As I've probably already mentioned ad nauseaum, Richard Stanley will be attending the Espoo Ciné filmfestival next week, hosting a retrospective of his works. I'll do my best to attend and get in touch with Stanley and will hopefully be able to interview him a bit. Since we have such a nice cool board here, I figured we'd take advantage of it. What I'm suggesting is, if you have a good question for Richard Stanley, post it here.

What we need are cool, original, funny and enlightening questions, which should be about Richard Stanley the filmmaker, NOT Richard Stanley the person. Don't waste your time querying his favorite ice cream. Also, we'd appreciate if the most talked-about subjects would be left aside, such as the Moreau incident. Try asking something you'd like to know, but what they never seem to ask in interviews.

Should enough questions arise, Phoebus and myself will pick and choose 10-20 questions we feel the most well-suited. If there are less questions submitted, don't count on us getting desperate and trying to find some filler - won't happen. Furthermore, don't take it for granted that if your question is accepted by us, it will automatically be answered. That will be in the hands of Mr. Stanley and his reaction to this idea when presented.

Having said that... Give it a shot.

Deadline for submitting is initially set for August 25th

My Question is... what R.Stanley think about ''The Passion of Christ'' by M.Gibson

1) Will we ever see a good DVD version of his movies? I mean, the German RED EDITION is pretty good, but not fantastic as another version, with better transfers & more extras. I believe that a documentary of HARDWARE, done with interviews with Stanley himself and some actors (like Stacey Travis and William Hootkins) and some behind the scenes photos (video footage maybe is asking too much), would be enough and quite simple to do. Instead with DUST DEVIL there's the little docu of the German edition and also some Super8 shot, so it's just about doing it...

2) Will he finally go back to movie making? The technology is cheaper and straight to video is becoming more powerful than theatrical release, I think that some little studio would be interested.


3) What about the idea of a sequel of THE WICKER MAN?

4) There will be any of sequel to his previous movies?

5) Since he calls himself a Dario Argento's fan, what he thinks about his latest crappy movies (I'm Italian, so I know what I'm talking about)?

Here's what I'd ask Stanley if I had the chance:

-Are you still doing research for SECRET GLORY and related topics? Is the version currently being shown the final cut, or will there be additions to it – or a sequel perhaps?



-Can you share some of the more unexpected discoveries made during those interviews that are not in the movie? Have you found out why Nazis went to the North Pole?



-What did you discover exploring the history of the ustashi [Croatian fascists]? Was there some occult background to them?



-Why VIY? Why Kosovo/Bosnia for VIY? How do you envision this film? Will there be a distinct, visualized supernatural entity [monster?], or will it be just psychology, a metaphor?



-Are you aware that Serbia is regaining its former status as a Mecca for international productions due to its variety of natural locations, skilled & experienced technicians, cheap labour [in comparison to EU countries] etc. ? Would you consider shooting VIY in Serbia, and how far did you go in planning and developing that film?



-What is it about HARDWARE left unsaid/unexplored that you’d like to make a sequel? And what should be expected of it, in terms of scale of events? Certainly not another 1 robot vs. 1 person in 1 location?



- That’s YOU as a boy that Dust Devil is visiting on the shooting range. And that’s YOU sitting in the back of the room while Dust Devil is breaking the neck of the 1st victim in the movie [strange it’s not listed as a ‘goof’ on imdb!]

Why is this obsession -to the point of identification- with the Devil-figure? Why do you feel like a Devil’s accomplice?



-Do you believe in spirit and afterlife, and what kind of afterlife? Why do you think that material world is evil?



-HARDWARE featured your favourite music at the end of the 80-ies. What kind of music are you listening nowadays? Your favourite groups?

Others:

1 - Does exists an uncut master of HARDWARE featuring the real death footage and all the other minor cuts? If you have the chance, would you use it for a proper DVD release?

2 - If you have the chance, would you do ISLAND OF DR MOREAU again as it was originally meant (with the cannibalism and so on)?

3 - There will evere be a chance to see your previous short movies (including the unfinished 1984 DUST DEVIL on 16mm)?

4 - What about the missing scenes in the FINAL CUT version of DUST DEVIL? If a proper DVD release will see the light, would you insert them in the extra even if some opticals didn't reach the goal?

5- What about that RESERVOIR DOGS MEETS THE EVIL DEAD project? Could you talk a little bit more about it (even if the movie will never be done)?

6 - Have you refused the idea of a sequel of SOCIETY (btw bad idea: both beacause it steps out Stanley's style, both beacause a cult like it doesn't need a follow up - everything to be told was told) or are you still in?

7 - Since you're a Lovecraft - fan, would you do a movie from a short story of his? What you think about DAGON (which is the latest and one of the most well done Lovecraftian adaptations)?

8 - In you very first interviews you looked loving HARDWARE, then throught the years you started to dislike it, calling it a somekind of "student film" etc. What's really your position on that movie now?

9 - You sad that you don't really know that at any times it was ever your decision to make all the movies you made. What would be your ideal movie?




I noticed that too!



I never noticed that! I must check it right know!!!

Hell, yes! I WANTED to ask about Lovecraft and his influence. Make sure you ask Stanley about it!

Check.

I'll be compiling the questions shortly, but won't probably be able to post them online prior the interview, sorry!

good luck with your interview.
it is about time you got to sit down and speak with him!

I met Richard Stanley.

I taped over two hours of footage while interviewing Richard Stanley.

Richard promised I will receive copies of the exqusite documentaries I saw and also an early draft of DUST DEVIL as well as his one unproduced work that will unfortunately never see the light of day. It's called HARDWARE II: GROUND ZERO. The scripts will hopefully go online at some point, as well as the interview, once I work on it a bit and consult Phoebus on the matter of hosting it.

Richard was an out and out nice guy, very friendly and seemed to honestly take a liking of me. I think we hit off great, I'm only a bit disappointed we didn't have as much time together on Sunday. Last I saw him, I quickly scribbled down my mail address and made sure he got it. I hope I'll be able to stay in touch with him in the future.

If you're reading this Richie, I had a great time hanging out with you and will hopefully bump into you again in the future.

Peace out.



Oh, and Richard advised me that Guy Pearce (LA CONFIDENTIAL, MEMENTO) is currently attached to his new project called THE BONES OF THE EARTH. There's a pretty good chance of that one actually happening, although they still need to cast another lead character.

I hope he will come back from Afghanistan in one piece to do that one, and also hope he will manage to shoot an abundance of great rushes for the upcoming VOICE OF THE MOON -sidequel called EYE OF THE SUN.

What a filmmaker, what a character.

That's fucking AWESOME!!!!
Hope to see on the net the interview and the other stuff! Hey: can you edit the video - interview (and cut out maybe the more personal parts - we don't want to go into your privacy, and also it saves space) and make it downloadable from the site?
Or, at least, can you send me that (for my own pleasure)?
Anyway: GREAT WORK!

ROCK ON!

I think that the idea of Mark 13 is greate.....
What a pity about the Hardvare 2 :< hope to have some day a sketch of it or a book based on it who knows

Yeah, that's basically the idea. I'll see what I can do with it. I wouldn't hold my breath when it comes to a transcript, since Richard spoke in such a great length and detail when it came to, well, anything. Alas, I hope we'll find a way to put it up in a video format.

[list= sic.]Richard spoke in such a great length and detail when it came to[/list]

Yeah, I noticed that in the interview contained in the (very small - and, fuck, with no subtitles) documentary of the german DVD of DUST DEVIL.

Anyway, all this is so ORGASMIC! Can't wait for it!

It's killing me waiting and holding out hope for a proper dvd release of Hardware. My collection, albeit not that big, is missing its jewel.

God I love this film.

Funny that, some months ago Richard actually had the rights for (at least) DUST DEVIL given back to him by Miramax. I believe they were set to make a proper release with him even completing a commentary track for the film, but then Buena Vista stepped in and said something in the lines of "you can't release it, we own it".

If everything goes well, there might be some good news on the DVD front in around 2005. Richard seems to have grown quite disillusioned on the possibility of ever getting his films back from the major companies, there's always someone raising his head and arguing about the ownership of the back catalogue. This has been going on for years - particularly with HARDWARE. But you never know, I mean Laser Paradise came pretty much from the blue with their discs, so there's always hope somebody else will do the same.