTGUN STORIES emphases the violence underneath it all.

    PANNELL: I’m not saying that everybody is going to go out and grab a gun ““ you don’t settle a conflict that way.

    CS: So where does Jeff come in on all of this? I don’t want to say autobiographical, because that would be pretty wild if it was, but where was he coming from when he wrote this story?

    PANNELL: I’m not sure if there were certain people in his life that he was drawing from, I can’t speak for him on that, but I would assume that growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas he’s seen people ““ just for analysis doing some people watching those characters are all living around him. So I’m sure there are people that have come into his life that he’s based his characters on.

    CS: During the shoot how long were you on set making this film?

    PANNELL: You know what, I was commuting back and forth from Memphis. It seems like I was doing it for at least a month. I wasn’t shooting every day. At least a couple times a week I was called on set. I would be there a big chunk of the day and I was pretty much at the beginning and the end process of it. It was a joy. It was very exciting. In the two hour drive going over, I’d think about the character and how I was going to approach it. It was such a pleasure.

    CS: Obviously it was different that any mainstream production and you’ve worked on bigger films than this. Really any sort of ““ anything you like more about independent films than the big sort of polished films that Hollywood churns out?

    PANNELL: The thing I like about SHOTGUN STORIES is that is was a labor of love for Jeff. He kept us included throughout the entire process. He would just say, not much going on if that was the case but just want to keep you up to date. The thing I liked most about this film is that most of the people that worked on the film he went to school with. He went to school at the North Carolina School of the Arts which has a great filmmaking program and we didn’t have a big budget to work on but his family made dinner for us. Every day dinner would be in his parent’s home. Mr and Mrs. Nichols sitting around the dining room table hanging around with the crew. It was so great to actually sit down and talk to these people and pick their brains about all aspects of production, to ask the crew members “Why do you do that? And why is that necessary?” Just learning the mechanics of things ““ it was about every single person.

    CS: Amazing; having dinner made for you every night.

    PANNELL: It was wonderful. Chicken pot pie”¦..it was wonderful.

    CS: It says you are currently in Los Angeles and I would imagine it’s nice to be able and go back to LA if you were to compare being on jobs, the difference between working on something like this and working on something with tons more money behind it”¦

    PANNELL: I really consider myself lucky. This is not the last we are going to hear from Jeff Nichols by any stretch of the imagination. And Mike Shannon is definitely one of those underrated actors that is out there today. He’s such a brilliant guy. To be a part of this project at the beginning of Jeff’s career is something I am very proud of for the rest of my life. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to someday say, “Hey, I was in his very first film.”

    CS: It’s won a few awards already.

    PANNELL: Yes. It won the Seattle International Film Festival and won a narrative category in Austin, and nominated for the Spirit Award, and I think there was something in Europe we won”¦.

    CS: Obviously you did it first of all because it was such a good story but at the time you were making it did you think it was going to be something people were really going to pay attention to and take notice of?

    PANNELL: I had a pretty good feeling because every character ““ I would pop on the set and just watch ““ and every character brought something very unique and invaluable to the film. Having wonderful characters he cast in this ““ everybody – I just had this great energy on the set ““ I just knew, don’t know why I knew, but knew that it was going to be something special. We could only dream at the time that it would go as far as it did and thankfully it did. I don’t know, I just had a great feeling after reading the script and it just kept going when we started filming.

    CS: You mentioned that while you were on the set ““ learning and observing ““ when you are taking that in, how does that inform the role that you are currently playing? Is it on your shoulders to be in tune with everyone else in your cast?

    PANNELL: On my shoulders? This is the biggest part I’ve had to date. I told someone earlier that you don’t have to have a million dollar set to bring professionalism to the set, and handle yourself in a professional manner and I think everyone did that. It worked like clockwork. Jeff was the perfect captain for the film. I hope that I did it justice in Jeff’s eyes. At the end of the day, you say, Oh I should have done it this way, or I should have done it differently. Hopefully I’ve learned from it.

    CS: That’s interesting that you take a part like this ““ the conversation starting that it’s not going to pay a whole lot of money or it’s not going to pay any money at all, what’s the process for you when you get a script to look at it and go, “Is this something I really want to invest my time in doing?”

    PANNELL: I try my very best and especially tried with Annie to immediately step in her shoes and people watch and be as observant of people as possible so I can say, “I think I get this.” I may not be correct but it’s enough to make a choice and come from someplace that you think will work.

    CS: And as you go from job to job, is it an easy lure for an easy paycheck if something is not up to snuff but the money may be right ““ Is there a tug of war in your own mind?

    PANNELL: Well, we’re getting a lot of auditions right now so hopefully I’ll get that choice.

    (Laughs)

    It was never about the money. It was about having”¦. Craft or money. It’s always going to be permanent. People will be able to go back and look at that so you just can’t look at a part with dollar signs rolling in your head. Everyone will know you didn’t put your heart into it and give it your all. You have to make it all or nothing. It’s not fair to anyone ““ cast mates, director.

    CS: Parts that you are auditioning for now ““ can you be selective?

    PANNELL: I can be selective of certain elements of things you don’t want to do. For instance, nudity. Sometimes violence. But you can’t make it about the money. It’s about building relationships and make it about the work. It should be about the work anyway. I’ve just never wanted to do anything else. I need to support myself and do this for a living.

  • Trailer Park: Dicky Barrett

    By Christopher Stipp

    Archives? Right Here…

    I’m awesome. I wrote a book. It’s got little to do with movies. Download and read “Thank You, Goodnight” right HERE for free.

    A lot of superlatives could be used to describe the fierce yet melodic sounds of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

    A band that has been around longer than many would realize, 1985, has had more members than Kool & The Gang, constructed one of the most durable bridges from punk to ska and fronted by one of the most pronounced vocalists ever to rock a mic The Mighty Mighty Bosstones could never be pigeonholed into anything that they themselves didn’t already anoint their sound with. One of the other pleasures besides their seven studio albums was the pleasure of being able to see them live. Having the OG “Bosstone”, manager and flash dancer Ben Carr, on stage and doing nothing but grooving hard to the music whilst the other members play is something that truly has to be seen to be believed. The energy and heart that the members of the band, guys who would sooner wear a shirt, tie and suit jacket on stage as they would shred through an Operation Ivy cover with blistering thunder, is simply unmatched. One of the more notable events that the Bosstones kept as a tradition within the band was their annual Hometown Throwdown, the latest represented the 10th annual incarnation of the event, which has the Bosstones playing for five sold-out nights in a row at the historic Middle East in Boston. The tradition has been a staple for many fans and its sold-out status every year is emblematic of this band’s allure and reception in the music community.

    One of the great things about being a band that has been around for as long as it has, and has weathered the number of band members who have come and gone, is its consistent quality. The albums it has produced, the singles which have been appropriated from mainstream radio to the movies, and the live shows that have never failed to connect means that their latest album, Medium Rare, is a compilation that has put together rarities and three new songs in a way that it doesn’t feel like an empty cash-in. You listen to a song like “Don’t Worry Desmond Decker” and, unless you’re a heartless zombie who deserves to be shoved and locked in a room with a pack of emo pantywastes, there is something instantly toe-tapping about it; you want to bounce around a little, you feel like there should be more to modern music and that it should sound more like this.

    It’s hard to put words to reasons why this album deserves some scratch so I’ve obtained a handful of copies to give away plus I’ve turned to Dicky Barrett to give me a little insight into this album’s making. Besides being a part of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night crew, and has a fleeting cameo in “I’m Fu*ing Ben Affleck“, Dicky has kept busy even when the music hasn’t been. Leave a comment below with your e-mail address hyper linked (or send me an e-mail) if you want a chance to win a this album and here’s what Dicky had to say about his latest and greatest.
    CHRISTOPHER STIPP: I confess I can’t call myself a hardcore fan because I didn’t know about this album until a few weeks ago.

    BARRETT: Yeah, we didn’t put it out with any kind of machine behind us or label support. Minimal distribution. We were in Boston over the Christmas break and we’ve been promising our fans to combine a lot of the B-sides. What’s so difficult about taking songs that are on Bosstones records and putting them on another record and putting them out there? Very often they were on different labels and it requires legal paperwork and red tape. So, we got a good solid collection of these songs, and wrote three new songs and put it out there.

    CS: That’s fantastic. It’s sounds like a real cohesive album. It’s not like it’s a bunch of out of left fielders.

    BARRETT: It’s a nice sounding record too.

    CS: Absolutely. And the three new ones really blend in well with the whole album.

    BARRETT: That’s the genius of Joe Gittleman, producer of the Bosstones sound. He knows the Bosstones sound like I know the Bosstones look.

    CS: Right. Was he there from day one?

    BARRETT: He was there from the beginning. Joe could say he was there before me.

    CS: Really?

    BARRETT: Yes, he’s the bass player and him and Nate asked me to play in the band that they had when they were still in high school.

    CS: And through all these years, the sound has stayed consistent. I’ve never read an interview where you mentioned that you were going in a new direction, a new sound ““ that’s a warning sign it’s a concept album. The sound has always stayed consistent.

    BARRETT: What we’ve always tried to do is do exactly what we want. We came out of the gates mixing pop and metal and ska. We had a very wide spectrum to choose from. We never at any time wanted to do a hip-hop record or straight jazz record but there are always elements of everything. We called ourselves ska because we didn’t want to be labeled.

    CS: People always tried to pigeon hole you into something.

    BARRETT: They need to call something something. They would always ask what kind of music do you call yourselves. It’s Bosstones music. We could tell you our influences and let you know what we are listening to but you can’t call us a metal band, or straight pop band. That’s not fair to the Sex Pistols. After it’s all said and done I think we hold a place in music that holds it own. Whatever we did it was very much The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

    CS: I think that’s absolutely accurate. As a fan, I wish more people would have purchased the records to continue the band’s rise to a higher level but your greatest success came in the late 90’s, and let’s face it, your appearance in CLUELESS helped”¦When you look back at it are you happy with the success you had or do you wish you would have gotten to the place where you were on the cover of every magazine?

    BARRETT: I really wouldn’t have minded that but to be the Bosstones is not the Rolling Stones. It’s just not for everyone or easily understood. It’s hard to explain. At the peak of our popularity I really didn’t enjoy that as much as I probably should have. I took it too seriously. It felt to me like, “Oh shit, all these fans that we’ve created throughout the years ““ punk and ska clubs are going to hate this.” It wasn’t like we were trying for those things…things came to us. When Kurt Cobain died and people were feeling pretty miserable we thought it was time for people to feel a little bit better and we happened to be there with bands like Green Day, Rancid”¦it was time for uplifting music, which is what we’ve always been doing. It wasn’t like we flipped our flannel shirts off and put on the suits ““ here we are we’ve been being the Bosstones for 10 years before that. My mask could be off.

    (Laughs)

    CS: When you guys came back to record new songs, at least the three for the new album, how long did it take”¦.the answer I think you might give is that it clicked immediately, but how long did it take for you guys to get back in the groove to record the songs in classic Bosstone fashion?

    BARRETT: Joe sent selected music he wrote at home, I liked it, we wrote some lyrics, he came over to my house, we jammed around in my living room, we went over and taught Lawrence what we were doing at the studio here in LA, taught him the music. It didn’t take long, it didn’t seem hard and it didn’t seem difficult. We’re just going to create some new songs to add to this collection and hopefully they fit it, people like them, they sound good.

    It wasn’t a long involved process ““ like we’ll write them, then we’ll rewrite them, try again and then we’ll take them back to the studio. We’ll send them around, we’ll test market them with some different radio stations. We just recorded some songs the way we used to do it.

    CS: And then going back for the Hometown Throwdown certainly helped to gel a lot of things, but how was it going back this year?

    BARRETT: It was awesome. It was really really great. I was a little nervous beforehand but we had a great time. We are playing in LA and Las Vegas next weekend. So the guys start practicing tomorrow to get ready.

    CS: Is it going to be 5 nights in a row at each place?

    BARRETT: Nah.

    (Laughs)

    You got to think of it like – it wasn’t like we played high school football together for four years. We were on the road playing 300 plus shows a year for 16 or 17 years together. It wasn’t hard to get back in the groove once we knew ““ there was a little bit of rust and a little bit of stiffness and a little bit of dust. It just didn’t take too long. This is how it goes and just didn’t take us long.

    CS: The reason I bring it up is that Wilco just did a 5 night stint in Chicago. It was called their Winter Residency.

    BARRETT: I love that band.

    CS: I think they are one of the best playing today that not a lot of people either care about or”¦.

    BARRETT: Never really got the attention or notoriety but like I said, be careful what you wish for.

    CS: Exactly.

    BARRETT: It would suck if Wilco was a household word too.

    CS: That’s true.

    BARRETT: To everybody but them I’m sure.

    CS: If it’s anyone that deserves some kind of mainstream recognition, it’s them. They played 5 nights in a row ““ all of the shows surfaced nightly on the Internet ““ but it was amazing to hear the guys, over the course of 5 nights, getting tighter and tighter. It was sold out and they mentioned they wanted to do it again next year. What’s it like to go out there and do something 5 nights in a row in one place ““ what’s it like by that fifth night?

    BARRETT: For me, exhausted, but it’s a huge sense of pride. It’s everything you just described. Holy shit. It’s been five years since we did it. It’s nice to know you still care.

    CS: That people still care.

    BARRETT: It’s nice to know that people still care. It’s nice to know you can still do it and nice to know that other people still care when you do.

    CS: How is it like coming back now to try and balance music with television now that the writers strike is over?

    BARRETT: That was – the writers were absolutely ““ I’m a writer myself of music ““ to be robbed the way they were being robbed is unfortunate. I don’t know ““ it’s fine being back. I’m excited. We have shows to play and stuff to do and I certainly like working for Jimmy Kimmel. It’s a great place to work.

    CS: And how to you balance ““ you bounced to radio now television ““ all your interests?

    BARRETT: I don’t know. None of it is solved. Busy schedules but I’d like to tell you it’s really difficult and I don’t know where it comes from and I’m really gifted and I can spin several plates at the same time but it doesn’t seem like hard work to me. It feels like I’m doing things I like and glad to have the opportunity to do it.

    CS: And of course, a lot of people are asking if there is going to be a new album with the guys.

    BARRETT: I think we might. We haven’t really sat down to talk about it but I don’t see why not. We certainly enjoyed being in the studio for the songs we recorded so I don’t see why not.

    CS: The songs that were chosen for Medium Rare, was there any over guiding or over riding idea of what should go on?

    BARRETT: Let me give you the factors that went into it. One was the ones that we could legally put on, that was the first thing. After that it was whether or not it was kind of rare enough or whether it was on ““ a lot of them have been on B sides and stuff and the third was Joe wanted to make it cohesive and feel like a record so those were the three factors. We could have put 10 more songs on if we didn’t follow those guidelines so that’s the way we did it.

  • Interview: Derren Brown

    derrenbrown-2007-08-08-02.jpg

    -by Ken Plume

    derrenbrown-2007-08-08-01.jpgDerren Brown is a very dangerous man. In fact, any encounter with Derren – be it on a street or even your own home – is an affair fraught with peril. He is, in addition to being such hazard, one of the most fascinating entertainers currently plying his arcane trade on television today.

    What exactly is that trade, you ask?

    Derren Brown is – depending on how you look at it – a mentalist, a magician, an illusionist, a hypnotist, a paranormal skeptic… When, in reality, he’s all of these things and more. With an acerbic wit and presentational flair, he’s a riveting performer who’s finally making his way to the US.

    A staple in the UK courtesy of multiple series, specials, and live shows, the Sci-Fi Channel has imported Derren via a rejiggered and expanded edition of his initial effort, Derren Brown – Mind Control. It’s a mixture of tricks and mental feats for a generation raised on Penn & Teller, and a must-see affair. As Derren himself describes it, his work is a combination of “magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship.” The US edition of Mind Control is currently berthed on Thursday nights at 10pm EST.

    I’d also recommend you pick up the DVDs that are currently available in the UK (the original Mind Control, plus the first two series of Trick of the Mind), as well as his must-read book Derren Brown: Tricks of the Mind.

    I got a chance to tempt fate by chatting with Derren, whilst constantly fearing that I would fall under his sway and become nothing more than a puppet in his diabolical schemes…

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    KEN PLUME: It’s a pleasure to be speaking with you.

    DERREN BROWN: You too…

    KP: It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for, I believe, two years now…

    BROWN: Really?

    KP: Yes. I’m a huge fan of you and your work.

    BROWN: Oh, thank you very much, that’s lovely. Thank you, Ken.

    KP: And knowing some statements you’ve made in the past regarding enjoying your anonymity in the U.S. …

    BROWN: (laughs)

    KP: What suddenly was the change that brought about the transport of the show and yourself into the arena of a U.S. network?

    BROWN: Well, yeah. I think it just… it’s one of those things that’s always kind of been on the cards. You know we didn’t sell the show to the States, anticipating that one day we might want to have it commissioned out there. That was just something that was always gonna go in the background, and it’s been seven or eight years that I’ve been on TV, so it seemed like a good time to start asking. In terms of the anonymity, for me, I just don’t know… I mean, the difference is I don’t live in the States. If I do become well known out there for the show, it’s something I’ll have to deal with. I like my privacy, but I don’t know. I just don’t know. I was just talking to a previous interviewer about the slightly odd stalkers and strange reactions I’ve had, and God knows what it’s gonna open up starting up out there. So who knows.

    KP: So does that mean at some point you’re going to start hosting America’s Gone Mental with Piers Morgan?

    BROWN: (laughs) Yes, that’s the time. I’ll make a note!

    KP: Do you still find that you have a shred of anonymity within the UK, or do you think that’s largely disappeared?

    BROWN: Well, it’s kind of nice. Channel Four – it’s one of the big channels, but it’s less mainstream. It’s kind of the cooler, edgier kind of programs – which is fantastic for me, because they really support some of the stuff that I do, that I think I’d have trouble getting commissioned on some of the other channels. It’s a mixed sort of audience that watch the show and everything, but it gets – on average – I think about three million people that watch it, which is good figures for that channel. It’s not 20 million that watch the big soap operas. So it feels an okay sort of balance – but I wouldn’t want too much more. I don’t quite have the ambition or the ego of most big flashy magicians, so I’m not gonna be fishing and struggling to be number one magic type mind reading figure out there, so we’ll see. I’m fairly modest about all my expectations. I think it’s a good show and I hope people will want to watch it.

    KP: And you also mentioned that you’re not exactly – by your preference – an outsized personality when it comes to the public eye…

    BROWN: No. Yeah…. I think most of that comes from your own kind of drive and what you want. I mean, I was already doing what I do, quite happily, but just not on TV. And then I was offered the chance to do it on TV – which of course was great and exciting, but I think if you’re already doing something that you enjoy and it’s about just doing more of what you enjoy, that keeps it all sane. As opposed to just wanting to be on TV and famous for the sake and the appeal of that.

    KP: What is that you want?

    BROWN: I’d like to have a place in Florence, and retire and paint at some point, to be honest. I love doing this and it’s great fun, and I’ve been able to kind of reinvent the show a few times and I get to tour every year. I love all of that. So I enjoy it enormously. I have no idea how it’ll go in the States, whether it’ll take off and be a big thing or whether it’s something that will kick over for a while. I think it’s a good show. I’m proud of the show, so I’m very happy with that. Depending on what happens in the States, I may have to drastically change my priorities. I try and be relaxed about it and I don’t have any particularly strong ambitions or strong expectations in any areas.

    KP: Have you found it more difficult going with each new series, as far as developing material for it?

    BROWN: Actually, it’s kind of got easy. I thought it would be more difficult. Very rarely have we felt – I say “we”… it’s me and one other guy, my friend Andy, and we write all this stuff together…

    KP: That’s Mr. Nyman right?

    BROWN: Andy Nyman that’s right, yeah. Who’s currently touring in Death at a Funeral, this new Frank Oz movie. He’s just gone over to LA for a month. It’s opening sometime this month. So for me, what happened is the show’s progressed and matured here. It’s become about – especially the one hour specials that I’ve done – has sort of become about what I feel I wanted to look at or what’s become an area of interest for me. They’ve grown with me – as opposed to just, “Here’s another series, we need to churn out another 50 routines.” It’s never really felt like that. It’s always quite fresh and different. So somehow I’ve had a clearer sense of the sort of thing that I want to do each time, and that’s actually kept it fairly easy to come up with material that still feels interesting and fresh. It hasn’t been as difficult as I might have anticipated.

    KP: Do you feel that you’ve, in lockstep with that, progressed and matured as a performer as well?

    BROWN: I think so, yeah. I mean, I’m doing big stage shows and things that I never thought I’d do, and I had to learn how to do that. I had to learn how to perform in front of two thousand people – which is fairly big for our standards.

    KP: What are the disciplinary differences between TV and on stage for an audience?

    derrenbrown-2007-08-08-03.jpgBROWN: Oh, hugely. You can do stuff on TV but not be particularly much of a live performer. I think it’s just one thing to get something on TV – most of the kind of drama and pace of it will probably come from the editing of the show, and the style and the look of the show. On stage, it’s just me for three hours, and I’ve got to try and keep everybody constantly entertained. That really is just me. So it’s a different set of skills on top of actually making the stuff work. For me, it’s much more exciting, I much more prefer that, and I look forward to hopefully, in time, doing something on Broadway, because it’s a real buzz.

    KP: It definitely is more energizing to see you in that longer sustained form, having seen the Something Wicked special you filmed during your last stage tour…

    BROWN: That’s cool. Yeah, it is different, isn’t it? And it also means I have to be sort of lighter and funnier, and do things that for some reason never really worked too well in the series. The series is quite solemn in comparison. Not a lot of room for gags.

    KP: Would you perceive the character of Derren Brown that you’re performing in those two venues to be different?

    BROWN: Yes, I think it is. Still, I think the stage version is more me, because that’s the… if you’re gonna perform at all well – and I’m not saying that I perform that well – but it has to be you. It has to be a theatrically enhanced or tweaked version of yourself. You can’t just sort of fake your personality. That doesn’t really work. It does on TV, because it’s all sort of fairly quick segments, and I’ve just got to get through what I’ve got to do because it’s got to fit into a format on TV. You know, less room for that. Actually performing the piece, you want them to shine and you want them to interest the viewer at home. So yes, I think in terms of the character, there’s certainly two different sides. That’s kind of interesting. If it was me watching the show and I’d seen that guy on TV, I’d be quite interested if I went to see him on stage and he sort of fleshed him out a bit as a character. But I don’t think of it too much as a character… but I suppose, invariably, you have to, to keep on top of it.

    KP: Do you perceive him as any different from how you are off stage?

    BROWN: I think I’m a lot less the kind of very confident, controlling… It’s a side of me, if I’m comfortably high status (laughs)… I can be like that, but I’m much quieter and more considered, I think. But then it’s really fun if you are like that – and I’m quite indecisive and I’m quiet and private… all those things in real life… so it’s actually quite nice to tap into that side, the more confident aspects of yourself. To do that on stage is a real treat.

    KP: So you’re saying the closest thing people would see to the real you is if they’d seen that bonus feature on your second DVD set, with you eating breakfast rather anal retentively?

    BROWN: Oh that! Yeah probably, probably. Yes, I thought that was quite fun when I watched that. Yeah, it’s all different parts of me. You have to draw from yourself, and then you kind of have to enhance that and make it interesting. With the TV show, it’s fast-paced – it’s difficult having too many layers to that. But sometimes, certainly the show here has gotten funnier and lighter. It never become a big laugh, but the TV show, as it’s grown up, it’s become a little bit softer around the edges, in a good way. And I think that was something that was important. Whereas, yeah, doing the first series for Sci-Fi, I think it has to be very clear to people exactly who I am and what I’m doing. And then hopefully give it room to grow if it gets recommissioned, and has a chance to do that.

    KP: Do you call them tricks? Do you call them performance pieces?

    BROWN: Routines? Segments? I don’t mind. Some people have called them tricks – that’s fine, too.

    KP: Watching the last series, Trick or Treat, on Channel Four…

    BROWN: I’m fascinated that you know the material, that you’ve watched these things. Thank you.

    KP: Like I said, I’m one of the people in the US who’ve been trying to show people your work for the last couple years.

    BROWN: Oh thank you, Ken…

    KP: I’m just glad you’re coming to the US. When you look at those segments, there seems to be both a… you know, obviously because of the concept of the program (where volunteers get to choose what type of piece they’ll be involved in – a trick or a treat), it has a very soft, kind edge, as well as a very, very hard edge with the trick portion of it. Do you see a line that is uncrossable in what kind of segment you’ll do, in terms of what you’ll subject a participant to?

    BROWN: I think, for me, the thing of primary importance is the experience of the person that takes part in it. That’s a huge, important part of it. Although some of the pieces, they may be finished in a way that makes them look quite bleak or traumatic or cruel, the reality is that people always are so well taken care of and always invigorated by it. To me, that’s very important. Especially how participants generally are treated in reality shows and things – it’s just criminal and quite upsetting sometimes. So it’s very important to me that it isn’t like that, and that their experiences are authentic and matches what they see on TV when it goes out, but also that it’s enjoyable for them. So with that in mind, it’s our sort of building drama. It’s a question of not just showcasing, “Look at me, look how clever I am, I can do this” – that was maybe more important at the very start when I had to make a name for myself, but now I’m in the shows less… and ideally, I wouldn’t be in them at all, but I still have to make a living. (laughs) Obviously I have to get my skills and what I do in there, but at the same time what I’m interested in is the drama of the situation – which, at home, you’re empathizing with the person that’s taking part. I think we just sort of sit around and talk about it, and that idea, and a couple of others, came like the zombie arcade game – which I guess you must have seen…

    KP: Yes.

    BROWN: They came out of normally sitting around, talking about smaller sort of tricks, if you like, and ideas, and I go, “Can we just think a bit bigger? What if we… I mean we’d never do this obviously, but what if somebody woke up and they were witnessing their own death in a car crash, and we had a double made of them, or something.” Something like that. And that idea kind of sticks, even though it’s normally said in a spirit of, “Well, obviously we couldn’t do that because that would be really cruel.” And then it sticks, and then…

    KP: And then you did it.

    BROWN: … and then we find a way to do it that isn’t cruel and irresponsible, and that’s sort of interesting and intriguing and fascinating to the person. If it is a bit cruel, at least by the end of it they’ll feel elated and exhilarated and forgive us. Plus they volunteered to take part in the show, and they know the sort of character that I am.

    KP: They know what they’re getting into.

    BROWN: Yeah, they know what they’re getting into.

    KP: Has there ever been a participant that reacted in a completely surprising manner?

    BROWN: It’s never happened. There was one stunt, the staring competition…

    KP: Was that the gentleman that was about to hit you?

    BROWN: Yeah, that’s right. Exactly. That’s as far as it’s gone, but that was specifically to make somebody angry and troubled. That was full of that, so it was hardly a surprise.

    KP: Did you feel, in that situation, that there was the potential for it to get out of control?

    BROWN: I think for me… I get asked this a lot, and I understand that. Maybe it’s just that I’m so on top of what’s happening, and that experience – hopefully knowing how they’re kind of framing it in their minds. It’s difficult to explain, but it kind of… in the same way that hypnotized people look like they’re under the control of somebody else, there’s in fact a much more subtle game of behavioral manipulation, and what looks like one person, the hypnotist, controlling – it isn’t about that at all. It’s about a kind of…

    KP: A dance, would you say?

    BROWN: It is, yes, exactly, it’s more of a dance, so there is… often what it looks like, in terms of that level of cruelty or control, it isn’t really quite like that. And being aware of the subtler aspects of it, I’m utterly comfortable with what I’m doing and how far I’m taking it. Then, in terms of how it’s presented on screen, once the music’s added and whether it’s left on a very bleak note, I like people to feel a bit guilty for having watched it. I think it’s kind of interesting. It’s not the sort of stuff that you necessarily associate with watching, like, a magic show, or something like that, which obviously it’s related to that whole tradition. So I like playing around with all of that – but that’s separate from the person’s experience, which hopefully always comes out very positive. We did this thing called The Heist, which…

    KP: Which, honestly – of all your outcomes – was probably the most disturbing to watch…

    BROWN: Yeah, it was pretty disturbing. Now there, I had the guys come over and watch the show in its rough edit form to make sure… the guy, Danny, who was the one that kind of seemed most disturbed when he was stopped… the one that’s doubled over…

    KP: Who seemed to have a bit of a breakdown…

    BROWN: Yeah. We became good friends. I went out to dinner with them all afterwards, and explained to him the whole of the show, and then Danny came over, and he loved it. He was so exhilarated by it, and he came over and watched the rough edit of the show. Because it was two weeks that had to be pulled down into an hour, and I didn’t want them thinking that I’ve reflected them badly or even it doesn’t reflect what really happened, so he came over as the kind of – as the guy who’d been through the worst – just to make sure that he was happy with it. Which he was. He came and saw a screening of it, and they were all happy with it. It was great. They’re always very well taken care of, and I generally tend to keep in touch with them as well, and some of them become friends. That side of it is hugely important. And yeah, that line you talked about is just one of responsibility. Ultimately, the show is put together intelligently and seriously, and not just sensationally. I know people that have been involved in reality shows and the like, and it’s sort of heartbreaking how ruthless that world is. Maybe it’s partly through seeing that, that makes me realize how important that kind of welfare side of it is…

    KP: That sense of compassion does come through in the programs. I think it’s a fascinating companion to also read your book…

    BROWN: You have done your homework!

    KP: I keep hoping that the book will come over to the U.S., because I’m tired of importing copies for people.

    BROWN: (laughs) Hopefully it will at some point.

    KP: If Louis Theroux can get his book through…

    BROWN: Has his show been in the States?

    KP: No, in fact his show hasn’t aired in the States at all, but they released his book here in the U.S.. His companion book to Weird Weekends.

    BROWN: That’s nice…

    KP: But reading your book, I can definitely see where you’re coming from when you do these sort of things. I think anyone who watches the show probably should read the book just to get a better sense of what your head space is and what your foundation is, as a performer…

    BROWN: I hope that’s something that will – if further series are commissioned, and so on – I hope that’s something that will be allowed to grow. Understandably with the first series, Sci-Fi is very keen that it just nails it straight down the middle, in terms of what I do and how I do it.

    KP: Just out of curiosity, have you seen the “Seven Safety Tips For Dealing With Derren Brown” that’s been circulating the internet?

    BROWN: No, I haven’t!

    KP: Well, here’s the bullet points of it: First one is “Don’t deal with Derren Brown.” Second one is “Don’t go to the United Kingdom”… Which is now moot, of course.

    BROWN: This is something from the States?

    KP: Yeah, there’s a site called needcoffee.com…

    BROWN: Okay…

    KP: Number three, “If you suddenly find yourself in the UK and Derren approaches, don’t look at him.” Number four, “If you cannot escape him, do not let him touch you.”

    BROWN: (laughs)

    KP: Number five, “If he manages to touch you, at least keep him from taking hold of your wrist.” Number six, “If he manages to take hold of your wrist, for the love of baby Jesus don’t let him put his hand over your face.”

    BROWN: (laughs)

    KP: Number seven, “Even if he doesn’t touch you, don’t let him not touch you either.”

    BROWN: (laughs)

    KP: And it’s fully illustrated with various clips to back up the assertions.

    BROWN: That’s fantastic!

    KP: That’s from May of this year.

    BROWN: That’s great! I hope you’re going to put those in the article. That’s fantastic.

    KP: Oh, definitely. From a performance point of view, I’m wondering which aspect you find most challenging – is it the memory skills, the dexterity, or the interpersonal communication?

    BROWN: (laughs) The honest answer to that is remembering people’s names when they come up on stage. I did this thing in my first stage tour – I thought, for each city I go to, I will memorize the phone book for that city, then have people call out names and addresses of themselves or their friends or whatever, and I’ll tell them the phone numbers, or around the other way. And I managed to do it – I didn’t always get them right, but managed to do that. But despite that, I never learned the name of the person that would come up that was going through the same book to double check it… the names of people in the audience when they stood up… I’m terrible with that, because I’m so focused on one thing. So it’s always the little things… And utterly ridiculous, because I do this stunt and then thank the person and then have to say, “What was your name again?” You’re like a gag. It got a laugh every night, and I just found it embarrassing. It’s the little things. All the other stuff kind of… (sigh) I don’t know. I’m making it look more difficult than it is. That’s part of the performance. I don’t find it too difficult to monitor something new… I mean, when I’m doing the stage shows, that’s always kind of hard on the first night, and it gradually gets rolled in. It’s a difficult one to answer, but probably the truthful answer is the more entertaining one, I guess, which is people’s names when they come up. I’m very good – like with journalists, I find that if I sit there and do a bank of 10, 20 journalists and I say I will remember all their names, and I always tell them their names back again, and they always write in the articles how impressed they are. But yeah, if I don’t make a point of doing it, I’m just like everybody else – just terrible, terrible at doing that kind of thing. On stage, when it matters most, is when I’m worst.

    KP: It’s fascinating, in watching the first series of Mind Control in the UK, having seen the Devil’s Picture Book tape…

    BROWN: Oh yes… gosh. Wow.

    KP: … to see some of the things reappearing in different guises within the series…

    BROWN: Yeah.

    KP: I thought that was fascinating. That and the reaction you got out of Stephen Fry.

    BROWN: Yes, that’s right. Oh, he’s lovely. He’s such a nice guy. He’s not that well known in the States, is he?

    KP: He is and he isn’t. He’s known to a certain segment, but he’s not everywhere like he is in the UK.

    BROWN: Yeah, yeah.

    KP: One of the things I did want to touch upon briefly was also your painting.

    BROWN: Oh yeah…

    KP: I quite enjoy what I’ve seen…

    BROWN: Well, thank you.

    KP: Your portraits are heavily caricatured, and in capturing the essence of a person, has there been anyone that’s proved particularly difficult for you?

    derrenbrown-2007-08-08-04.jpgBROWN: Al Pacino. It’s probably the least successful that I’ve done. I think it’s on the website, if it’s been updated. But yeah, I always found him very difficult. Really wanted to paint him and have that in the collection, but it’s never been in my… you know why it was? You know, he’s got a very kind of expressive face. It’s not for lack of features to exaggerate, but I could never get it right. It’s sort of all right, the one that I’ve done, but I don’t know if it’s…

    KP: Do you think it’s a difficulty to exaggerate exaggeration?

    BROWN: Yeah. I don’t know what it is, because it’s not a very conscious process. It’s not like you… they are caricatures, even though they’re subtle, but I don’t kind of… you don’t consciously think, “Right, that’s quite a big nose, so I’ll draw a big nose.” You just draw what you see, and then if you naturally see things in an exaggerated way with faces – which I guess I do, which I’ve always had a very good memory for faces because I’ve always seen them and remembered them in this kind of exaggerated way – so you just draw what you have in your head and it just comes out in an exaggerated way. If I try and draw a straight portrait that isn’t exaggerated, I can’t. It just comes out like that. So it’s very difficult, to do it when it isn’t working, it’s kind of hard to make it work. And for some reason I was hung up on that…

    KP: Has your self-portraiture changed much over the years?

    derrenbrown-2007-08-08-05.jpgBROWN: Yes. It’s only the most recent one that I think works for me. There were quite a few previous ones that were not very good. How you see yourself isn’t how other people see you, so if you’re painting somebody else, and you know when it’s right, because it kind of clicks into place, and I can hear their voice talking when it works. You just look at it and it’s like looking at a photograph, and the picture triggers all the associations that looking at the real person would. Whereas yourself, that click doesn’t happen, because you don’t think of yourself in the same was you think of other people. You don’t hear the person’s voice and you think of them, and all those sorts of things. It’s just guess work, in the end. It’s just, “Yeah, that looks like what’s in the mirror, so I’ll stick with that.” It’s only this last one that…

    KP: That’s finally clicked?

    BROWN: Yeah. Probably because I see myself on TV now. I’ve actually got an image of that.

    KP: Do you think you have a perception of yourself outside of yourself? If that made any sense…

    BROWN: Well, I guess more so than before.

    KP: Is that perception of you as “you”, or do you perceive that as the “performer” version of you?

    BROWN: I think it depends on how messy my hair is, how confidently I’m staring at the camera… all that kind of thing. I think there’s a certain look and dress I associate with the performing me more than… or even having said that, I am wearing a suit at the moment, even though I don’t need to – though I do tend to wear suits in real life, as well. I don’t know…

    KP: Well, obviously you’re dressing up for the interviews.

    BROWN: (laughs) A perfectionist. In case you have some video thing that I don’t know about…

    KP: I saw you rearranging silverware at breakfast on the DVD features, so I know all about your perfectionism…

    BROWN: (laughs)

    KP: Any plans to take your live tour to the US at any point?

    BROWN: Well, I would love to. I mean, that’s certainly something to aim for. I think it’s just a question of if the series builds up a fan base and it feels right, then I would love to do a tour, do a Broadway run if possible. That would be great. They’ll love the way I sing. You’re a very diverse country. You know? I mean, in some ways you’re very homogenous, and in other ways… you’re hardly heterogeneous, if that’s the word. And it’s psychologically interesting as well, so it’s nice, with the show, to go to different areas. I’m sure how New Yorkers react to a camera – let alone what I’m doing – will be very different to going somewhere in kind of the Midwest or deep south. It’s a rich area, I think, and I think useful and good fun for the show, as well.

    KP: Hopefully we’ll come across better than we did in Messiah…

    BROWN: (laughs) Yeah, I think… I don’t know if we’re using bits from that. No, we might just hold that back and have that as a special. Yeah, might need to soften it up a little bit.

    KP: Here’s hoping that you do make the transition. I think it’s been a long time coming.

    BROWN: Well, thank you, Ken. I really appreciate your support, and thank you for making people read the book. That’s lovely.

    KP: I do appreciate your time, and here’s hoping in the future we can finally do that in-depth interview that we’ve been trying to do for years.

    BROWN: That would be fantastic. I can’t wait to meet you one day…

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