Category Archives: I’m Ready for my Closeup

Reality Check: Living in Byzantium

Reality Check: Living in Byzantium

In a panel discussion recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, Alex Fitch talks to producer Stephen Woolley, writer Moira Buffini and star Daniel Mays about the new British vampire movie Byzantium, directed by Neil Jordan, which depicts the back story and current lives of a pair of female vampires living in modern day Hastings. (Byzantium is released in the UK on 31st May). (Originally broadcast 24th May 2013 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Still from Byzantium by Neil Jordan

Still from Byzantium by Neil Jordan

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Official film website
Info about the screening at SCI-FI-LONDON Continue reading

Reality Check: Apocalypse Miao

Reality Check: Apocalypse Miao

In a pair of Q and As recorded at the London Science-Fiction and Fantastic Film Festival (SCI-FI-LONDON), Alex Fitch talks to the creators of two new low budget portrayals of the apocalypse on screen. Stars Alan Bagh and Thomas Favaloro, writer / director James Nguyen and producer Jeff Gross discuss the B movie spoof Birdemic II: The Resurrection and co-writer / star Vera Miao talks about her excellent mid-apocalyptic road movie Best Friends Forever. (Originally broadcast as an episode of I’m ready for my close-up on Resonance 104.4 FM, 3rd May 2013)

Posters for Birdemic II and Best Friends Forever

Posters for Birdemic II and Best Friends Forever

This year’s SCI-FI-LONDON festival takes place at various venues around London from 30th April – more info at www.sci-fi-london.com

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Websites: www.bestfriendsforeverfilm.com / www.birdemic.com

Continue reading

Reality Check: the True Love of Arthur Sleep

Reality Check: the True Love of Arthur Sleep

Alex Fitch talks to graphic designer turned film-maker Sam Harris about his short silent film Arthur Sleep, a half hour Stygian odyssey that mixes elements of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari and Eraserhead, as a trip on the London Underground takes a traveller into more mysterious destinations than he envisioned. Also, in a Q and A recorded at last year’s SCI-FI-LONDON, Alex talks to the writers and producer of True Love, an SF thriller that tests a couple’s devotion to each other as a set of innocuous questions in a surrealist prison turn to torture.
(Originally broadcast Friday 26th April on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Arthur Sleep is premiering at Deptford Old Town Hall, New Cross, London SE14 6AF on 28 April at 4pm with a live score performed by members of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and London art-rock bands – more info at www.freefilmfestivals.org / True Love is released in Japanese cinemas on 27th April and this year’s SCI-FI-LONDON festival takes place at various venues around London from 30th April – more info at www.sci-fi-london.com

Stills from Arthur Sleep and True Love

Stills from Arthur Sleep and True Love

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com Continue reading

Reality Check: Time and relative Dimensions in the Search for Simon

Reality Check: Time and relative Dimensions in the Search for Simon

Alex Fitch talks to the cast and crew of two new low budget British SF movies: director Sloane U’Ren, editor Adam Garstone and members of the cast of Dimensions discuss their ‘Merchant Ivory’ style time travel film which mixes a love triangle with a time loop that joins their pasts with their futures. Also, on the set of new alien abductee comedy drama The Search for Simon, director Martin Gooch and one of the stars – Doctor Who alumnus Sophie Aldred – talk about this crowd funded feature that mixes elements of travelogue with the X-Files.

Posters for Dimensions and The Search for Simon

Posters for Dimensions and The Search for Simon

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com Continue reading

Reality Check: Animating the City

Alex Fitch talks to the directors of two new cutting-edge animated films which mix animation and live action footage to beguiling effect. In a Q and A recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film, Zoltan Sostai discusses his film Cycle, a spiritual successor to Tron and The Matrix, which sees a nameless astronaut trying to escape a bleak urban landscape which twists and loops back on itself, creating an endless maze he can’t find the exit from.

Also, British animator Paul Bush talks about his first feature film Babledom which looks into the layers of history and potential future that are unearthed by explorers of the modern city. Mixing a dialogue between two residents of a dystopian city in the style of Chris Marker’s La Jetée, with visuals that recall the architecture of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Babledom is an evocative look at mankind’s varied relationships with the crowded spaces we inhabit.

Still from Babledom and poster for Cycle

Still from Babledom and poster for Cycle

Cycle was released in Hungarian cinemas on 21st February 2013 following its London première at SCI-FI-LONDON in 2012 / Babledom is released in UK cinemas on 8th March 2013. (Expanded podcast of an episode of I’m ready for my close-up, broadcast 01/03/13 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

Continue reading

Reality Check: The life electric

Reality Check: The life electric

In a show looking at the possible consequences of computer technology and Artificial Intelligence on humanity, Alex Fitch talks to the directors of two new films that address these themes and how it might impact on peoples lives and after-lives. Kareem Gray discusses his movie Zero One, a cross between Knight Rider and The Terminator in which a couple of hackers discover a sentient intelligence on the internet with the power to download itself into robots and other machines; Martin Gooch and members of the cast of Death discuss this new British fantasy film starring Leslie Philips in which a pair of siblings return to their family manse after the death of their father and discover he had been working on a computer programme that allows people to converse with the dead…

Both interviews recorded in front of a live cinema audience at SCI-FI-LONDON, the London Science Fiction and Fantastic Film Festival, April 2012.

Originally broadcast Friday 1st February 2013, on Resonance 104.4 FM (London)

Stills from Death and Zero One

Stills from Death and Zero One

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com Continue reading

Reality Check: The Scarifyers

Reality Check: The Scarifyers

As we enter Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary year, Reality Check investigates a radio drama series tangentially connected to the franchise. The Scarifyers is a horror / black comedy series, with new instalments broadcast each year on BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC 7) and released on CD and concern the adventures of an elderly horror writer and his retired police sidekick as they investigate supernatural crimes and occurrences in 1950s Britain. Alex Fitch talks to series writer and producer Simon Barnard and CD cover artist Garen Ewing about the genre crossing narrative, their love of old SF and horror and the use of iconic actors in new serialised roles in a series whose cast includes Terry Molloy (Doctor Who‘s Davros), Nicholas Courtney (Doctor Who‘s Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) and David Warner (Time Bandits et al.). The supporting cast includes actors famous for roles in Doctor Who and other Sci-Fi dramas such as Gabriel Woolf, Philip Madoc, Gareth David-Lloyd and Brian Blessed.

Promo material for The Thirteen Hallows, David Warner and Terry Molloy, cover of The Scarifyers comic no.1

Promo material for The Thirteen Hallows, David Warner and Terry Molloy, cover of The Scarifyers comic no.1

(Expanded podcast of an episode of I’m ready for my close-up, broadcast 25/01/13 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

Links: Bafflegab productions website
Garen Ewing’s website
Listen to Alex’s previous interview with Garen about The Rainbow Orchid

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Michael Apted and Cory McAbee – From cradle to…

Electric Sheep Magazine Podcast: Michael Apted and Cory McAbee – From cradle to…

Alex Fitch talks to two directors about their projects which capture visions of childhood and how that progresses into adulthood. In a Q & A recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON: EAST, Alex chats to Cory McAbee, creator of SF musicals The American Astronaut and Stingray Sam, about his latest film Crazy and Thief – a semi improvised drama which documents the director’s children as they journey across New York looking for stars and come across characters inspired by The Odyssey – again scored by his band, ‘The Billy Nayer Show’. Cory discusses his change in direction for this project, the difficulties of directing children and performs a song from the soundtrack.

Also, Alex discusses 56Up with Michael Apted, the latest instalment of his 7Up series which has charted the lives of 14 children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds since the age of 7, with new episodes every 7 years; as well as exploring the history of this series, Alex and Michael discuss the latter’s involvement with another serial that’s reached its 50th anniversary as the director recalls his experience of directing the Bond movie, The World is not Enough.

DVD cover for 7-49Up, posters for 56Up, The world is not enough, Crazy and Thief, The American Astronaut

DVD cover for 7-49Up, posters for 56Up, The world is not enough, Crazy and Thief, The American Astronaut

Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download. Continue reading

Panel Borders: Writing Misfits

Panel Borders: Writing Misfits

Concluding a month of shows about writing superhero stories, Panel Borders moves its attention from the comic book page to the small screen as Alex Fitch talks to Howard Overman about Misfits, the E4 award winning drama about teenagers with superpowers doing community service. Alex and Howard talk about the genesis of the show, writing episodes that engage with other genres such as time travel and ‘zombie noir’, his experiences on other shows such as Dirk Gently and Vexed, the travails of having to write certain characters out and introduce new ones, and the latest news on the Misfits movie.

Misfits logo

Misfits logo

(Originally broadcast 25th November 2012 on Resonance 104.4 FM)
Visit www.archive.org, for more info and formats you can stream / download. Continue reading

Reality Check: Manhwa and metamorphosis

Reality Check: Manhwa and metamorphosis

Two events taking place this weekend are ideal places for fans of fantasy and science fiction to visit – SCI-FI-LONDON: EAST and Manhwa: Korean Story and Painting – each in venues not known for exploring those genres. Alex Fitch talks to director Chris Swanton about his adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, screening Sunday 11th November at Stratford Picturehouse and to comic book creator Min-Woo Hyung regarding the art he’s exhibiting at the Korean Creative Content Agency, 1-3 The Strand. Alex and Chris discuss why the director chose a hard to translate novel by Kafka as his directorial debut, following a career as an editor on such projects as the BBC’s Ghostwatch, and Min-Woo talks about his career as a Manhwa creator from his debut Chronicle of a Hot-blooded Judo King to his latest project Ghostface and his most famous series Priest, which was adapted as a Sci-Fi blockbuster in 2011.

Poster for Priest 3D, art from Priest and Ghostface by Min-Woo Hyung, poster for Metamorphosis, cover of Ghostwatch

Poster for Priest 3D, art from Priest and Ghostface by Min-Woo Hyung, poster for Metamorphosis, cover of Ghostwatch

(Expanded podcast of an episode of I’m ready for my close-up, broadcast 09/11/12 on Resonance 104.4 FM)

For more info about this podcast and a variety of other episodes you can download, please visit the home of this episode at www.sci-fi-london.com

More info about SCI-FI-LONDON: EAST (9th-11th November) at www.scfilondon.com and Manhwa: Korean Story and Painting (1st-21st November) at www.manhwa101.com

Links: Min-Woo Hyung’s pages on lambiek and Comic Book Database
Wikipedia pages on Priest manhwa and movie
Chris Swanton’s filmography on IMDb
Wikipedia pages on The Metamorphosis film adaptation and novel
Metamorphosis official film website

Recommended events:

SCI-FI-LONDON: EAST

SCI-FI-LONDON movies its yearly satellite event (formerly Oktoberfest) a month later and a few miles East, as the Stratford Picturehouse hosts this post-apocolympic event… Premières include a new feature adaptation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis starring Maureen Lipman and Cory McAbee’s latest SF musical comedy Crazy and Thief. There’s another chance for anyone who missed Brandon Cronenberg’s debut film Antiviral at the London Film festival to catch up with the this excellent body-horror thriller and the usual MST3K and Anime all-nighters.

9th-11th November 2012, Stratford Picturehouse, Theatre Square, Salway Road, Stratford, London E15 1BX

More info at www.scifilondon.com

Continue reading