From f/x-free sci-fi in CODE 46 to controversial graphic sex in NINE SONGS,
director MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM plays by his own rules. Leigh Singer tries
to decipher Britain’s coolest director.
ichael Winterbottom (pictured centre) was once characterised — by an admirer - as choosing his projects ‘with the consistency of a blind man shopping at a car-boot sale'. It‘s testament to the youthful-looking 43-year-old director‘s confidence that throwing this description back at him elicits only wry amusement.
‘It’s not random. it‘s more a question of what seems interesting.’ he shrugs good-naturedly. ‘liach time you're looking for something to make. you want it to liaise some other challenge to what yoti'ye done before.‘
Which explains why unpredictability is the only yaguely predictable aspect of Winterbottom's relentless work slate. Since his big screen debut with IOUS's lesbian serial killer moyie Butterfly Kiss. he's turned otit over a film a year: from war-torn ll'eleoiiie to .S'orojei-o to Altmanesque Gold Rush Western The ('loiiii: from Madchester‘s fining 24 Hour Party People to the semi-doctimentary. DV- shot immigrant road moyie In This ll'orlil. ltinerant. intelligent and generally impatient with the plodding. methodical pace of most lilmmaking. his first science fiction film. ('or/e 46. was never likely to rival Spielberg or Ridley Scott for elaborate sets and special effects.
Once we decided we were going to set it in the future. it just seemed like it would be easier and more fun to do by seeking out real places] he explains. ‘I like working on location. The idea of building a whole world would be a nightmare. The opportunity to go to Shanghai or Dubai was so much more exciting than the idea of shooting in a studio in London.'
Within the genre of futuristic blockbusters. ('oi/e Jr) is a genetic aberration. As forbidden loyers Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton get trapped in a system where ‘empathy yiruses‘. memory erasure and widespread cloning warp any hope of romance. we're far closer to Brief Encounter than Close Encounters oft/1e Third Kind. Perhaps more satisfyingly cerebral than emotional. the film still reflects its makers” (longtime collaborator Frank Cottrell Boyce wrote the script) roying. organic intelligence. though apparently Winterbottom‘s
24 THE LIST 9—23 See 2004
WITHIN THE GENRE OF FUTURISTIC BLOCKBUSTERS, CODE 46 IS A GENETIC ABERRATION
predilection for slightly chaotic improyisation was tested by a cotnplcx. mulIi-national crew atid shoot 7 and caused a degree of disquiet to leading man Tim Robbins.
"Tim is someone who likes to prepare. likes to discuss the script. his character. his inotiyationsf his director concedes. ‘Satn [Morton] is the opposite. she likes to be spontaneotis. not to rehearse too much. be free to try out different things each time and that's much more my way of working.‘ Winterbottom grins like a cheeky schoolboy. "To me. we were very organised and disciplined compared to how we did the last lilm.’
lndeed. compared to In This ll'orlil. ('oile 4/) was a huge logistical undertaking. Winterbottom scarcely hides which method he currently prefers: ‘I like to try and work with the same small groups of people o\ er again because the more you know each other. the easier it is to be flexible about the way you work: the implications of doing something that might go wrong are not so had. 011 In This World there were the camera and sound guys. me and the two actors. .-\nd we did .\'iiie Songs the same way. In a way that's the perfect world from my point of yiew.~
.-\h yes. .\'ine Songs. that Daily Mail readers' choice. with its proyocatiye mix of real. graphic sex and gigs frotn hip bands like Primal Scream and Ham. Ferdinand. It sounds like the most obvious censor baiting but. as Winterbottom ptits it: ‘If books can write about sex in a serious way. why can't lilm‘.’ We're not making a porn tnoyie. it's a loye storyf While Nine Songs languishes in a ‘legal situation'. Winterbottom is already battling to fund his next project. a freewheeling adaptation of Lawrence Sterne‘s 'l'ristraiii Shunt/y.
'I thought this was going to be quite easy becaUse it's a comedy and it‘s got Steye (‘ooganf he says. shaking his head. mimicking would-be financiers. “'We loye the idea of improvisation btit we jtist want to get the script right first . .
Code 46 is on selected release from Fri 17 Sep. See review, page 25.
THE TALK OF THE town. Annie The Book Group Griffin is making a film about the Fringe Festival, some of which she shot on location this year. Daniela Nardini is one of the stars and you can find out the true story behind the making of Festival when it‘s released from The List's man on the set. l)t)N'l MISS 'llltr lNli ltNAlIONAl ll..i".u‘ litil‘ts Dtit‘ti't‘eritaw lilin
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THE 75TH SEASON OF THE Edinburgh Film Guild is about to kick off with another 75 screenings of classic silent and sound films every Sunday and Wednesday evening in the Guild Cinema. Highlights include a mini-season of Kieslowski's Dekalog.
LET'S HEAR Ii l‘OH lili. Standard l iie Audience Award. It's a pri/e that is. i(}il'(3f3iilllt)i\,’_ chosen by the Zill(i|t:.’l(2(: of the (‘iala and British (‘iala sections of the Hi i and it celebrates mainstream Cinema delights. lhe L’titi-l Winner was; Damien O'Donnell's; Iris/tie I'm Dancing. Congratulations to the director of [fast 1:; East.
WIN 21 GRAMS (MGM HOME Entertainment) on DVD. The List has five copies to give away. Send an email marked 21 Grams to promotions@list.co.uk by no later than 23 September to be entered into the draw. Usual List rules apply.
DON'T MISS THE EXCELLENT lstvan Szabo season at the Edinburgh Filnihouse i’Friday 1 to Thursday 7 October). The films of this fascinating Hungarian director. particularly Budapest Ta/es and Mephisto (pictured). are well worth checking Out on the big screen.
Mephist