18th April 2008.

An old colleague of mine from the ‘Starburst’ glory days contacted me last week. Tony Crawley used to be ubiquitous as I on those once owned by Marvel pages in that magazine’s 80s golden period. He’d write the ‘Things To Come’ news column containing such sparkling exclusives as ‘Irvin Kershner definitely directing I ROBOT after THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK’. No, love him really. And he did write the very first biography on Steven Spielberg before relocating to France and penning two books on Brigitte Bardot. But he’s still active in the celebrity interview department for various French publications, which brings me to the reason for mentioning him.

Take a look at the website he’s been working on for absolutely ages:
 

http://www.crawleyscastingcalls.com/.

As he states on his home page it’s a unique directory of what you never saw on screen, the films the stars did not make and the movies that never were all backed up by quotes culled from Tony’s lifetime of press conferences. Pick any star/director/singer, and the astonishing range lists everyone between Al Jolson and Paris Hilton, and find out why they didn’t make the movie they were originally attached to. I went straight for Raquel Welch, Cilla Black and VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. Bond fans will find Tony’s highlighted 007 trivia of most interest. And there are surprise sections revealing stuff like what part in GREASE porn star Harry Reems was down to play. Written in Tony’s inimitable breathless style, this site is highly recommended for hours of fun.

I had an interesting couple of days in Nottingham a fortnight ago. I suddenly got a call from my good friend Nicolas Winding-Refn who was in town there shooting his new movie BRONSON starring Tom Hardy and Amanda Burton. It’s the story of Michael Gordon Petersen, the self-proclaimed ‘Most violent prisoner in Britain’, who adopted the name Charles Bronson after his favourite DEATH WISH star. Nicolas and I have been close ever since FrightFest premiered FEAR X in 2003, further cemented by the fact we survived a car crash together while he was directing the ‘Nemesis’ episode of ‘Miss Marple’ for ITV. That sort of bonding experience is never broken.

BRONSON is hardly going to be your average Brit gangster movie though. Because Bronson’s life is built on a total Hollywood style fantasy, Nicolas has taken that surreal approach in relating his startling story. Think ALL THAT JAZZ meets THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY. I arrived on location at the science block in Welbeck Abbey to be greeted by a gay orgy scene in the prison showers. I was there because Nicolas wanted my input on his homage to William Friedkin’s CRUISING. “Are the tattoos and S&M leather gear 70s enough?” “What about the rimming action?” When I told him it all looked authentic and took me back to my New York days cruising The Mineshaft, my job was clearly done. The prison extras were local gay clubbers who once past the embarrassment of the straight crew seeing them naked threw themselves into it, especially when star Tom Hardy decided to don the rubber gimp outfit and join in.

Nicolas goes straight from BRONSON to Glasgow to shoot his Viking horror fantasy VALHALLA RISING starring CASINO ROYALE villain Mads Mikkelson. More about that exciting pet project, one Nicolas calls “PUSHER 900 AD” at a later date.

Until next time…