1995
Travel back to Dublin. Do the Late, Late Show with with Gay Byrne. For those who don't know, this is the Irish equivalent of Dave Letterman and Jay Leno rolled into one. And it has been running since they have had television in Ireland. I've avoided it for years, because it is the one thing that makes your face known here. As it is, I'm generally confused with Jim Sheridan and complimented for My Left Foot, which is fine by me. actors and rock stars deserve that recognition since they're paid so much. Writers and directors are paid to be anonymous. And halfway through the show I realise that anonymity here for me is gone forever. The interest in this Collins film is turning it into a national institution. My problem now is how to make a film that won't feel like a national institution.
Neil Jordan was on the promotional circuit for Interview With a Vampire when he wrote this entry, and had been with Liam Neeson in west Cork the day before to meet the family of Michael Collins (it's a shame I missed the date for that entry, it's all about them getting stuck into pints and pints of Guinness, and also makes mention of Kevin Costner). I'm inclined to think he failed in his quest to not turn Michael Collins into a national institution, given that RTÉ screen it at least twice a year.
7 comment(s):
michael collins, f*cking awful film
I agree with B. Definitely not one for the Neil Jordan best of list.
Again, great post (even if it is shamelessly pilfered from that awesome book).
I loved the movie - I'm not sure I'd consider it a national institutional, but it was a great story told well.
I've never seen it.
A cross between David Letterman and Jay Leno? Er.. hello??
jo:
letterman=very good host
jay leno=the bottom of the barrell
I wasn't really intending on starting a discussion about the merits of Michael Collins, but why not?
I think it's fine as a movie, though not exactly historically reliable. And Julia Roberts makes me want to rip my own skin off and roll in battery acid.
my favourite Neil Jordan film is probably The End of The Affair, it's sad and beautiful.
I don't class Michael Collins as a national institution because I have any great love for it, but simply because every fucker in the country has seen it. Remember how it was classified as a 15 in Britain but only a 12 here so that kids would be able to see it? When they bend the rules on classification because they think it's important for everyone to see it then you know something is big. The only other example I can think of is Titanic - surely the only 12s movie ever to show tits.
12s? not PG?
I remember that being surprising, was 7 at the time a parent each side of me.
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