Note to self: to ensure a good night’s sleep, don’t assume that a piece of foam will enable a restful night of shut-eye. But, despite the fact that my back is screaming and my brain is sleep deprived, there’s been plenty of stuff that has been keeping me awake during the second day of Latitude 2009.
The day began with a BAFTA Q&A that saw Stephen Frears grilled by actor David Morrissey. Morrisey – who worked with Frears on The Deal – was an inspired choice of interviewer given that Frears can be, well, rather reticent when it comes to answering questions about his career. And whilst he was far from effusive, he still seemed more disposed to answering questions from the personable actor from Liverpool.
Taking in the majority of his career from Gumshoe to The Queen, it was certainly a pleasant hour in the company of one of Britain’s most celebrated – and eclectic – directors.
Amongst some fun and illuminating anecdotes (including telling us that, when he cast Keanu Reeves in Dangerous Liasons, there were a couple of his friends who believed that he had literally gone mad), Frears revealed that his latest project would be a Posy Simmonds graphic novel. When asked why he chose it (and the thought processes behind his other films) he response was bluntly simple: “I read things. I like them. I want to make them. So I do.” Which is as good as a reason as any, if you ask me.
This was followed by slightly more of an adversarial Q&A in which Franny Armstrong, the director of climate change feature The Age Of Stupid, grilled Ed Miliband the secretary of state in the Department of Energy and Climate Change. As to be expected, Miliband attempted to sideswipe some of the many controversial issues (including the possibility of banning domestic flights) with the typical guile of a politician. But, to be fair, he dealt with a passionate audience with skill and Armstring proved herself to be a tough but fair interviewer.
The event once again proved the eclectic nature of the film programme, and those of you have who have yet to see Armtrong’s polemic would do well to check it out when it is released on DVD in Septemeber.
There was slight disappointment when the brilliant anti-folk singer Jeffrey Lewis was forced to cancel his Watchmen lecture due to having broken down: where’s Doctor Manhattan when you need him. But any lingering feelings of disenchantment were soon dispelled with the World Premiere of Shane Meadows’ Le Donk (well, technically: Meadows had fiddled with the film since it was screened at Edinburgh).
Made in five days for £50,000, the film is a really funny mockumentary that centres around the titular roadie and his rapper protégé, Scor-zay-zee. As roadie Le Donk, Paddy Considine owns the entire film, ad-libbing for his life with a bunch of hilarious – and often filthy – one-liners (his entire reaction to the revelation of his pregnant ex that she’s sleeping with her new boyfriend is a joy to behold). Rapper Scor-zay-zee (who Meadows cast on the day before shooting after turning up for his rehearsals) is a perfect foil as the wanabee star who dreams of performing in front of a large audience.
Add in the Artic Monkeys and Meadows himself, and there were many delighted people in the audience. It’ll be interesting to see how the film fares when it’s released in October (when Meadows promises that he’ll go on tour in a camper van and hold some very special parties).
It is very funny, but also feels quite slight, almost as if it’s a comedy sketch stretched out to 70 minutes. But it’s done with such passion and enthusiasm – as well as being markedly different to Meadows’ previous work – that it merits checking out if it comes to a city near you.
Needless to say Meadows himself, in the following Q&A, went down a storm – proving to be funny and informative. Highlights of the talk included dwelling on his criminal past (where he famously was nicked for stealing a breast pump and is still apparently banned for life in Boots stores around the country), his continuing frustrations with getting his project King Of The Gypsies off the ground (the current hiatus of which convinced him to go out and make Le Donk with his own, and other friends’, money) and his challenge for other filmmakers to make a film in 5 Days (he revealed that Larry Clark is eager to take it up).
There were many other highlights during the day. Birds Eye View presented the 1920s Salome with award-winning singer and multi-instrumentalist Bishi, who performed a specially commissioned soundtrack; the beautiful Paper Cinema, which was a lovely mix of animation, puppetry and music; and – finally – Chas N’ Dave. Just don’t ask okay?
Away from the film, Grace Jones performed her hits on the main stage, David Quantick interviewed Jonathan Coe at the Literary Tent and Janeane Garofalo found the Latitude audience a rather tough crowd.
And the sun stayed out. Fingers crossed it’s stays like that….
Find out more at the official site.
