Mark Gatiss: Robot of Sherwood Interview

Mark Gatiss writes and acts, and we could have an intense debate over which he does better. You’ve seen him onscreen in Game of Thrones as Tycho Nestoris, of the Iron Bank of Braavos, a role he’ll be reprising next year. Even more prominent is his ongoing stint as Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s devious brother in Sherlock, the series he not only writes for and stars in, but also co-created and co-produces with Steven Moffat. Yet we rang up Gatiss to chat about Doctor Who, Moffat’s other series, for which Gatiss wrote this past weekend’s episode, entitled “Robot of Sherwood.”


I had a great laugh — many laughs — watching “Robot of Sherwood.”

Oh, good!

As much as I love Doctor Who, I can’t say that it’s often that I have a big grin across my face through an episode.

The whole intention was to write a kind of romp, really. I’ve always loved the Errol Flynn movie. I love Robin Hood, actually, but that film particularly. To me, the essence of Robin Hood is that it’s a fairy tale. I’ve never had much patience for the muggy, grim versions because I think they’re missing the point, really [laughs]! So the chance to do Robin Hood meets Doctor Who was a bit irresistible.

Read the rest of my interview with Mark by clicking here and visiting Vulture.

Talking Tarantino...with Robert Forster and Rosanna Arquette

With the simultaneous Blu-ray releases of Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, arguably the two jewels in the Quentin Tarantino crown, you can now own all of the filmmaker’s features on the high-def platter. Have the best been saved for last? Quite possibly. And if you’re of a certain age, there’s also a good chance you haven’t seen one or even both of them, which means you are in for some seriously cinematic rides. Perhaps the best news, aside from how gorgeous they look, is that both discs are very reasonably priced, which makes them much easier to obtain than Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase.

This writer had something of a Tarantino-thon recently by viewing both discs back to back, and, unsurprisingly, they did not disappoint. But I was especially taken by Pulp Fiction, as I hadn’t seen it in years, and everything that’s great and revolutionary about it came flooding back. See, I was 23 when Pulp Fiction came out in 1994, and it was a time when film as an art form was feeling awfully stilted. And then this movie charged out of the gate and it was like nothing anybody else was even attempting to do. It was the most seductive piece of filmmaking I’d seen in years. It wasn’t just me, either. Everyone I knew who was into film felt the same way. Despite the fact that we were already bowing at the altar of Reservoir Dogs, nothing prepared us for the Fiction. We devoured it, repeatedly, and discussed its many intricacies and detours like it was some kind of biblical text. I saw it on the big screen at least a half a dozen times, and each viewing was like going to film church. A few months later came the crappy bootleg VHS tape, and it’s anyone’s guess how often I sat through that. By the time the laserdisc was released, I was beginning to suffer burnout. That, mixed with a few other factors, pretty much kept me away from Pulp Fiction for a decade or more (give or take a scene or two on cable from time to time).

Pulp Fiction today feels absolutely as fresh as it did all the way back in the autumn of ’94. The film has the power to come back in a big way, on the best home video format currently available. Forget about digital downloads and streaming, Blu-ray is hands down the best way to experience this movie. (As it turns out, aside from an old DVD, Blu-ray is the only way to legally obtain the movie presently.) We turned to one of the film’s stars, the versatile Rosanna Arquette, who plays piercing fetishist Jody, to see how she was feeling about the Fiction years after the fact. “What I’m excited about is that it’s going to be a whole new audience discovering the film. I have a teenager, and all of her friends are watching it,” she enthused.

Read the rest of this feature/interview by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.

Dark Skies: The Declassified Complete Series / Interviews with Bryce Zabel & Megan Ward

TV history is littered with the bones and carcasses of shows killed off before their time. In fact, if we were discussing living, breathing creatures rather than little collections of filmed or videotaped entertainment, we’d have long since moved past the term epidemic. On the flip side, there are plenty of shows that lived for too long; fare that far outlives its usefulness, while so many other programs that deserve chances don’t ever really get them. Dark Skies, which NBC unveiled back in ’96, is one of those programs that deserved better. Much better. After 19 episodes, it wasn’t so much cancelled as it was “not renewed.” (Don’t you just love that kind of TV exec jive double talk?)

It’s the story of two bright-eyed innocents in 1962 who are dragged into a world of nasty, violent aliens and sinister government cover-ups. John Loengard (Eric Close) and his girlfriend Kim Sayers (Megan Ward) move to Washington D.C., idealistic like you are in your mid-20s. He works for a congressman and she gets a job in Jackie Kennedy’s office. When John is sent to look into some areas for government budget-cutting, he stumbles onto Project Majestic, which is led by Captain Frank Bach (J.T. Walsh). Even if this show had nothing else to offer but Walsh’s performance, it’d be worth watching for his work alone. This is 19 episodes of Walsh being a real fucker. He died less than a year after his work on this series, and if you have any love or like for him as an actor, you simply must watch this show.

Read the rest of this DVD review by clicking here to visit Bullz-Eye.

And be sure to check out my interviews with Dark Skies co-creator and executive producer Bryce Zabel and Dark Skies co-star Megan Ward.

An Interview with Lisa Cholodenko, writer/director of The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko isn’t a household name as writer/directors go, but that may change somewhat after her latest film, The Kids Are All Right, which was released smack in the middle of the summer, and recently came out on DVD and Blu-ray. The movie features three of our greatest actors – Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo – doing some of the most astute work of their careers. Expect the movie to snag some Oscar nominations for one or more of the trio, and if there’s any justice, Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg will be nominated for Best Original Screenplay as well.

The movie is blisteringly funny while at the same time painfully honest. It tells the story of a lesbian couple (Bening and Moore) who’ve been together for 20 years and raised two children (played Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) who are now at an age when they’re interested in meeting their sperm donor (Ruffalo). Human comedy ensues with unexpected results. The Kids Are All Right is one of the best movies of the year, and Cholodenko, whose previous films include High Art and Laurel Canyon, is a huge factor in its success. Now you might be thinking that a movie about two lesbians and their kids isn’t exactly what you’re looking for. If so, you’re exactly the person who should see this film, because it’ll change your ideas of what makes a family in this day and age. And it will make you laugh – loud and hard.

Cholodenko took some time out to talk to Bullz-Eye on the occasion of the film’s home video release and after some introductory chit-chat we discussed the lesbian right, gay porn, and new meanings for the word “tribe.”

Bullz-Eye: The Kids are All Right was like this oasis of reason in an ocean of CGI and fart jokes this past summer. Do you get frustrated when you look around see the types of movies that rake in the big bucks these days?

Lisa Cholodenko: I wish we would kind of go back to the time where there were more interesting, idiosyncratic human kinds of comedies and dramas, and not such the kind of broad and farcical, box office driven fare, but that’s where we are right now, so, I just accept it, and I’m glad that there’s space for films like this.

BE: Well, so am I. There was some fairly vocal criticism of the film from the most unlikely of places – the lesbian community. Where do you think that kind of outrage comes from and, outside of raising awareness for the film itself, does that kind of anger serve any worthwhile purpose for a thoughtful movie like this?

LC: I keep referring to them as the lesbian right (chuckling), and I think that in any kind of group there’s going to be a contingent of people that are more extreme in their views of things, and more politicized and so, I think there’s room for everybody, and I don’t have a problem with that. It’s gets a little tedious speaking to it – not to you – but when I’ve heard it in Q & A’s and stuff, but I’m sympathetic. There’ve obviously been no great representations of lesbians in cinema, or certainly there hasn’t been in a long time, and it’s kind of an old school doctrinaire, “Oh of course the lesbian goes off with a man.” But if you look at the film with any kind of care, it’s really not about that at all.

Read the rest of this interview with Lisa Cholodenko by clicking here and visiting Premium Hollywood.

A Chat with Piers Wenger of Doctor Who

It’s important to understand the circumstances under which I interviewed Piers Wenger, one of the executive producers of the current era of Doctor Who, and it’s equally important to understand how I dropped the ball on this interview, which is a huge shame, because anyone who knows me knows I’m a freak for Doctor Who, and I’ve no excuse for botching this one.

Except that I do.

Well, maybe not an excuse, but certainly a reason, and one which leaves me with no one to blame but myself. The story which follows will, I hope, serve as a warning for all who read it.

The phoner between Mr. Wenger and I was scheduled for Monday the 15th at 11 A.M. I knew this well in advance, and even though I’m generally not at my best until post-noon, I anticipated no problems, despite the fact my 39th birthday was the day before. This in and of itself should not have been a red flag, as any celebrating I was going to do would be on Saturday night. By all counts, I’d be in fine shape for Monday morning.

Saturday night, however, is merely where it all started, as I gathered with friends at my favorite bar and commenced the celebration, making merry, drinking, and having a grand ol’ time. As the night wore on, the festivities moved to my friend Paul’s place, where I indulged, alone, in a specific spirit, one which was given to me as a gift that night.

Ouzo, the famed Greek aperitif that smacks of black licorice, is a curious mistress. It courts you in the early stages of the night, seduces you into surrender later on, and then, when you’re not looking, comes up and violently takes you from behind and doesn’t let go. Those crazy Greeks. Around dawn, when it was time to share a cab home, I had finished about ¾ of the 80-proof bottle…which, you’ll remember, was on top of all the drinks I’d had earlier in the evening. Upon arriving at my place, my wife wisely went to bed. I, however, stayed up, intent on finishing the Ouzo (not to mention some vodka that was sitting around), listening to music and watching Blu-rays. I‘m sure at some point I even put on the Doctor Who Season Five Blu-ray, and thought, “That interview with Piers is going to rock!”

Yes, there is an interview with Mr. Wenger, but to read it, you'll have to click here to visit Bullz-Eye, finish my story, and then read the interview.

A chat with Lenora Crichlow of Being Human

The lovely Lenora Crichlow is mostly unknown to U.S. audiences, unless of course you’re a fan of the BBC America series Being Human (Saturdays at 9PM). Crichlow plays one third of a trio of roommates comprised of a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost. The striking actress [dis]embodies the latter - the spirit of Annie Sawyer, doomed to an afterlife of making tea and wearing the same eternal grey outfit. And yet in Crichlow’s performance there’s hope for something better, as Annie tries to make it in a world she shouldn’t even exist in, alongside her two best friends. Lenora took time out in between shooting Season Three and heading off to Comic-Con to talk to Bullz-Eye about what sets Being Human apart from other supernatural fare, the ongoing progression of the concept, and her phantasmagorical Uggs.

Lenora Crichlow: The thing is, Being Human does just what it says on the cover. In most of these vampire shows and werewolf shows – supernatural shows in general – there’s some kind of, at the essence of the show, a real celebration of their supernatural selves. The vampires and the werewolves are really glorified (although I haven’t seen Twilight) and I think Being Human’s stance is struck so differently because it actually comes from a place where the ultimate for these characters would be to be human again. Every single supernatural issue that comes up can quickly lead back to something within the human condition. Even though it is a supernatural show, it just gives the whole thing layers. The characters of Annie, George and Mitchell were originally written without being a ghost, a werewolf, and a vampire, so the characters are very fully developed. It has a huge amount of comedy in it, it has amounts of angst, mystery and drama, but at the heart of the show I think you’ve got three very well-rounded human characters, which is something that whether you’re into sci-fi or not you can tap into and relate to. I love the show and I love being in the show and I think as an actress it certainly gives me a lot more to play with when I can bring everything I play with Annie right back home and right back down to earth, and you know, sort of grounded in some sense of reality. I don’t know how good I’d be at being too much out there. As fun as it is, it really does ground the show – the fact that they’re all trying to be human. That’s the show’s selling point and uniqueness.

The above is an excerpt from a much longer interview I did with Lenora. Read the entire piece by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.