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A Life In Movies: Alex Zane · All The Right Movies

• 0:04
  All the rent movies. Hi everyone, welcome to A Life
• 0:38
  in Movies, the interview show from all the right movies.
• 0:40
  My name is Luke, I'm John and on the show we talk to people in
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  entertainment about three of their favorite films.
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  Today we're talking to comedian, writer, DJTV presenter and all
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  round movie aficionado Alex Zain.
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  Great to have you on the show. Alex, how are you doing?
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  Gentlemen, thank you for having me.
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  It's lovely to be here. Lovely to be here talking movies
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  with you too. So, yeah, very well.
• 1:01
  Thanks. Good, good where you're at,
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  Alex, where you best. I'm in North London currently
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  and I just took the the dog out for a big two hour walk.
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  So we should be undisturbed because I'm recording, recording
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  from home and he's currently passed out on the couch.
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  He has this really weird habit of waiting until I'm doing an
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  interview in my broom cupboard upstairs, a lot like the the old
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  children's BBC broom cupboard. He like Gordon the Gopher, he
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  pops up and just goes. Now I'd like some attention,
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  please. So I think we're going to be all
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  right. Well, you were right, we do all
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  the same references by the sounds of it.
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  Yeah, yeah. We were just saying it's, it's
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  always nice to talk to people. You say the same age so you can
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  go. You remember the broom cupboard?
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  Yeah. That's our listenership
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  completely turned off there. Doing a bit of research into you
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  for this, Alex. Actually, I was surprised to see
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  because I didn't know that you are originally from Leeds.
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  I am originally from Leeds. Why are you either of you?
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  2 Leeds boys you know are you? No, but I used to live there for
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  quite a few years so I was. I was wondering where you're
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  from originally. Let's do this.
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  Were you were you a student there?
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  So were you like not? Far from Hyde Park, but I worked
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  there. I worked in Headingley and I
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  lived in Chapel Allerton. Oh, I know Chapel Out and so I'm
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  just down the road from Chapel Out.
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  This is going to get very niche very quickly.
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  So do you know Oakwood, Oakwood Clock where they've got the very
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  the retro fish bar, Best fish and chips?
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I live literally live just
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  behind that. Well, I used to, I grew up just
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  behind there. My mum's still up there.
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  But yeah, Leeds is a great city. It is a great city, beautiful
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  city. Very nice pleasant
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  reminiscences. I wish I was a part of them.
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  Yeah, a a great fish and chip recommendation if anyone is ever
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  in the Oakwood area stopping to Oakwood fish bar it is.
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  I'm not kidding. I've had fish and chips on the
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  coast that don't taste as good as inner city lead fish and
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  chips. A surprising shout out for
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  awkward fish bar that I was I wasn't expecting.
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  I told you, I told you it was going to get niche very quickly,
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  even though I didn't anticipate just how niche it was going to
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  get. A local fish and chip shop in
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  Oakwood, Leeds. I had you're the 1st guest on
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  Life in Movies from the UK, Alex.
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  So that's a quite a milestone for us.
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  Thank you. I'm honoured.
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  Thank you. Thank.
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  You So come to you live from North London.
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  We're going to talk about 3 movies that Alex has chosen.
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  Are these your top three favorite films of all time,
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  Alex? One of them is one of them is my
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  favorite film of all time. The other two are movies that I
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  very much like, one of which I think is criminally underrated.
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  So I'm looking forward to talking about that.
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  But yeah, I think the first movie we're going to talk about
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  is, in my opinion, the greatest film ever made.
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  Well, it's OK. Very nice.
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  So go for it. Alex, what is your first choice?
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  My first choice, gentleman. Oh, it's a bit like blind date,
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  isn't it? There's another reference.
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  There's another reference for just I'd like to pick for my
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  first movie, Jaws. Oh yes, what a way to start from
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  1975. Written by Karl Gottlieb and
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  Peter Benchley and based on Benchley's novel, Jaws was
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  masterfully directed by Steven Spielberg.
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  Roy Scheider stars as Martin Brodie, the police chief of
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  Amity who was convinced that the island is under threat from a
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  great white shark. Setting off on the ocean waves.
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  With salty sea dog Quint and oceanographer Hooper, the
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  mismatched trio, fierce and epic, struggle to bring peace
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  back to their shores. We've got the head, the tail,
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  the whole damn thing here. Alex, why have you chosen Jaws?
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  This was no boating accident. Do you remember the first time
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  you saw the film Alex? I I absolutely do.
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  Yeah. So Jaws has had the biggest
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  impact of all movies I've ever watched in my life.
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  It's dictated my existence on this planet.
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  I watched it when I was five years old and I remember
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  distinctly it was on ITV. And I remember saying to my mum,
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  I want to watch Jaws. I want to watch Jaws.
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  I was fascinated by sharks already.
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  And I was like, I want to watch Jaws.
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  And my mum said no. And I was like, oh, please.
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  And then in the end she said OK, but don't say I didn't warn you.
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  Now I'd argue as I have done with my mum.
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  At five years old, I don't really understand the concept of
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  Jeopardy and she should have just stopped me watching it
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  because having watched it at 5, I have never been in the sea
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  since. Wow, is that true?
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  That's absolutely true. I mean, just a complete
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  transparency. I've got my ankles wet, I've
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  paddled about in the surf, but I will not go any further than
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  maybe knee height. And even then, if I'm going knee
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  height, I do the thing that a lot of the generation that saw
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  Jaws too young do, where you position other bathers between
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  you and the open sea so you're certain that if a shark comes
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  in, it's going to go for them first.
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  So yeah, I, I don't go in the sea.
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  I climbed out of the swimming pool during my 25 metre swimming
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  certificate because I thought there was a shark in there.
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  And I for 15 years or so after watching Jaws, I couldn't have
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  bubbles in the bath because I needed to be able to see the
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  bottom in case a trap door opened and a shark swum up and
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  death. Wow, traumatized.
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  It had a huge effect on me. But I again, I absolutely love
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  it. I don't love its legacy because
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  I'm a huge, I'm a huge shark fan.
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  I sponsor a shark that is somewhere, I believe out in the
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  ocean called Cut Tail. I believe he's called.
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  Although I looked at the documents the other day and they
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  were like, yeah, we haven't seen him for 1515 years.
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  I'm like, he might well be dead and I'm still.
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  Giving. That's a long time, Yeah, it's
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  only a couple of days. 15 years is a long.
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  Time. They haven't stopped the
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  standing order though, have they?
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  That's still going out. Exactly.
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  I don't know whether it's transferred to another shark or
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  what's going on, but yeah, I'm AI don't like the legacy.
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  I don't like the fact that it's it's demonised sharks.
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  I know the author Peter Benchley often talks about his biggest
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  regret about the book is obviously not the millions he
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  made from it. It's the fact that he turned
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  sharks into this, this villain of the sea.
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  But I just, I think it's a, it's a perfect film.
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  Yeah, I love it as well. I mean, Speaking of the book I
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  like, I can see you've got it there on your shelf.
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  Oh yes, I do. This is the.
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  This is the actual. This is Karl Gottlieb's Have You
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  Ever Read This? This is the Jaws.
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  I've not, I've not read it. It looks brilliant.
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  Yeah. Oh my God, because the because
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  it's one of those movies with so much rumour and history and all
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  sorts of bits and pieces. That's kind of the definitive
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  guide to everything that happened on set.
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  So if you're a Jaws fan, I'd recommend the Jaws log.
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  But yeah, it's, it's great. There's a wonderful story in
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  there about Richard Xanuk and David Brown, the producers.
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  Just to give you an idea, this is how little people knew about
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  sharks in the 70s because obviously now we know a lot
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  about them. But at this point, Xanuk and
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  Brown, when they, when they decided they bought the rights
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  to Jaws and they were like, we're going to make Jaws, they
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  started approaching people with the request that they needed a
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  trained great white shark that was comfortable enough to
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  interact with divers in the water.
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  And it was Peter eventually went, what are you talking
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  about? There's no such thing as a
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  trained shark. But that was their first port of
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  call was to try and find a trained shark.
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  There's another great story about how Steven Spielberg
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  wasn't the first director. It was a fellow called Dick
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  Richards. I don't know if you've heard
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  that. And he got fired because in
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  meetings with Anakin Brown, he kept calling the shark a whale
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  instead of a shark. So that let him go.
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  Yeah, I mean, there's so many crazy stories because obviously
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  there's that famous scene in it where the shark attacks the cage
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  and destroys the cage. And obviously that's a real
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  shock. And they, Ron and Valerie
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  Taylor, were these shark experts and they.
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  That's right, yeah. They, they had a very small guy,
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  Carl Rizzo, I think his name was, I think he was a former
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  jockey, but he was a small guy to get this perspective of the
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  shark. They wanted a small diver to go
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  in the cage. And because he wanted to work in
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  movies, when they said if he done any diving, he was like,
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  absolutely. He'd never been diving in his
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  life. So when it came to getting in
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  this cage, he was really reluctant and he he held off.
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  He held off. He was like, actually, maybe I
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  don't want to do this. Maybe I don't want to do this.
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  And then in the end, just as he was about to get in the cage,
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  that shark got trapped in the rope of the cage and absolutely
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  decimates it, which is what you see on screen.
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  And Ron and Valerie Taylor say that if he'd been in the cage,
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  he would most certainly have been and dead.
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  So his absolute reluctance and fear saved his life.
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  Which is why I don't go in the sea.
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  Like I've got this tattoo of a shark on my wrist to remind me
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  that if I ever get drunk on a beach and someone goes, hey,
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  let's go in the sea, I just have to look down and remember that's
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  where the sharks live. Yeah, Carl Rizzo, I think he was
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  only about four foot 10 maybe or something because the one that
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  he made the shark look huge. So they got a smaller person and
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  they're pretty clever. Yeah, Have you read the have you
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  read the the actual book? I I I held off for years and
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  then I the novel. I've read the novel.
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  Yeah. Yeah, I do.
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  I do like it. It has a bit of a bad rap I
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  think, but I do like it but not as much as the film.
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  No, I think it's certainly a case of a film that's better
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  than the novel. I I mean my biggest problem with
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  the novel is what a Dick Hooper is in the.
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  He's a he's a terrible character, yeah.
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  Doesn't he sleep with Brody's wife?
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  Yeah, he sleeps with his Brody's wife, has a has an affair with
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  her. And so when you actually get to
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  the bit, because Hooper dies in the book and the shark kind of
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  holds his body like taunts Brody and quints with this body, like
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  it lifts the body out of the water and sort of shows it off
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  and I'm like, good. I don't.
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  Like, yeah, I don't like him in the book either.
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  I think he's like a long haired kind of beach bum, kind of a
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  scientist guy. Yeah, yeah, he's certainly not
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  the lovable, the lovable Richard Dreyfuss.
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  No, he's great. I actually went to see that
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  play. The shark is broken all right.
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  Yeah, yeah, it's got good reviews.
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  It's it's amazing. It's absolutely brilliant.
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  And Ian Shaw, who is Robert Shaw's son, who wrote the play
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  and obviously plays Quint in it. It's at it's uncanny when he's
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  in Quince outfit and he's delivering the Indianapolis
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  speech. It's you're sort of almost like
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  I'm watching it live, like I'm so it's it's you can't separate
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  him from Robert Shaw. He looks so much like him.
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  So it's about, that's about the making of Jaws, is that right?
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  Yeah, it's about sort of the relationship because famously,
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  obviously, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss did not get.
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  On here with each other. Yeah, because I, yeah, Robert
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  Shaw liked to drink. And I think, I mean, there's the
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  whole story about how his first try at the Indianapolis speech,
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  he was too drunk. And he was like, I'm not, I'm
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  I'm going to come back and I'm going to do it tomorrow.
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  And when he did it the following day, he was absolutely amazing.
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  But I think his feud with Dreyfus really started because
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  he was climbing onto the orca and he handed Richard Dreyfuss
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  his glass of whiskey while he found his footing on the boat.
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  And Richard Dreyfuss chucked it in the sea and.
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  I think after that. There was no way back.
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  Well, talking about the lead characters, it's got 3
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  incredibly strong lead performances.
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  Alex, which is your favorite character?
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  Who's your favorite? Character great, great question.
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  I think it's Hooper. I just think he's he's great.
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  I think like that scene where he goes round to the brodies and
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  they've finished dinner and he's just like, is anyone eating this
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  and starts eating the dinner? I just I love I just little bits
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  like that. I mean, obviously he only really
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  works as a pairing with Quint. You've got silly hands, Mr.
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  Hooper been carrying money all your life.
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  So yeah. But those two, I think are
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  absolutely fantastic. The character who doesn't get
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  mentioned enough and I think has possibly the most tragic story
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  in the film is poor Pippin the dog.
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  I just that as a dog owner, do either of you have dogs?
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  I don't know. No, OK, so mate, might not,
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  might not resonate with you, but that moment where the owner
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  where the shark, it's just before it's around the kitten
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  boy's death. So it's when Alex kitten has
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  been killed. But also no one's thinking about
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  poor Pippin and that owner just wandering up and down the surf
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  line just sort of going Pippin, Pippin.
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  Heartbreaking. Absolutely destroys me.
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  Yeah, you see the the stick floating on the water, don't
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  you? Yes, yeah.
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  So apparently that if you ever there's that still that floats
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  around the Internet quite often of what the original death of
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  the kit and the boy was going to be like.
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  I think it was it Joe Alves who who shot it after Spielberg had
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  had left already. So they did some stuff and it
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  was just so graphic. He was like, Nope, can't put
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  that in. And when you see the still, it's
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  monstrous. It's a petrified like a white
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  photo. Yeah, yeah.
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  You see the boy actually in the shocks mouth, don't you?
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  I didn't know. Was shot by Joe Alves though.
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  He designed the shark. I was involved in the designing
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  the shark, I think. He's a production designer,
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  isn't he? Yeah, yeah.
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  Didn't he direct your favorite as well, John?
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  Jaws 3D? He did.
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  He did do that one, Yeah. Jaws three DI think is
• 14:20
  underrated. I have a lot of love for Jaws 3D
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  and I I think it's this is probably going to get a few
• 14:27
  people irate. I think it's almost, I'm not
• 14:29
  going to, I'm not going to, I'm not going to go the whole hog
• 14:31
  and bury myself this early in our chat, but I think it's
• 14:35
  almost as good as Jaws Two, I thought.
• 14:37
  You're going to say the first. The first one, yeah, yes, that's
• 14:43
  right. I've come on to talk about my
• 14:44
  favorite movie, Jaws, and my second favorite movie, Jaws.
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  So what do you think of Jaws The.
• 14:52
  Revenge, then Alex. I've tried, man.
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  I've tried on numerous occasions.
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  The most fun thing about Jaws, the Revenge are those two weird
• 15:02
  alternate endings where in one, Jake, Mike's mate, is alive and
• 15:09
  like sort of wheels up to the helicopter on the plane at the
• 15:12
  end of the wheelchair, but he's very much alive.
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  And I was watching, I didn't know there was this alternate
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  ending, and I was watching it again and suddenly just doesn't
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  appear. I'm like, what the hell, Where's
• 15:20
  Jake? And they just decided in one
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  he's dead. Mario Van Peebles characters is
• 15:25
  dead. Wow, I didn't know that.
• 15:27
  Yeah, it's just, it's sort of like what of all the problems
• 15:30
  with Jaws the Revenge? It's not where the Mario Van
• 15:33
  Peebles lives or dies. But I will say this, I do think
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  the opening of Jaws the Revenge is is brilliant.
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  It's one of those things so for example, like Alien 3, like a
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  sequel that is not only bad but because of what it contains, it
• 15:52
  ruins your enjoyment of the original.
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  So for Aliens is one of my favorite movies of all time.
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  I think it's better than Aliens. But Alien 3 by killing Newt and
• 16:01
  Hicks at the start. It's a crime.
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  It it destroys the end of Aliens because it's a feel good ending.
• 16:06
  It's like Newt's alive, Hicks has survived and then, you know,
• 16:09
  Alien three bang both dead. So I think Jaw's the revenge.
• 16:13
  I think it's the best bit in the film, Sean's death.
• 16:15
  But you're like watching Jaws now and you go and that little
• 16:18
  kid is going to be killed. Like he's going to get his arm
• 16:21
  torn off and they're murdered by a shark 20 years from now.
• 16:24
  Yeah, you're right, that scene is actually really good, but it
• 16:27
  does it ruins the first film. I think one of my favorite
• 16:32
  things about Jaws when I read certainly the behind the scenes
• 16:35
  stories, Alex is like Steven Spielberg was only what, 2627
• 16:38
  when he directed it Loads and loads and loads of production
• 16:41
  issues with the film and somehow you managed to turn it around.
• 16:45
  Is that is it? I I'm guessing it must be your
• 16:46
  favorite Spielberg film then. It is my favorite spiel of a
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  film. I think he's actually gone on
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  record and said if the shark worked, I'd have probably made
• 16:56
  half the movie I ended up making because it is that happy
• 17:00
  accident. The shark didn't work and and so
• 17:04
  we got those barrels those. Terrifying barrels.
• 17:06
  Yeah, they're incredible. How scary?
• 17:09
  Three. You can't stay under with three.
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  Not with three, but yeah. Although we have to give credit
• 17:18
  where credit's due. I think it was written, maybe it
• 17:20
  was Richard Zanuck, but Spielberg had a crazy idea for
• 17:25
  how he wanted to end Jaws. He wanted as as Brody and Hooper
• 17:31
  are paddling back to shore, he wanted a school of shark fins to
• 17:36
  appear on the horizon heading towards them.
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  And yeah, Richard Zanuck was the one who went absolutely not not
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  So yeah, Spielberg, if he had his way, would have undone one
• 17:51
  of the feel good endings in cinema.
• 17:53
  Yeah, yeah. Well, the ends great.
• 17:55
  I think Spielberg and Peter Benchley fell out on the set as
• 17:58
  well over the ending because he changed the ending to how the
• 18:01
  shark blows up, which doesn't happen in the novel and Benchley
• 18:04
  wasn't happy about it so they kind of fell out as well.
• 18:07
  Doesn't the shark just get tired and then die?
• 18:10
  Yeah, I think it's kind of just sinks, I think, yeah.
• 18:12
  Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, it's a, it's quite a low
• 18:15
  key ending in the book. It does just sink.
• 18:18
  I think you're right. I think the barrels tire it out
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  and it just sinks because I think Benchley was like this.
• 18:24
  This is nonsense. This doesn't work.
• 18:26
  You, you, you. A shark would not explode if you
• 18:29
  fired a rifle at an oxygen tank in its mouth.
• 18:32
  And Spielberg's answer was, at this point in the movie, I'll
• 18:37
  have the audience that I could pretty much do anything and
• 18:40
  they'd still come with me. Which I think is true.
• 18:42
  Yeah, absolutely. Knows what you do in that
• 18:44
  Spielberg, doesn't he? He knows a thing or two.
• 18:47
  He's got a career ahead of him, certainly.
• 18:51
  What do you think of the actual shark itself, Alex?
• 18:53
  Because it's quite a popular thing now to bash how the shark
• 18:56
  looks. It's a it's a, it's a really,
• 18:58
  it's a really good question. And I think again, because by
• 19:02
  the time it makes its appearance, so I think we first
• 19:05
  really got a proper look at it when Brody's there.
• 19:08
  Why don't you come down here and chump some of this shit?
• 19:11
  I think at at that point, because it's been this just this
• 19:16
  thing, this, like we've seen the POV shots when it's killing the
• 19:20
  kid and the boy, which is this again, just to go back to why I
• 19:23
  don't go in the sea. If I was on a LILO, all I would
• 19:26
  be thinking is I that's what I visualize like the POV shot of a
• 19:29
  shark swimming up beneath me. And then you watch any video of
• 19:34
  a great white breaching, like snatching a seal and you just
• 19:36
  like, yeah, I mean, that's Oh my God.
• 19:39
  Oh my God. Honestly, it's it's doing a
• 19:42
  number on me. By the time we see it, the the
• 19:44
  groundwork has been done in this movie and it's it's terrifying.
• 19:48
  There was going to be another scene that I think they couldn't
• 19:51
  film because it was too complicated, too expensive, or
• 19:53
  maybe the shark wasn't working because when the it's the two
• 19:58
  fishermen who were using the Sunday roast to catch up.
• 20:01
  There. Was meant to be a row of boats
• 20:04
  moored out at sea and they they were going to go up one at a
• 20:08
  time as the sharks swam under it.
• 20:10
  To give you an idea of the scale of the fish, just how big it
• 20:14
  was. That moment where the jetty sort
• 20:17
  of turns in the water to signify, oh, fantastic, that
• 20:21
  isn't absolutely. Yeah.
• 20:23
  I mean, this is, this is what we're talking about.
• 20:24
  It's like by the time the shark appears, I've been terrified by
• 20:27
  a floating piece of wood. So at that point, I'm.
• 20:30
  I'm so. Yeah.
• 20:33
  Well, Speaking of the scenes in the film then, Alex, which one
• 20:35
  would you say if you had to pick one, is your favorite scene in
• 20:38
  Jaws? I've got a really weird one for
• 20:40
  Jaws and I don't know why it's my favorite scene, but it's I
• 20:44
  think it's because of the emotional journey we've just
• 20:48
  been on. So it's where the two kids are
• 20:51
  doing the shark fin fake out. So it's the kids.
• 20:54
  They think you think the sharks there and it's the kids and
• 20:56
  they've got a cardboard fin. And then Michael is in the pond
• 21:03
  and there's that girl who sees the shark swimming into the
• 21:07
  pond. And it's a combination of the
• 21:09
  fact that she can't get the words out, which is like shark,
• 21:12
  shark, shark, shark. It's that and brodies really
• 21:17
  dismissive on it. Like what now?
• 21:18
  And then Ellen Brody goes Michael's in the pond and you
• 21:22
  see Brody start running and getting faster.
• 21:25
  And it's it's that little sequence, but really it's the
• 21:28
  actress going shark, Shark. It just gets me every time.
• 21:31
  I get goosebumps thinking about it.
• 21:33
  Shark. Shark.
• 21:44
  Now Michael's in the pond. So you've been in entertainment
• 22:00
  for over 20 years, Alex. How did you get started?
• 22:04
  I, I saw I started doing stand up comedy in Leeds.
• 22:09
  Actually, you you probably remember the pub that I did my
• 22:12
  first ever gigging back to Leeds chat and you know the the Dry
• 22:17
  Dock pub. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, the old
• 22:19
  board. The Old Boat.
• 22:21
  Yeah, yeah, Wow. So I did my first ever stand up
• 22:24
  gig. Wow.
• 22:25
  Yeah. Died on my ass.
• 22:26
  Terrible. And then and then.
• 22:30
  But I kept on going and I was actually in Edinburgh.
• 22:33
  I was doing the Edinburgh Festival in 2002 and again, I,
• 22:38
  you know, I think there's always a little bit of serendipity in,
• 22:41
  in how careers start, a little bit of luck.
• 22:44
  And I was on stage and MTV were in the room and they were
• 22:48
  scouting for some new presenters and they said, oh, you should
• 22:51
  come down to London and screen test.
• 22:53
  So I did. And then I got my first job
• 22:56
  hosting a movie show because they wanted me to do a comedy
• 23:00
  show. And I was like, there was a
• 23:03
  movie show up for grabs called screenplay.
• 23:05
  And I was like, I'd like to do that, please.
• 23:07
  And so I fought for it and I got to do it.
• 23:09
  And it was one of the most fun jobs I ever had, just being able
• 23:13
  to because there even now, I don't think there are many
• 23:16
  critical review shows on TV. There was film 2000 and
• 23:19
  whatever. Yeah, you know, back in the day,
• 23:22
  obviously the. Great.
• 23:22
  There were very few movie shows when we were younger.
• 23:25
  Yeah, especially like there were a lot of movie promotional
• 23:28
  shows, like paid for by the studios that were like, look how
• 23:31
  cool this movie is, look how amazing it's going to be.
• 23:33
  But we had I, I had the privilege to be able to go on TV
• 23:37
  and critique movies like give a review to camera, which was
• 23:41
  which was lovely. So what was the format of that
• 23:44
  show, Alex? It was just a review show
• 23:45
  reviewing new releases. Yeah, review show the new
• 23:49
  releases that week. And also we did some set visits
• 23:52
  here and there, at one of which I'll be mentioning in a little
• 23:55
  moment. Very nice.
• 23:59
  And then the first time I became aware of you, actually, Alex,
• 24:01
  was when you were on T4. What was it Pop World used to
• 24:05
  host? Yeah, yeah.
• 24:07
  A week morning show, I think from what I remember, because I
• 24:09
  used to live in London at the time.
• 24:10
  When you were on it, you hosted it with Alexa Chung.
• 24:12
  I used. To love it.
• 24:13
  Yeah. No, that was great fun.
• 24:15
  Yeah. So I, I sort of, I jumped ship
• 24:17
  from MTV after about four years at MTV and then and then ended
• 24:21
  up doing well. I first started doing Balls of
• 24:23
  Steel on Channel 4, which was a prank show that we did.
• 24:29
  And then I did Pop World after that and then moved on to Rude
• 24:34
  Tube. Oh yeah, yeah.
• 24:36
  And I also know that you were on XFM for a while.
• 24:40
  Me and Look are both massive fans of the Ricky Gervais
• 24:43
  Stephen Merchant podcast and Carl Pilkington.
• 24:46
  Was wondering if you might have a story or two about them.
• 24:48
  I'm assuming you knew them at the time.
• 24:50
  Well, they do reference you're in one of the the shows from the
• 24:53
  XFM. Yeah, I, I've heard about this.
• 24:58
  So I actually did. They were on at 1:00 on a
• 25:01
  Saturday and I was on at 10:00. So I did what I lovingly
• 25:05
  referred to as the Ricky Gervais warm up show.
• 25:07
  So I did the show before them, then they took over.
• 25:10
  It was actually Ricky who got me my job at XFM.
• 25:14
  He OH. Really isn't.
• 25:15
  Yeah, it was a really nice thing for him to do, he said.
• 25:18
  They were looking for new DJs and he put me forward and so I
• 25:22
  went in and you know, I wasn't it wasn't just like, oh, well,
• 25:24
  Ricky says, so here's your job. I had to do the demo tape and
• 25:28
  everything, but but yeah, that was great for.
• 25:30
  So the story is Carl. They asked Carl who what The Who
• 25:35
  the most attractive man is. And he says me, I'm like,
• 25:39
  that's. So lucky thing.
• 25:45
  Yeah, I think he says. Young Alexander.
• 25:49
  Yeah. The emphasis right now is on the
• 25:51
  young, the young, the young version of this.
• 25:55
  Amazing. OK, Alex, So what is the second
• 25:58
  film on your list? The second film on my list is
• 26:03
  Event Horizon. Yes.
• 26:06
  Released in 1997, Event Horizon was written by Phillip Eisner
• 26:09
  and directed by Paul WS Anderson.
• 26:12
  In deep space, the crew of the Lewis and Clark rescue ship,
• 26:14
  with the aid of Doctor Weir, go in search of the Event Horizon,
• 26:18
  a ship thought to have disappeared seven years ago.
• 26:21
  When they reached their destination, untold terrors are
• 26:23
  unleashed amid hallucinations and unknowable forces.
• 26:27
  It has a talent cast including Larry Fishburne, Sam Neil, Julie
• 26:30
  Richardson and Kathleen Quinlan. The gate is open.
• 26:34
  Alex, why have you chosen Event Horizon?
• 26:36
  So I mentioned at the start that one of the movies I think is
• 26:39
  criminally underrated and this is that film.
• 26:42
  I just, I love this movie. I, I, I loved it from the first
• 26:46
  moment I saw it. I watched it at the cinema.
• 26:49
  I actually watched, I actually watched it at the cinema.
• 26:52
  I was in Bangkok in 1997 doing a little bit of travelling and as
• 26:57
  you do in this vibrant culture filled city where you can go and
• 27:02
  visit any number of iconic historic landmarks.
• 27:06
  I went and watched Event Horizon in the cinema and I loved it
• 27:11
  tell. You what the while?
• 27:12
  Because I think Alien has ripped this right off, hasn't it?
• 27:18
  I mean, look, it gets it gets a few accusations leveled at it,
• 27:22
  like, oh, it's a bit of an alien RIP off.
• 27:24
  I mean, so for me, I do it. I'll just I'll just ask you why
• 27:28
  don't I just ask you or either of you 40K players or collectors
• 27:32
  Warhammer 40 Ki saw the book on. Your shelf there behind you.
• 27:35
  I used to be when I was younger. Yeah, right.
• 27:38
  Yeah, but I'm building I. Was never that cool.
• 27:40
  I'm building an awk army at the moment, so that's why that's it.
• 27:45
  So yeah, at school, just to just to set the scene, I was the only
• 27:49
  kid out of 2000 pupils at my comprehensive school.
• 27:52
  I was the only one who carried A briefcase, so briefcase.
• 27:59
  In that briefcase, I, I kept a copy of the, the Warhammer 40K
• 28:06
  rule book, which I just get out sometimes.
• 28:09
  And I also kept the rules to Warhammer Fantasy Role Play,
• 28:12
  which is for those who don't know, it's a lot like Dungeons
• 28:15
  and Dragons, but it's better. So we used to play that at
• 28:18
  lunchtimes. So, yeah, Phil advised that he
• 28:21
  was big into 40K, and I love the idea, which I, I don't think
• 28:27
  it's ever been confirmed, but a lot of 40K fans truly believe it
• 28:30
  that this movie is basically mankind's first encounter with
• 28:34
  the warp, warp space, which is obviously a huge part of the 40K
• 28:38
  universe. So they've kind of adopted this
• 28:41
  movie as part of the 40K, right? Yeah.
• 28:44
  Speaking of your bookshelf. There, Alex notes you've also
• 28:46
  got a both top secret by Timothy Good, one of my favorites.
• 28:50
  I think you stole my bookshelf. It's.
• 28:54
  I mean this, this bookshelf really I should check it.
• 28:57
  I don't even know what's on here.
• 28:59
  If you hadn't pointed this out, I'd be like what?
• 29:01
  Yes, so yes, so we've what have we got?
• 29:03
  This is pretty much my life. I've got the Jaws log, a book
• 29:06
  about the worldwide UFO cover up and and all army codons before
• 29:11
  one of four CK Best bookshelf ever.
• 29:15
  All essential. Reading.
• 29:16
  Yeah. But if we go back to Event
• 29:20
  Horizon, just briefly, I think famously, Alex, there was some
• 29:22
  deleted footage taken out from the film.
• 29:25
  Have you seen any of that? So isn't this?
• 29:28
  Isn't this part of the reason this movie, I mean, I'm assuming
• 29:31
  you guys like it. Do you like it or do you think
• 29:33
  it's a little bit naff? I like it.
• 29:34
  Yeah, I like it. Really.
• 29:36
  I'm sci-fi is not my thing really, but I've really, I think
• 29:39
  there's something tantalizing and I think it's particularly
• 29:42
  because of those CCTV images, the footage, it kind of shows
• 29:45
  you what happens but doesn't, and you just want to see more.
• 29:48
  But obviously it looks absolutely outrageous as well.
• 29:50
  You don't want to see more. Yeah.
• 29:52
  So you're. Talking about the the famous
• 29:54
  blood orgy scene where Yeah, yeah.
• 29:58
  So I mean, this movie, I love the mythology that's built up
• 30:03
  around this movie, about this famous longer cut of the movie,
• 30:07
  which was so graphic that people were passing out in the cinemas.
• 30:10
  Paramount got cold feet. I'd cut it down to like, I think
• 30:14
  it's a pretty sharpish hour, 30, hour 40.
• 30:17
  But there was initially the first time it was screened, this
• 30:20
  two hour, 10 minute cut and you saw so much more.
• 30:24
  You saw images in that hell orgy that were just like really like
• 30:29
  people having screws screwed into their eyes, someone's legs
• 30:33
  being bashed off so much that they just come off his body and
• 30:36
  then the rest of the torso crawls across the floor.
• 30:39
  And famously all that footage was stored in a Transylvanian
• 30:46
  salt mine and just it got unbelievable.
• 30:49
  It got degraded to the point that it it it, it's lost now
• 30:53
  it's lost. And then this rumour started
• 30:55
  that there was Avhs copy that the producer Lloyd Levin had.
• 30:59
  But then since then he said, no, that's that's degraded as well.
• 31:02
  So it's this idea that we all sort of go, I really, really
• 31:07
  wish we'd seen the longer cut. And I don't know.
• 31:12
  I think the joy is that we can't.
• 31:14
  And I think the excitement and the fascination is because we
• 31:18
  can't. I don't think if we saw it, it
• 31:20
  would be as good as the idea of imagining what it could have
• 31:23
  been like. Yeah, I I feel.
• 31:26
  The same about Stallone's cobra. Apparently there's a a 30
• 31:30
  minutes extra that should have been in the film that was cut
• 31:32
  out, which would explain a lot about the film.
• 31:35
  So I'm I'm I am I'm holding out for that one to be honest.
• 31:39
  That's. Amazing.
• 31:40
  It's Cobra. Is that the one where Stallone
• 31:42
  is such a tough, busy cop? He eats a pizza, a frozen pizza,
• 31:47
  without even bothering to cook it, because he's so he's so
• 31:50
  committed to being a cop, doesn't he?
• 31:53
  Something. Yes, he does, yeah.
• 31:57
  Yeah, it's Stallone. But yeah, I mean, I, I think
• 32:01
  with with Event Horizon, I think the one scene that I think Paul
• 32:05
  WS Anderson has said he'd like to have put back in that was cut
• 32:08
  out of the version that we eventually saw, is Sam Neil in
• 32:12
  devil form. Does the a spider walk backwards
• 32:15
  down a ladder? For any anyone who's.
• 32:19
  Obviously seen the the famous spider walk that Reagan does in
• 32:22
  the Exorcist that William Friedkin famously cut out of
• 32:26
  that I still think I've I've watched it on YouTube just the
• 32:29
  other day. I still, I think it's the
• 32:30
  scariest thing that is not in the theatrical version of the
• 32:33
  Exorcist is absolutely terrified.
• 32:35
  So in my head, the Sam Neil spider walk is probably
• 32:39
  comparable to that. So I built it up and and if I
• 32:42
  saw it, I'd be like, Nah, that's all right.
• 32:44
  But the fact that I can't is it just it tickles me great.
• 32:48
  Castro isn't. There, I mean Sam Neil, everyone
• 32:50
  like Sam Neil, surely, but Julie Richardson, Laurence Fishburne,
• 32:53
  Really good. Oh, what a.
• 32:55
  Cast and the fact that basically they picked Sam Neil.
• 32:58
  They decided we want Sam Neil because he was like America's
• 33:01
  sweetheart. He just saved those kids in
• 33:04
  Jurassic Park. He'd save.
• 33:05
  He'd save the kids from the dinosaurs.
• 33:06
  And they're like, we're going to turn him into the devil.
• 33:08
  And I love that. I love that casting decision.
• 33:12
  He's amazing. What a.
• 33:13
  Turn right at the end because, you know, he's not on the level,
• 33:16
  but you wouldn't expect him to go this far.
• 33:18
  Yeah, Yeah. I mean.
• 33:19
  I just it really works for me as a movie from that opening shot
• 33:23
  of the event horizon in that decaying orbit, just sitting
• 33:28
  there in space and it's such a beautiful ship.
• 33:30
  I think it was designed, it was based on the Notre Dame
• 33:33
  Cathedral is what they're. They try to.
• 33:36
  Create with the design. Of it, but it just the way it's
• 33:38
  just sitting there, the sentient ship waiting for people.
• 33:42
  I it scares the life out of me. And I mean, I think some of the
• 33:47
  things that they did on set were probably more horrific than the
• 33:50
  movie. So, you know, the kid who's got
• 33:53
  the injuries on his legs. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 33:56
  So there was a. Version of that where they had
• 34:00
  maggots crawling in all his wounds but they they, they
• 34:03
  wanted a reaction shot from the kid so they put a screen in
• 34:09
  front of him so he couldn't see his legs.
• 34:11
  Filled these prosthetic legs with maggots and then to get the
• 34:15
  shot they was started rolling and then just pulled the screen
• 34:18
  back to get the kid. So the kid looked at what he
• 34:21
  thought were his legs full of maggots and apparently his
• 34:24
  reaction it was just way too much to actually go in the film
• 34:27
  because he just lost his mind. As you would.
• 34:29
  As you would, yeah, I mean, I mentioned.
• 34:32
  Alien before there, Alex, I think the world feels very much
• 34:36
  like it's taken from that kind of Ridley Scott Alien kind of a
• 34:38
  thing. And I felt the narrative has
• 34:40
  influences in The Shining. Maybe.
• 34:42
  Do you take that from it? It's like a haunted.
• 34:44
  House in Space, yeah. I mean, it was initially going
• 34:47
  to be a lot more like Alien because Philip Eisner's original
• 34:50
  script had tentacled aliens running amok on the ship.
• 34:54
  And then, well, there you. Go Paul WS.
• 34:56
  Anderson was like, yeah, I don't, no, we can't do that.
• 35:00
  And I think it was Andrew Kev. Yeah, Andrew Kevin Walker.
• 35:03
  So he just done 7. And so according to Lloyd Levin,
• 35:09
  the producer, he was like, Andrew Kevin Walker was in
• 35:11
  exactly the right place to do a pass on our script.
• 35:14
  And it was him who came up with the idea of the ship having
• 35:17
  passed through to hell. Right?
• 35:20
  Well. I think that's infinitely better
• 35:21
  than just straight up ripping off.
• 35:26
  Every time I bump into Sean Pertwee, I chew his ear off
• 35:30
  about this film to the point where I think I've started to
• 35:33
  annoy him. But he always tells me, like he
• 35:35
  always has one bit of nugget of information that he's not
• 35:38
  previously told me. The one last time where I
• 35:42
  trapped him, he couldn't get out because he was sitting in a
• 35:44
  corner seat and I just sat next to him and I was like so bed
• 35:47
  horizon, he said it. Was his idea.
• 35:51
  Because I think one of the great moments in it is the expression
• 35:54
  on Smitty's face when he opens the thing and discovers the bomb
• 35:59
  that Weir is planted. Yeah.
• 36:00
  Yeah. That moment, it was going to be
• 36:03
  10. So he opened it that and it just
• 36:06
  exploded like. And he said to Paul Anderson he
• 36:09
  was like, do it from like four or five because then you'll get
• 36:12
  my reaction shot. And that was his idea.
• 36:14
  And it's that face, that reaction shot, that like
• 36:17
  realization that makes that moment.
• 36:19
  Yeah. But it's a great.
• 36:20
  Moment because like 5 seconds of knowing I'm dead.
• 36:23
  What? Can you push it?
• 36:24
  Yeah. I like as well how the film.
• 36:26
  Occasionally I think unintentionally kind of lapses
• 36:29
  into comedy a little bit like the bit where Cooper is like
• 36:33
  space dive is a Cooper space diving from one ship to the
• 36:36
  other. And he's like, whoa, I can't.
• 36:38
  Stop myself. Oh man, I can't believe you.
• 36:43
  You've don't. I mean, John, John, you've done
• 36:46
  it. You've what you've done there is
• 36:48
  is pick up on what? The one thing, if I could change
• 36:50
  anything about this movie, it's that ridiculous moment because
• 36:54
  he's like literally in outer space at one point, and then he
• 36:57
  goes, let's go wisecracken. Yes.
• 37:01
  Yeah, I hate, I hate that bit. Yeah, that's.
• 37:05
  That's such a. Strange turn in the dialogue and
• 37:08
  the tone as well, isn't it? Because it's been serious as
• 37:10
  hell. And then all of it.
• 37:11
  He's given quips outside weightlessness.
• 37:15
  I couldn't believe. Yeah, yeah.
• 37:17
  All right, let's not talk. About that, let's talk about all
• 37:19
  the other OK, draw a line. Under that one, and it's got
• 37:25
  similarities to Jaws, and that's a very, it's a very tense horror
• 37:29
  movie experience, this film. And there's certainly a theme to
• 37:32
  the films that you've chosen to talk about.
• 37:34
  Alex, is horror your favorite movie genre?
• 37:38
  It is at this. Time of year I Halloween is the
• 37:42
  greatest night of the year in my opinion.
• 37:44
  And so I spend October just immersed in horror.
• 37:47
  And yeah, you, you just happenstance has put me on your
• 37:51
  show at a moment where the only thing I'm thinking about is
• 37:55
  horror and an event horizon is one of I mean, is it Alien?
• 38:00
  No. Is it good?
• 38:02
  Definitely. I mean, that moment with the
• 38:03
  cassette at the start, I remember seeing that for the
• 38:06
  first time where it's like Liberate May.
• 38:09
  Oh yeah, that's good. Yeah.
• 38:11
  It's so good in the DJ Jason Isaac's character, he's like, I
• 38:15
  made a mistake. It's it's not savers.
• 38:18
  It's Liberate Tutami Save yourselves.
• 38:21
  And there's more Liberate Tutami X in Furnace.
• 38:25
  Save yourselves from hell. It's brilliant.
• 38:29
  And you're telling us this now when we're.
• 38:32
  Here, yeah, and that airlock scene, that airlock scene, Oh my
• 38:38
  God. With baby bear and Mama bear.
• 38:41
  It's just yeah, that's that's yeah, yeah.
• 38:44
  Good dialogue, that. I really like that.
• 38:46
  Yeah. So what?
• 38:47
  Would you say is your favorite scene in the film, Alex?
• 38:49
  That's why I stopped myself. Because I knew you were going to
• 38:51
  ask me that question and I, I didn't want to start repeating
• 38:54
  myself. But it, I think as an exercise
• 38:58
  intention, as an exercise in horror, as an exercise in just
• 39:04
  really nasty. That airlock scene is brilliant
• 39:07
  because it's the moment where the alarm snaps Justin out of
• 39:11
  whatever trance he's been in. And at that point, he's like,
• 39:15
  Mama Bear, open the door, open the door.
• 39:18
  And she can't. And you know that he's going to
• 39:21
  be thrown out into space and he knows that, and no one can help
• 39:25
  him and he's got to sit there as the timer ticks down.
• 39:28
  It's wonderful. Start going to fucking open it.
• 39:32
  Open the door. I can't the other.
• 39:34
  Door won't open when the outside door has been triggered.
• 39:36
  It would decompress the entire ship.
• 39:38
  Oh my God, Mama. Bear, open the door.
• 39:41
  Come on. Please.
• 39:44
  Captain Patch me threw it on Captain Miller.
• 39:47
  Tell them to open the door. They can't do that.
• 39:49
  Justin, I don't want to die in here.
• 39:52
  You're not going to die. I want you to listen to me very
• 39:54
  carefully, and I'm going to get you out of there.
• 40:01
  Oh, my God. It's starting OK.
• 40:04
  So you talked about DJ and Alex, you TV presenter.
• 40:08
  How different was it working in the two mediums?
• 40:10
  What are the the main differences?
• 40:12
  Would you say, Oh, that's a, that's a good.
• 40:14
  Question I prefer radio because there's an authenticity to it.
• 40:18
  I mean, sorry, live TV, I, I, I loved it's, it's great.
• 40:22
  There's not that much live TV on, but I think when you're pre
• 40:25
  recording shows, because I, I came from a live TV background
• 40:28
  because I was doing TRL total request live on MTV and I really
• 40:34
  love that. And then I started doing
• 40:36
  prerecorded TV and it's quite rigid.
• 40:38
  There's a really set format as you'd imagine with TV, whereas
• 40:41
  radio is just like there's an authenticity to it.
• 40:44
  You could, it feels organic. It's live as well, which is
• 40:48
  always exciting. So yeah, I much preferred live
• 40:51
  TV and radio to regular pre recorded TV, which again, you
• 40:56
  know, I sort of like to do things spontaneously for better
• 40:59
  and worse sometimes. And and when you when you're pre
• 41:04
  recording or a producer will just go, yeah, you're absolutely
• 41:07
  not doing that. Do it again without that bit in.
• 41:09
  And I don't like, I don't like being told what to do.
• 41:12
  And you're the. Face of Sky Cinema and and
• 41:14
  you've presented Sky's coverage of the Oscars.
• 41:17
  Where did your love of movies come from?
• 41:19
  So I mean. You know, not to bring it back
• 41:21
  to the greatest movie ever made, but Jaws really was my way.
• 41:26
  It was the first time I I sort of found the effect a movie
• 41:30
  could have on me. It was, well, it was a
• 41:33
  combination of Jaws and spending my childhood wanting to be Burt
• 41:38
  Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit.
• 41:40
  And genuinely, I kind of still do.
• 41:44
  That's my dream is to really own a black 1977 Pontiac Firebird
• 41:50
  Trans Am and have ACB radio and be able to say things like
• 41:55
  Breaker 19, Breaker 19, this is the Bandit and not sound like a
• 41:58
  total dickhead, which is very difficult, I think, Alex.
• 42:02
  Was to retain when you sported a moustache.
• 42:07
  I I I've attempted to grow. I'm sure I've seen you with one
• 42:11
  before. Yeah, yeah, I can't do it.
• 42:14
  I just, I'm really, I really. I've tried.
• 42:17
  And if I could, I would, but I can't.
• 42:22
  Speaking of Sky. Cinema, obviously you interview
• 42:25
  a lot of people on the red carpet, etcetera, that kind of
• 42:27
  thing. Who is your favorite movie
• 42:29
  industry person that you've interviewed?
• 42:31
  So I'm a. Big big fan of Tom Cruise and
• 42:35
  lovely. Who isn't?
• 42:37
  I've interviewed him. So many Times Now and I, well,
• 42:42
  the weird story is when I was a student in London, the first
• 42:45
  premier I ever went to, so I didn't know they had premiers in
• 42:48
  Leicester Square. I'd been in London about a year
• 42:51
  and I sort of saw this crowd and I kind of pushed my way to the
• 42:54
  front. I was like, what's going on
• 42:55
  here? Got to the railing.
• 42:56
  And as I got to the railing, it was just as Tom Cruise was
• 42:59
  walking past promoting Vanilla Sky.
• 43:02
  And he shook my hand and I was like, Oh my God.
• 43:07
  And then after that. So now cut to now.
• 43:10
  And obviously I was just hosting the Dead Reckoning Part 1
• 43:13
  premiere in in Leicester Square. And wonderful.
• 43:16
  It's it's I just find him such a fascinating person to talk to a
• 43:22
  because he's a massive movie geek and also because, I mean,
• 43:28
  arguably he is the last true movie star that we still have
• 43:32
  working today. Like actual bona fide movie
• 43:36
  star. So yeah, that and he he sends me
• 43:39
  a cake every Christmas. So I kind of have to say, does
• 43:41
  he? Wow, brilliant.
• 43:42
  Does he really so? So he is a real person then?
• 43:45
  He is. A real person, yeah.
• 43:48
  So because he's ageless. Isn't he amazing?
• 43:51
  He looks great. He still looks 20.
• 43:52
  Five. Yeah, he.
• 43:55
  Looks like he's 25. He does stunts like he's 25.
• 43:58
  Yeah, yeah. And yeah.
• 43:59
  So he's got this famous cake list.
• 44:01
  I only mention it because it makes me sound awesome, but also
• 44:06
  like a bit of an idiot for bringing it up.
• 44:09
  But yeah, he's got this cake list.
• 44:10
  So if you want, you sort of, if you've worked with him, you get
• 44:13
  a cake every Christmas. And it's.
• 44:14
  It's a delicious white chocolate and coconut cake.
• 44:19
  I bet it is 0. Wonderful.
• 44:21
  If there's any room on that list, see if you can get all the
• 44:23
  right movies on it. I'll bring it up next.
• 44:26
  Time I see him put in a word. Obviously, everyone knows Tom.
• 44:30
  Cruise that the movie star like you say Alex, but what do you
• 44:32
  like face to face? What do you like as a person?
• 44:35
  Great. He's he's.
• 44:36
  Great. I mean again, so the show that I
• 44:38
  do with that I've done with him a couple of times.
• 44:41
  It's called real life REEL Life. And and we sit down in a cinema
• 44:47
  with an actor or a film maker and we play on the big screen
• 44:52
  the most iconic scenes from their career.
• 44:55
  And we talk about the memories that they had making it.
• 44:58
  And you know what it was like on the day, what it was like to
• 45:01
  shoot, what the all that kind of stuff.
• 45:03
  And I remember the first time we did it with Tom Cruise, it was
• 45:07
  we, we weren't sure if the format was going to work.
• 45:09
  And we sort of sat down and just to watch him mouthing along to
• 45:15
  his lines from Risky Business 30 years ago.
• 45:20
  And you're like, it's, it's, it's just quite an emotional
• 45:23
  moment to see an actor still remember their lines and be
• 45:26
  mouthing along with them and just sort of getting the
• 45:28
  reaction of them watching their body of work.
• 45:31
  It's it's a lot of fun. Yeah, amazing.
• 45:34
  OK, well, what a way to take us into the third film.
• 45:38
  What is your third pick, Alex? Thank you.
• 45:41
  My. 3rd pick is going to be 2004's Dawn of the Dead.
• 45:48
  Yes, indeed. Yeah, written by James Gunn and
• 45:51
  directed by Zack Snyder, A remake of Giorgio Romero's 70s
• 45:55
  classic. A group of mismatched strangers
• 45:57
  hole up in a local shopping mall for Sanctuary amid a horde of
• 46:00
  rage and zombies being for blood outside.
• 46:03
  Sarah, Pauli and Vin Grenades are the big players in a great
• 46:05
  ensemble cast. Hell is overflowing and Satan is
• 46:09
  sending his dead back to us. Alex, why have you chosen Dawn
• 46:12
  of the Dead? I think I've timed this.
• 46:14
  Quite badly, haven't I? Because I've I've just come off
• 46:17
  the back of saying I'm on Tom Cruise's cake list, which sounds
• 46:20
  like a massive show off thing to do.
• 46:22
  And now I'm about to tell you, I picked this because I'm in it.
• 46:25
  So. So I've really, I've really
• 46:28
  started to sound like a bit of a prat on this episode.
• 46:34
  Yeah, I'm in it. That's why I'm thinking, yeah, I
• 46:39
  didn't. Actually know you were in it
• 46:40
  until Luke told me. And obviously you wouldn't
• 46:42
  recognise you because you're all made-up in Zombie.
• 46:45
  Yeah. So how did you come to be
• 46:46
  involved in the film? So yeah, for those.
• 46:48
  Who are like must see him in it now he I am third zombie from
• 46:54
  the front when I chased them into the elevator at the
• 46:57
  shopping mall when Ving Rhames and Sarah Polly and everyone.
• 47:00
  So this was I'd love to say I was just sitting at home phone
• 47:05
  rings Zack Snyder, he goes listen, I'm making a remake of
• 47:09
  Dawn of the dead and I just think you'd be great as third
• 47:11
  zombie from the front wouldn't do it.
• 47:15
  But it was this quite a it was a quite a fun thing when I was at
• 47:19
  MTV and we were making that movie show, I mentioned
• 47:21
  screenplay. Sometimes what would happen is
• 47:23
  you'd go to do a set visit and what certain film studios did
• 47:28
  was like, oh, we'll put you in the movie in a small role and
• 47:31
  it'd be great content for your show and you'll talk about the
• 47:34
  movie and that'll be that. So I was in Toronto reporting on
• 47:38
  it and they were like, do you want to be a zombie in it?
• 47:40
  And I was like, yes, I would absolutely love to be a zombie
• 47:44
  in it. So I was a zombie in Dawn of the
• 47:46
  Dead, I was a zombie in George Romero's Land of the Dead, and I
• 47:49
  played ATV presenter in Juice Bigelow.
• 47:51
  European Gigolo. Yes, for real.
• 47:56
  How long were you in the makeup chair?
• 47:57
  Classic for juice Bigelow European gigolo hours.
• 48:03
  So it must have been a good three hours to to get the zombie
• 48:07
  makeup. Really.
• 48:07
  Wow. Yeah, that's.
• 48:09
  Incredible. Is it because on our podcast,
• 48:12
  when we talk about the making of stories, we talk about like how
• 48:15
  long makeup takes. Is it that agonizing to have
• 48:18
  that much makeup on and to be just sat in a chair for three
• 48:20
  hours just while they apply layers and layers of makeup?
• 48:24
  I quite. Enjoyed it because it was a one
• 48:26
  off. So I was watching this
• 48:28
  transformation take place as I sat in the chair and I didn't
• 48:31
  know what I was going to look like.
• 48:32
  I imagine if I'd had to go and do it the following day and the
• 48:35
  surprise of what I'd eventually looked like was gone, and then
• 48:38
  it would be quite boring. But at that moment, finding out
• 48:41
  that I was going to be in a movie and they were really cool.
• 48:43
  The producers, they played me some of the footage they'd
• 48:46
  already shot. So the bit where all the zombies
• 48:49
  are attacking the bus at the end, it was, no, it was good.
• 48:51
  It was good. But yeah, I'd, I'd when you hear
• 48:53
  some actors like I think was it Ron Perlman for Hellboy, it's
• 48:57
  like 8 hours and you're like 8 hours.
• 49:00
  Oh my God. Every day as well.
• 49:03
  For Ron Perlman in that, Yeah, Yeah.
• 49:06
  So obviously it's a remake, Alex, of the original by Romero.
• 49:09
  Do you prefer this one or the original?
• 49:12
  Oh. Gosh, there's a loaded question,
• 49:14
  isn't there? So this is one thing.
• 49:16
  This is taking aside the fact that you're in.
• 49:18
  This one. Which one do you prefer?
• 49:21
  I absolutely. Love the original but in terms
• 49:25
  of what this is sacrilegious. I like fast zombies.
• 49:29
  I always have since since this movie.
• 49:32
  I think this was, I mean 28 Days later was before this, but I
• 49:35
  think Danny Boyle famously said they're not zombies because
• 49:38
  they're not dead. They're infected with a rage
• 49:40
  virus, but they are the. One, they are but but.
• 49:46
  This the fast zombies in this and also that title sequence to
• 49:51
  Johnny Cash when the man comes around is brilliant.
• 49:54
  One of the. If not the.
• 49:56
  Greatest title sequence in cinema history?
• 49:58
  Well, that was actually one of our.
• 49:59
  Questions Alex that do you prefer Romero's classic slow
• 50:02
  walking zombie or the fast moving ones?
• 50:04
  I agree, I think they're much scarier when the faster I do.
• 50:07
  So the thing about slow. Zombies, I think I understand.
• 50:10
  It's the idea that if there's just one of them, you're all
• 50:13
  right, you can pretty much escape.
• 50:15
  But it's the idea that on mass, this thing that individually is
• 50:19
  almost a bit of a joke because it's shuffling along, but there
• 50:23
  comes a point where it's just too many of them.
• 50:25
  And ultimately you are then going to be killed by something
• 50:28
  that really you should have been able to escape.
• 50:30
  It's just the number. I love that about zombies, but
• 50:35
  no like honest, like that bit where they break.
• 50:37
  I say they that bit where we break into the mall is, is it's
• 50:44
  just, it's terrifying the speed, the speed and ferocity of them
• 50:48
  as well. Yeah, yeah.
• 50:49
  I think well, with being Zack Snyder, as well as having
• 50:53
  obviously horror influences, I think there's quite a lot of
• 50:55
  action influence in there as well.
• 50:57
  Oh yeah, big time. The part.
• 50:58
  Towards the end. We've mentioned this film
• 51:00
  already, but the part towards the end where they're under the
• 51:02
  sewers, that reminded me massively of the air duct
• 51:06
  sequence and aliens at the end of that where they're running
• 51:08
  through the tunnels, yes. Yes, that's true.
• 51:11
  I don't think I like that bit very much though, because it's a
• 51:13
  bit, it's a bit like that's been there all the time and you
• 51:17
  haven't used it till now, yeah. I think it's.
• 51:20
  Better than the original. Yeah, I'm going to.
• 51:22
  Sorry. I'm just so I'm still humming
• 51:24
  and erring about whether this was the right thing to say.
• 51:26
  But yes, I'm going. I'm going to put my neck on the
• 51:28
  line and say I prefer the 2004 version.
• 51:32
  Yeah, well. I mean, I think like Zack
• 51:34
  Snyder, he he kind of gets a bit of a bad rap, but I think this
• 51:38
  and this was his debut feature as well.
• 51:41
  It's a hell of a start. And to take the Mona Lisa and
• 51:44
  redo it. And he's done an amazing job
• 51:46
  with this film. Yeah, I know.
• 51:48
  James Gunn's probably one of my favourite writers working today,
• 51:51
  and I love just that opening. It's a little James Gunnism at
• 51:55
  the start where he's on the phone, the doctor's on the
• 51:57
  phone, and you can't hear the, you can't hear the other side of
• 52:01
  the conversation. He's like, well, I like Gary and
• 52:03
  you're like, so James Gunn. Yeah, that whole.
• 52:08
  Opening sequence I thought was great.
• 52:09
  It's magnificent. Yeah.
• 52:11
  Unbelievable. Well, I think like a lot of.
• 52:13
  Zack Snyder films, There's some great visuals.
• 52:15
  There's a shot where Sarah Polly's driving the car and the
• 52:18
  camera's sort of tracking the car that like it looks like a
• 52:21
  video game. Fantastic.
• 52:22
  Yeah, it does. Isn't it amazing?
• 52:24
  Yeah, absolutely. That whole opening sequence from
• 52:26
  the minute, I mean, just the way Vivian gets onto her feet where
• 52:30
  she's sort of like in one fluid moment, she goes from lying down
• 52:34
  to like onto her feet. The little girl.
• 52:38
  I just. Oh, yeah, it's great.
• 52:40
  I think there's a it's. A cameo from Tom Zavini I saw in
• 52:42
  there as well, from the original Daughter of the Dead.
• 52:45
  Yeah, he plays a. Colour, doesn't he?
• 52:47
  Yeah, that's right. Yeah, he's given the.
• 52:49
  Instructions. Shoot him in the head, burn the
• 52:51
  body. But Ken forward, he's in there.
• 52:53
  Is the evangelist on TV as well? He's in the original.
• 52:56
  That's right. Yeah.
• 52:57
  Yeah, yeah. See, it's respectful.
• 52:58
  And I, I remember, I remember reading George Romero.
• 53:01
  I mean, he, he didn't love it like all of it, but he said it
• 53:05
  was good. He he certainly said it was a
• 53:07
  good film at one point that would be.
• 53:09
  Good enough for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 53:12
  Bit of a sidestep Alex, but what do you think of Shaun of the
• 53:14
  Dead? I was thinking of that, yeah.
• 53:18
  Is that that's the. That's the movie.
• 53:20
  Where isn't there a line at the end of Shaun of the Day where he
• 53:23
  goes Reports of it being a rage virus have been proved
• 53:27
  incorrect. Like taking a little hopper 28
• 53:31
  days later. So this is the sad part about
• 53:34
  being in Dawn of the Dead. I was in Dawn of the Dead, being
• 53:36
  a zombie in Dawn of the Dead when I was asked to be a zombie
• 53:40
  in Shaun of the Dead. So they were doing that.
• 53:44
  They were shooting on the day that I was in Toronto being in
• 53:46
  Dawn of the Dead. So I don't know if you would I
• 53:50
  prefer to have been a zombie in Shaun of the Dead?
• 53:52
  Possibly. But yeah, I missed out on that
• 53:55
  opportunity. But I love Shaun of the Dead.
• 53:57
  I think it's it's incredible, just such an amazing film.
• 54:01
  So what is your? I mean, I think we know, but
• 54:03
  what is your favorite scene from Dawn of the Dead?
• 54:09
  There's a great bit where third zombie from the front.
• 54:15
  No, actually that on the day that when I was shooting my bit,
• 54:19
  I was like, I'm going to give my zombie a bit of a limp.
• 54:22
  So I was running, but I was sort of dragging my my legs slightly.
• 54:25
  And Zack Snyder was like, hey, come over here, man.
• 54:28
  I'm like, oh, I'm going to get a special compliment from the
• 54:31
  director who's like who likes my weird zombie limp.
• 54:33
  And he's like, yeah, what you doing?
• 54:35
  I'm like, yeah, I've given him a limp.
• 54:36
  He's like, yeah, don't to do that again.
• 54:37
  I was like, right, got you. So.
• 54:42
  So my favorite scene is from the minute Vivian, like, jumps to
• 54:46
  her feet and attacks Anna's husband, partner and then her
• 54:51
  escaping into the street, him chasing her, The drive down the
• 54:54
  bit where the truck goes into the petrol station, right up
• 54:57
  until the end of Johnny Cash and the title sequence.
• 55:01
  That whole segment is just perfect cinema.
• 55:24
  Are these people alive or dead? We don't know.
• 55:30
  Is that true? There's a man going round taking
• 55:35
  names and you've got your finger in.
• 55:38
  Various pies. Alex, you've also got your own
• 55:40
  movie podcast. Can you tell us a bit about
• 55:42
  that? Oh yes, so.
• 55:44
  I do a show, a podcast called A Trip to the Movies, which we
• 55:47
  started shortly after lockdown ended because people weren't
• 55:52
  returning to the cinemas, as I'm sure you guys are aware.
• 55:55
  I mean, people's viewing habits just changed when studios
• 55:59
  started putting movies straight onto streaming platforms.
• 56:03
  And even now the window between watching a movie at the cinema
• 56:06
  and it arriving on home video is a lot shorter.
• 56:10
  And so we just basically wanted to remind people, me and my
• 56:13
  producer Grant, the cinema is still the best place to watch
• 56:18
  films. And so each week a guest comes
• 56:20
  on and takes us on their perfect night out on the cinema.
• 56:23
  It's a kind of immersive journey.
• 56:25
  We start in the foyer who living or dead, they take with them
• 56:28
  what snacks they buy. And then we go into the
• 56:30
  auditorium. And yeah, one of the questions
• 56:33
  we ask is it's it's the one that sort of gets gets quite a lot of
• 56:37
  reactions and gets people talking is what is your
• 56:41
  unpopular movie opinion? So often people pick a movie
• 56:47
  that they love. That is why they're regarded as
• 56:49
  rubbish or vice versa, a movie they hate that everyone loves.
• 56:53
  So what is your unpopular movie opinion?
• 56:58
  Oh, lovely. Rolls reversed.
• 56:59
  John, do you want to take it first?
• 57:01
  Yeah, well, I've got 1. Which kind of rolls perfectly on
• 57:03
  the back of the last film we talked about, because one of
• 57:06
  mine is that I think Zack Snyder is a director that divides
• 57:10
  opinion quite heavily. And I think he gets a really bad
• 57:13
  rap. And I would say I'm actually
• 57:16
  quite a fan of his. I think his visuals are
• 57:19
  absolutely. And Dawn of the Dead's a good
• 57:21
  example of it. His visuals are incredible, not
• 57:23
  just in Dawn of the Dead, I think in superhero stuff.
• 57:26
  I think Watchmen is a is as good an adaptation of a masterpiece
• 57:31
  graphic novel that I think you're ever going to get.
• 57:33
  And I think it's largely in the visuals.
• 57:34
  I think his DC stuff isn't fantastic, but it's not because
• 57:39
  of the visuals. I think maybe he's a wasted
• 57:41
  cinematographer because I think his visuals are as good as
• 57:44
  anything that's out there for me.
• 57:45
  And I think he gets a really bad rap by people that say he's red
• 57:48
  when DC and he's done this and he's done that.
• 57:50
  So I would never say that on Twitter, obviously.
• 57:54
  But yeah, yeah, I mean, wars are being fought as we speak about
• 57:59
  that on Twitter right now. That is really hashtag released
• 58:03
  a Snyder. I guess you're a bit of a fan of
• 58:08
  him then, Alex, is that right? Yeah.
• 58:10
  I am. I am.
• 58:12
  I'm really interested to see Rebel Moon and yeah, I am as
• 58:15
  well. I'm surprised they're allowed to
• 58:17
  call it Rebel Moon. It's like this used to be a Star
• 58:19
  Wars script. But yeah, I, I really do.
• 58:25
  I think Watchmen, again, I'm a huge fan of Watchmen.
• 58:28
  I think it's a wonderful adaptation.
• 58:30
  I mean, it's such a poison chalice, adapting Alan Moore
• 58:34
  novel. Because even if you do the best
• 58:36
  job, and I think Watchmen is a fantastic adaptation, Alan Moore
• 58:40
  is still going to go rubbish. Yeah, yeah.
• 58:45
  Tear my name off it. Yeah, exactly.
• 58:49
  Well. My unpopular movie opinion, I
• 58:52
  suppose you were very positive, John and and I and I wish I
• 58:55
  could be so, but I'm not going to be.
• 58:57
  And, and I'll admit that I know I'm wrong, but this is just what
• 59:02
  I know and that hands are up. But, you know, and I'll also
• 59:06
  admit that, oh God, I couldn't. See what this is?
• 59:10
  A big leader. Is a big leader.
• 59:14
  I'm also. Aware that Stanley Kubrick is
• 59:17
  one of the greatest directors ever widely regarded, his films
• 59:21
  are a masterpieces. They transcend the medium.
• 59:24
  They become pieces of art. I love The Shining.
• 59:27
  I love Full Metal Jacket. I'm a big fan of Ice Wide Shirt.
• 59:30
  I can't stand 2001. I can't abide it.
• 59:36
  I, I, I, it. It takes you through two hours
• 59:39
  of nothingness and then the last half an hour is just lights.
• 59:46
  So yes, that's that's me and. I know and I know that that
• 59:49
  people are just going to say, well, you're obviously an idiot
• 59:52
  and you don't understand it. Hands are up that.
• 59:55
  That is a That's a brilliant unpopular movie opinion,
• 59:59
  especially for the line. The last 20 minutes are just
• 1:00:02
  lights. That's that's what does it all.
• 1:00:06
  Mean though, Alex, tell me that. Do you know what?
• 1:00:09
  I I I don't don't know, but I'm pretty sure someone does someone
• 1:00:15
  and someone is right now going. I was like literally struggling
• 1:00:18
  to find words to describe their fury at you describing the end
• 1:00:23
  of 2001. It's just lights.
• 1:00:25
  But yeah, that's it. That's a really that's a really
• 1:00:28
  good one. Yeah, it's it's a fun question.
• 1:00:30
  Dexter Fletcher where he was on the he was on the show.
• 1:00:33
  He his was quite good considering Dexter Fletcher, you
• 1:00:37
  know, obviously the directs great Movies.
• 1:00:39
  Now Rocket Man brilliant. Yeah, yeah, but he started out
• 1:00:42
  as a child actor press guy, wasn't it?
• 1:00:44
  Yeah, it was. It was press.
• 1:00:45
  Guy, but even before that he's babyface and bugs him alone and
• 1:00:49
  pass this to babyface, right? Yeah, babyface.
• 1:00:51
  I think he's in the long Good Friday.
• 1:00:53
  As well. He's in the scene.
• 1:00:53
  Yes, exactly. Yeah, so of all the unpopular
• 1:00:57
  opinions you might imagine Dexter Fletcher would have, he's
• 1:00:59
  like he doesn't. He finds child actors ruin
• 1:01:01
  movies. He used the example he said
• 1:01:07
  Terminated 2 would be better without John Connor.
• 1:01:09
  I agree with that. Agreed.
• 1:01:12
  Aliens will be better. Without Newt.
• 1:01:15
  Oh, I'm not sure about that one, but John Connor definitely go
• 1:01:18
  along with Really you think? You think you think get rid of
• 1:01:21
  John Connor from T2, not the. Character acts of performance.
• 1:01:24
  He's so annoying. What else?
• 1:01:30
  Blake Harrison from The Inbetweeners.
• 1:01:31
  He said he, he, he said his popular opinion is that you
• 1:01:35
  should not play horror movie trailers in front of any other
• 1:01:39
  genre of film. If he goes to the cinema, and
• 1:01:42
  it's he's not because he hates horror.
• 1:01:44
  He does obviously hear horror, yeah.
• 1:01:45
  He does not want to see a horror trailer.
• 1:01:48
  Neil Marshall, the director of The Descent, he said Skyfall is
• 1:01:53
  Daniel Craig's worst Bond movie. Wow.
• 1:01:57
  Wow. I mean.
• 1:02:00
  I mean, I, I would like to think that Neil will come on the show
• 1:02:03
  at one point and talk about some of his films, but I think he's
• 1:02:06
  dead wrong there, Yeah. He's got, I mean, when you hear
• 1:02:09
  him say it, though I won't spoil it in case someone does want to
• 1:02:12
  convince, does want to listen to it.
• 1:02:13
  He makes a good case for why it might be Daniel Gray's worst
• 1:02:16
  movie. Yeah, right.
• 1:02:17
  I'll check that. One out what's yours?
• 1:02:19
  And Alex, what would your unpopular opinion be?
• 1:02:22
  I. I.
• 1:02:23
  I have not got an answer for that.
• 1:02:25
  I'm working on one, but I think, well, do I do I, do I say it
• 1:02:31
  here. I, I, so I'm, I'm, I'm wait, I'm
• 1:02:34
  going to, I'm going to, I'm going to borrow what both of you
• 1:02:37
  have done, which is prefix this answer with like a lot of
• 1:02:41
  explanation, but I'm not going to put myself in a hole.
• 1:02:46
  This might be because I think I've finally overwatched Part 2,
• 1:02:52
  but I'm starting to find myself of the opinion that The Dark
• 1:02:56
  Knight Rises is better than The Dark Knight.
• 1:03:01
  Yeah. Yeah, Now, again, prefixing that
• 1:03:04
  with the idea that I've just watched The Dark Knight so many
• 1:03:09
  Times Now because because I, I, I love it.
• 1:03:14
  And I think maybe I've just done that thing where I've killed a
• 1:03:17
  movie by watching it too much. Every time I watch The Dark
• 1:03:21
  Knight Rises, I'm like, well, this is great because it's got
• 1:03:23
  closure. We've got the end of the story.
• 1:03:25
  This is like, it feels like everything's, you know, we've
• 1:03:29
  been on this, you know, 3 movie journey and this is this is the
• 1:03:32
  closure. And I like Return of the Jedi
• 1:03:34
  more than I like Empire Strikes Back.
• 1:03:36
  So it's a similar thing. It is.
• 1:03:39
  Right, well, right. Well, when you said Part 2.
• 1:03:42
  I was, I was fearful you were going to see a Friday the 13th.
• 1:03:45
  So I breathe a sigh of relief when it was The Dark Knight.
• 1:03:49
  Yeah, or or Godfather. Part 3 is better than Godfather
• 1:03:52
  Part 2, so you clearly got a. Love of movies and music, Alex.
• 1:03:58
  I mean, you've built a career on that.
• 1:04:00
  What's your favorite like soundtrack or movie score?
• 1:04:03
  That's a really good. Question, because that's one of
• 1:04:06
  the questions that I ask on my show as well on a trip to well,
• 1:04:11
  the question on a trip to the movies is what is the best use
• 1:04:16
  of music? I heard that one.
• 1:04:18
  Movie, Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:04:19
  That's a great question. Yeah.
• 1:04:21
  And. For me it's either the use of
• 1:04:24
  air on AG string by Bach in the library scene in Seven when
• 1:04:32
  Morgan. Freeman.
• 1:04:33
  'S researching Dante's Inferno and everything and it's like,
• 1:04:36
  you know, the security guards are like, you want culture,
• 1:04:39
  how's this for culture? And they play that song and I'm
• 1:04:41
  just like just gets me every time.
• 1:04:43
  And weirdly, my other one is another Fincher movie and it's
• 1:04:47
  when the Pixies, where is my mind comes on at the end of
• 1:04:51
  Fight Club. Great, that's yours.
• 1:04:53
  Let's do this. Let's do this because this is
• 1:04:54
  this is this is what I that's what I ask on the pod.
• 1:04:57
  You've got this one right? On us, yeah, I've.
• 1:04:59
  Got I? I know mine.
• 1:05:01
  I know mine. Straight away Danny Elfman score
• 1:05:03
  for Midnight Run. I can't get enough of it though.
• 1:05:08
  That's the horns and the bluesy breaks.
• 1:05:11
  I just can't get enough of that soundtrack.
• 1:05:13
  I love it in terms of. A use of music as a moment in
• 1:05:16
  the film. The first one that popped into
• 1:05:18
  me head when you asked that question was Marty McFly on his
• 1:05:22
  skateboard to the Power of Love by Huey Lewis in the news.
• 1:05:26
  Beautiful. Absolutely masterful bit of
• 1:05:30
  music used in a film there. That was.
• 1:05:32
  Oh God, yeah, yeah. Once when I was a kid.
• 1:05:35
  Back to the Future was on on the BBC's this Christmas Day, Back
• 1:05:40
  to the Future was on on the BBC and Empire Strikes Back was on
• 1:05:45
  on ITV. And not that my this makes it
• 1:05:49
  sounds because this is the 80s one of the one of these TV's was
• 1:05:53
  really small. But my grand did have two TV's a
• 1:05:55
  small one in one room and and a bigger one in the other room.
• 1:05:59
  And I attempted to run between rooms so I could watch both
• 1:06:03
  movies because this was before, this was before video record
• 1:06:06
  this. We didn't have a video, we
• 1:06:07
  couldn't record, record anything, didn't go to a video
• 1:06:09
  shop. And so it was like I was like, I
• 1:06:11
  can't pick between these movies, I have to watch both.
• 1:06:14
  So I was just running back and forth trying to watch 2 movies
• 1:06:17
  at once. You're having to choose between
• 1:06:20
  those. It's impossible, right?
• 1:06:24
  So to finish it off then. Alex, what do you have coming up
• 1:06:27
  in the pipeline for the future? Any plans at the moment?
• 1:06:31
  Just more making more a trip to the movies, which if you're a
• 1:06:35
  film fan, I would encourage anyone to give it a listen.
• 1:06:38
  Thank you for allowing me to promote it on on your show.
• 1:06:41
  It's, it's, it's just, it's a pleasure, you know, I mean, I
• 1:06:44
  should, I should ask you guys. Do you agree that the cinema is
• 1:06:47
  still the best place to watch your film?
• 1:06:49
  Of course. Yeah, I was feeling the same as
• 1:06:51
  you. Well, because I thought it was
• 1:06:52
  kind of dying a death. I went a couple of months ago,
• 1:06:55
  would have been now. Went to see Oppenheimer opening
• 1:06:57
  weekend, came out the same weekend as Bobby and the cinema
• 1:07:00
  was just buzzing, absolutely rammed and it was fantastic to
• 1:07:03
  say first thing. I've seen that for years.
• 1:07:05
  I was exactly. The same I, I, you know, through
• 1:07:07
  the nature of the work, I end up having to attend a lot of press
• 1:07:10
  screenings. So, you know, which is not as
• 1:07:14
  much fun as that opening weekend.
• 1:07:16
  I, I went to see Barbie and I've just, I like you.
• 1:07:19
  I can't remember the last time I've been in a cinema where
• 1:07:22
  every seat was taken and that communal experience of everyone
• 1:07:27
  just like on the same journey together.
• 1:07:29
  It just it, it changed the way I watched the film and enjoyed the
• 1:07:34
  film. It was perfect.
• 1:07:36
  I went. I went to see The Exorcist,
• 1:07:38
  obviously the the original, it was just a limited release, but
• 1:07:42
  the theatre was packed. Every single seat was taken.
• 1:07:45
  And, and I know it was just because it was 1 screen and you
• 1:07:47
  know, they're in limited supply, but it was just heartwarming to
• 1:07:50
  see this film that that shocked the world in 1973 and people are
• 1:07:55
  still cramming the court to see it 50 years on.
• 1:07:58
  Incredible. Really, really happy with that.
• 1:08:00
  Yeah, yeah. And I really.
• 1:08:01
  Hope that this Barb and Heimer thing, you know, the success of
• 1:08:05
  those movies is going to create, you know, I mean, I certainly
• 1:08:09
  think there are, there were people who were in those
• 1:08:12
  screening rooms, screening rooms, cinemas who who certainly
• 1:08:16
  will have got a, a, a hunger to experience that again.
• 1:08:20
  And I really hope it's a turning point and more people are going
• 1:08:23
  to be going back to the cinema to watch movies.
• 1:08:25
  Absolutely fantastic. Amen.
• 1:08:28
  OK, great. Well, Alex, it's been great to
• 1:08:30
  talk to you. We've had loads of fun.
• 1:08:32
  Thank you so much for coming on the show and we wish you good
• 1:08:34
  luck for the podcast and everything else that you've got
• 1:08:36
  coming up in the future. It's been an.
• 1:08:38
  Absolute pleasure chatting films with you guys.
• 1:08:41
  Thank you for having me on. This has been absolutely lovely
• 1:08:43
  so cheers. Thank you, Alex.
• 1:08:44
  That was brilliant. No problem.
• 1:08:45
  Thanks, Alex. Cheers.
• 1:08:54
  Big thanks to Alex for. Coming on the show, don't forget
• 1:08:56
  to check out his podcast, A Trip to the Movies with Alex Zayn.
• 1:09:00
  Great show. As for all the right movies, our
• 1:09:02
  latest podcast on classic and hit films is on A Nightmare on
• 1:09:05
  Elm Street. That came out last week.
• 1:09:07
  And next week we're talking about Daniel Craig's first
• 1:09:09
  Double O Seven out in Casino Royale.
• 1:09:11
  So tune in for that next week. It's going to be a good one,
• 1:09:14
  John. Huge One Casino.
• 1:09:15
  Royale yeah, Daniel Craig's first, so should be great.
• 1:09:18
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• 1:09:36
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• 1:10:37
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• 1:10:39
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• 1:10:41
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• 1:10:42
  You then bye.