I saw Oxide Ghosts in Leicester last night. Absolutely fantastic and funny film, and an enjoyable cinema experience in a packed theater with a respectful crowd.
The Q&A was interesting, I wanted to share a couple if things in case they were unique to the screening I was at.
Only twinge of guilt he felt was towards Darcus Howe. The 'cocoa shunter' intro was recorded after 90 minutes of interview in which Chris tried and failed to get Darcus to say something stupid. Michael didn't know anything about the intro and suspected it was there in case he needed it at any time. Broke their unwritten code that if people didn't engage, they wouldn't use their stuff. Michael said only justification for this was that he and Chris both had an intense dislike of Robert Elms, so it felt more like a joke about him.
Yes, this is what I thought was particularly fascinating. The idea that Chris Morris had a kind of emergency fall-back bit of material that would have worked with any guest. Michael Cumming said that Morris vs Howe was like watching two heavy-weight boxers going at it, neither being able to get the upper hand.
He mentioned his other regret was the Buzz Aldrin interview. Buzz was a hero and had been very nice to him when Michael was younger, taking time to answer boring questions about the moon landing. He turned down the opportunity to direct the interview and meet Buzz again because he didn't agree with it. He regrets this because he would have made sure Aldrin and Morris where in the same shot. Apparently many people think it is faked and they just dubbed over someone else's interview.
Michael Cumming said that he first met Steve Coogan in Leicester. They were both making a corporate video in the Walkers Crisp factory. Cumming directing and Coogan in front of the camera.
Cumming directed the current Cravendale milk TV advert. He said that he thinks some of the things he learnt while making Brass Eye (asking the actors spontaneous questions instead of sticking to the script) helped make it better.
There is a lot of lost material which Cumming remembers and feels very frustrated about. This includes a recording of Channel 4 debate in which many of the celebrities (including Noel Edmonds) winge about being tricked but the audience turn on them saying that they are fair game. More lost footage is of Chris Eubank being confronted with a brilliant Fabric Of Society prop (a kind of material swatch pad in the shape of a hand).
Recently Chris Morris has found some more tapes and is going to hand them on to Michael Cumming so there may possibly be a longer version of Oxide Ghosts in the future.
