Ramblings on Huge screenings and still not licking the talent
I have just got home from another episode of Miller stalking; a screening of his film Huge, followed by a Q&A. Here are my over-excited bleatings on the whole affair. None of this is probably interesting to anyone else, but please feel free to take your boredom into your own hands and read further.
So, the affair starts off with me trekking up to East London to Shoreditch whilst resisting the urge to just go and wander round Brick Lane and try to be arty. Which I fail at by the way. On the way I fall in love with my city all over again just cos it’s vibrant, diverse, a bit mad and a man on his skateboard was being pulled down the road by his dog.
Anyway, I make it to the Aubin Cinema, which is one of the fabbest indi cinemas I’ve been to in years. It’s in the basement of a large brick building and is super trendy in a cool arty way, rather than a icky dear god please let me out sort of way. Simon Godley (the co-writer of the film) wandered up to me as I was waiting for my friends and asked me if Sam was around. I have no idea who Sam is, but was impressed that I clearly looked like someone who would know. I felt quite bad that I had to report that no, I didn’t know if Sam was around.
My friends turned up shortly after including B who has a huge man crush on Mr Miller and H who came to the Armstrong and Miller live show with me last year and assisted in the stagedooring of them then.
When we went into the cinema I decided to adore it a bit more. There were two rows of chairs and they were big comfy arm chairs. The ones in the front row had their own plushy footstools, each chair had its own big cushions and there were blankets on every other seat. Behind the two rows of seats were a row of two people sofas. And each seat had a little table with a built in whine cooler. Just brilliant. Would be even more so if I drank wine.
Sadly there were only about 20 people in the screening, but that did mean the cinema was about half full, it is such a wee place. Simon Godly did a little intro to the film and then it started. I enjoyed it as much the second time as the first. It seemed to go down well with the audience and it finished to a healthy round of applause. Then Simon and Ben Miller came and sat at the front (which in the wee cinema meant one row in front of us. Almost prime licking distance, but I restrained myself yet again.) Johnny Harris and the DoP were also there, but didn’t come up to the front. Ben and Simon did a mini Q&A with each other and then it was thrown open to the audience.
I managed to ask three questions the first of which seemed to go down really well and sparked a lot of discussion, with even the DoP joining in. My question was about the timeless quality that the film has. Putting it briefly, there are few contemporary references but at different times it could be period 80s, 90s, or current. It’s a really interesting effect that I had been wondering about since I first saw it. As I said there was a lot of talk about why they had decided to do it, how they did it etc, which I got to join in with again with sensible, grown up comments about audience disorientation and discomfort and its relationship to the characters on screen. Then Miller et al again went with this and I have to say it was quite satisfying and inside I was “Yes!! Film theory masters finally totally paying off!!!” Seriously, after years of studying film I think this is the most gratifying result I’ve had outside of uni.
My next question was to ask if he found himself saying things as a director that as an actor he always swore he wouldn’t say, like you do when you’re a kid and adults say stuff. Am quite pleased that this question resulted in laughter and a litany of swearing from Ben. Oh, and the answer was “oh, god, yes” and some talking about deadlines, shots and time watching. With the swearing (which I shouldn’t enjoy as much as I do, but you know, there’s something about him saying the word ‘fuck’ that takes me to a happy place. Yes I’m shallow and no I don’t care.) And Johnny Harris joined in too. Who is by the way awesome. Totally.
My last question was just a follow up about how long it took to shoot and how long post production was. Ben replied “18 days, then two years.” And his smile still kills me. Then Simon and Ben gave a much fuller answer.
There were a lot of other interesting questions as well and it was a good Q&A. There was a lot of talk about the challenges of taking it from a stage play to a film and the differences between the two. Including the fact that the whole script was re-written over eight days, three weeks before shooting started as the first cast read-through just didn’t work. I won’t put any more here now though as it’s already stupidly long. So, you pretty much just get my ones. Isn’t that good of me?
So, there you have it until I find another excuse for Miller stalking.
So, the affair starts off with me trekking up to East London to Shoreditch whilst resisting the urge to just go and wander round Brick Lane and try to be arty. Which I fail at by the way. On the way I fall in love with my city all over again just cos it’s vibrant, diverse, a bit mad and a man on his skateboard was being pulled down the road by his dog.
Anyway, I make it to the Aubin Cinema, which is one of the fabbest indi cinemas I’ve been to in years. It’s in the basement of a large brick building and is super trendy in a cool arty way, rather than a icky dear god please let me out sort of way. Simon Godley (the co-writer of the film) wandered up to me as I was waiting for my friends and asked me if Sam was around. I have no idea who Sam is, but was impressed that I clearly looked like someone who would know. I felt quite bad that I had to report that no, I didn’t know if Sam was around.
My friends turned up shortly after including B who has a huge man crush on Mr Miller and H who came to the Armstrong and Miller live show with me last year and assisted in the stagedooring of them then.
When we went into the cinema I decided to adore it a bit more. There were two rows of chairs and they were big comfy arm chairs. The ones in the front row had their own plushy footstools, each chair had its own big cushions and there were blankets on every other seat. Behind the two rows of seats were a row of two people sofas. And each seat had a little table with a built in whine cooler. Just brilliant. Would be even more so if I drank wine.
Sadly there were only about 20 people in the screening, but that did mean the cinema was about half full, it is such a wee place. Simon Godly did a little intro to the film and then it started. I enjoyed it as much the second time as the first. It seemed to go down well with the audience and it finished to a healthy round of applause. Then Simon and Ben Miller came and sat at the front (which in the wee cinema meant one row in front of us. Almost prime licking distance, but I restrained myself yet again.) Johnny Harris and the DoP were also there, but didn’t come up to the front. Ben and Simon did a mini Q&A with each other and then it was thrown open to the audience.
I managed to ask three questions the first of which seemed to go down really well and sparked a lot of discussion, with even the DoP joining in. My question was about the timeless quality that the film has. Putting it briefly, there are few contemporary references but at different times it could be period 80s, 90s, or current. It’s a really interesting effect that I had been wondering about since I first saw it. As I said there was a lot of talk about why they had decided to do it, how they did it etc, which I got to join in with again with sensible, grown up comments about audience disorientation and discomfort and its relationship to the characters on screen. Then Miller et al again went with this and I have to say it was quite satisfying and inside I was “Yes!! Film theory masters finally totally paying off!!!” Seriously, after years of studying film I think this is the most gratifying result I’ve had outside of uni.
My next question was to ask if he found himself saying things as a director that as an actor he always swore he wouldn’t say, like you do when you’re a kid and adults say stuff. Am quite pleased that this question resulted in laughter and a litany of swearing from Ben. Oh, and the answer was “oh, god, yes” and some talking about deadlines, shots and time watching. With the swearing (which I shouldn’t enjoy as much as I do, but you know, there’s something about him saying the word ‘fuck’ that takes me to a happy place. Yes I’m shallow and no I don’t care.) And Johnny Harris joined in too. Who is by the way awesome. Totally.
My last question was just a follow up about how long it took to shoot and how long post production was. Ben replied “18 days, then two years.” And his smile still kills me. Then Simon and Ben gave a much fuller answer.
There were a lot of other interesting questions as well and it was a good Q&A. There was a lot of talk about the challenges of taking it from a stage play to a film and the differences between the two. Including the fact that the whole script was re-written over eight days, three weeks before shooting started as the first cast read-through just didn’t work. I won’t put any more here now though as it’s already stupidly long. So, you pretty much just get my ones. Isn’t that good of me?
So, there you have it until I find another excuse for Miller stalking.