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The columns, revisited

Pencil sketch of Roberto Benito - smiling face, gun with a heart-shaped barrel, shooting out love hearts, helmet camouflaged with flowers

Roberto Benito explains the love behind his Oscar winning film “Wasn’t World War II Fun?”

Roberto Benito is best know as the Italian comedian and film maker who directed ‘Wasn’t World War Two Fun?’ which swept the board at the Oscars two years ago. He charmed the American public with his exuberance during numerous television interviews and with his hilarious antics during the ceremony itself. Who can forget the sight of him mooning Jack Nicolson? Or pushing a custard pie into Steven Spielberg’s face? I went to talk to him.
Roberto Benito
Pencil sketch side profile of a woman with shades, tall poised, the telletubies floating in the background, tattoes, bangles, cropped hair, arched back. She holds her shades

Dr Andrew Cousins investigates the world of streaming services…

One company that is largely responsible for the streaming revolution is the entertainment behemoth Notflix. It has almost single-handedly revolutionised the way that we consume media content. But is the result movie heaven? Or is it actually development hell? I went to LA to meet Senior Deputy Vice-president of Internal and External Acquisition (Los Angeles), Tammy-Lynne Anderson-Planderson-O’Connor.
“AC: Finally, what do you say to the charge that far from being its saviour, streaming is killing the film business altogether? TAPLOC: People can be very rude about us. I’ve heard us being described as vampires draining the industry of life. AC: Yes, I’ve heard that comparison. TAPLOC: It’s simply not true. Primarily because we’re much more like zombies. AC: Zombies? TAPLOC: Yes, we go round consuming intellectual property like zombies eat the brains of the living. In time, there will be no filthy germ filled cinemas and picture houses, there will only be Notflix and the algorithm. All hail the algorithm. The algorithm must be right. The algorithm must be served.“
Tammy-Lynne Anderson-Planderson-O’Connor
Pencil sketch of Paddy Morgan, curled over a cocktail in a whisky tumbler, further drinks and an ashtray besides him – large collars sticking out over his jacket.

Paddy Morgan, last of the hell-raisers

Oliver Reed, Richard Harris and Peter O’Toole were a breed of actor apart. Prodigiously talented on screen and with extremely tempestuous personal lives off screen. Booze, women and plenty of bust ups featured regularly. It was for that reason they acquired the nickname “the hell-raisers”. But there was one of their number who is less well celebrated, Paddy Morgan. Paddy might not have been a household name today, but his performances in movies such as “Where Stunt Doubles Dare”, “Touch of the Gorgon” and “Swords, Sandals and Slaves” made him much in demand in the sixties and seventies.  Paddy died in 2006 when his third liver finally decided it could cope no longer and literally exploded inside Paddy’s abdomen. Fortunately, Dr Andrew Cousins had just completed an interview with Paddy weeks before his untimely death. Never published until now, Dr Cousins meets the last of the hell-raisers…
“PM: I usually have two problems with interviews. One, I’m usually drunk and when I’m drunk I have no filter. I say the first thing that comes into my head.  AC: What’s the second problem?  PM: The journalists will insist on writing down every word I say and publishing it. It causes me no end of problems.“
Paddy Morgan
A sketch by Eric DuBois of Stanley Kubrick as 12 year old, baseball cap, scarf and clipboard in hand…

Stanley Kubrick’s Nativity play diaries, age 12.

In 1942 a precocious young twelve-year old by the name of Stanley Kubrick was given the job of directing the Christmas nativity play at St Jerome School in New York. Stanley kept a journal, hand-written in crayon, from the age of eight. This is the first time that permission has been given to reproduce extracts from them.
““First rehearsal. I have made the cast hike around Central Park wearing their costumes to get a feeling of what Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem must have been like. After three hours, Patty-Sue started crying and said she wanted her mother. I reluctantly send the cast home. Tony asked if we could have Bethlehem burn to the ground during the final act. I tell him that Miss Pritchard has expressly forbidden the use of any special effects after my request for three pints of stage blood for the birthing scene.”“
Stanley Kubrick
Pencil sketch of Herlfynn Strumboldt - wild hair, glasses with two paper aeroplanes and a lit lighter. One of the aeroplanes is in his hair, smoke coming out of its wing.

More Of An Art and Cinema Fusion Interface

Herlfynn Strumboldt is probably Finland’s most famous export. His music videos have won him a stack of awards including the Golden Semi-Brieve, the MTV Award for Best Use of a Million Dollar Budget and a Silver Tonsil. Next year he starts shooting his first feature, a tense sci-fi thriller entitled Schismoid III. I caught up with him at his office in Los Angeles.
“It wasn’t too long after. Bands in Britain didn’t have the money to do the sort of things I wanted to do. Bros wanted me to do a video for them so I came up with a concept that involved blowing up a Concorde. I wanted to blow up a full-size aeroplane and they kept saying, “We can’t afford it. Can’t you use a model?” It was very clear that they didn’t understand my vision and so they got somebody else to do the video for them. It would have been good though. They would have been singing, “When will I be famous” while Concorde exploded in the background. They would still be around today if they’d used me.“
Herlfynn Strumboldt
Pencil cartoon sketch of Brick McCracken, with a baseball cap and a large moustache.

The star of Termiliser and Total Recoil reads poetry to Dr Andrew

During the Eighties, Brick McCracken was rarely off our cinema screens. He had string of hits from the buddy cop movie, ‘Two Wisecracking Cops’ to action movies like, ‘The Terminaliser’, ‘Total Recoil’, ‘McCrunchy’ and ‘Big Fists, Loud Punches’. However in recent years his career has slowed down somewhat. His last film, ‘Stop or my Mom will tell another joke!’ was a box office bomb. Now he’s back in the supernatural drama, ‘The Second Sight’, in which he plays a psychiatrist who tries to help a troubled young boy. I went to Los Angeles to talk to him
“Acting isn’t exactly rocket science, you know? I just turn up on set, do my lines and then I’m back in my trailer sipping champagne. I get paid extremely well for doing comparatively little. Meanwhile, you have these greasy-haired critics coming along with their notebooks and their mortgage and their high-blood pressure who say things like, “poor characterisation”, “wooden” and “absence of plot”. Well I say, “Eat lead!”. My movies make people happy. What do they do? They complain about things and get paid for it! What sort of life is that?“
Brick McCracken
Cover for Carnal Cinema book, similar to the Trainspotting poster. It includes five pencil caricatures behind a large orange block that gives the name of the book. The cartoons are labelled Julia Ribbings, Roberto Benini, Tristan DeShields, Dr Andrew Cousins and Mark Custard.
Andrew Lewes and Éric Dubois

Carnal Cinema, the forbidden interviews: Volume One

A limited edition, hard-back, sewn-bound, full-colour book, and a DRM-free digital download are available. With a forward by Professor Laurence Grove.

Buy now