Episode 13 Film 2011 with Claudia Winkleman

Hello and welcome to Film 2011. We Hello and welcome to Film 2011. We

are live, and if you want to get in touch the details are on the screen

now. Coming up tonight: Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller take on

the money men in Tower Heist. What you trying to steal? $20 million.

Let's get something to eat. Straw Dogs gets a makeover. What happens

when thy neighbour's wife covets you? And Jack Goes Boating. I

imagined you. You were in a spaceship, flying through

superspace. Plus Gerard Butler answers the Film 2011 questionnaire.

First up, Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy star in comedy

Just an hour ago the tower's richest Just an hour ago the tower's richest

resident was released under house arrest here at his penthouse

apartment. He was asked to all your pensions. Now they are

saying anyone who invested with him was defrauded. Did he

money too? Yes, he did. He to try to steal it back from this

guy and tries to enlist me and some of the other ex-employees to

him bring the money back. We don't steal things. We know the

deliveries, schedules and codes for every window. We have been casing

the place for a decade, we didn't know it. Because we weren't

I thought that you might be able to I thought that you might be able to

help us. What you trying to steal? $20 million. Let's go get something

to eat. That's timeless, to eat. That's timeless, workers

being taken advantage of by the folk and the workers turning the

tables. I will find a way to make things right. It's always fun to

a villain but even more so to be who doesn't appear to be. The

characters were not streety guys, it was fun to go and do something

like that. I was on a job a few days ago when

my homie got shot in the face. The bullet comes out the other side.

Then what you going to do? I'm going to die. It's gone rogue.

There was nothing for me cooler than to make a quintessential New York

heist movie that was grounded in reality, that had characters, that

had comedy, was fun, but had heart. This is a bad idea. I don't want you

talking to me for the rest of the robbery. Danny, I love the fact

that it is based in Brett Ratner's reality? Wouldn't you want to live

there? I know I would. I want live with him. Let us converse with

Tower Heist. It is supposed to reach new heights. I don't think that's

strictly true. That's a lie. There is a line on it. Red rose. Go

it, then call me. I was sitting next to you and I was almost sick I

laughed so hard. I noticed. there are a couple of very, very

funny moments in it, but it's not hilarious. The other thing I want to

say is that it is like a 80s In the 80s I looked disgusting -

even more so. Lots of bangles and I carried around millions of textbooks

and when the credits came up I surprised not to have a school bag

at my feet so it's nice to go back in time. The question has to be:

it funny? For me at least the answer to that is a resounding, categorical

100% yes, and no, because I you are right. There is an absence

of belly laughs. You don't have that joke after joke structure. Being

picky, the scenes with Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy don't really work.

Quite a lot of tumble weed. In fairness, there's some genuinely

funny stuff which is unexpected. just because this is a Brett Ratner

movie but also because jokes come from unexpected places. There's

little three-away one liners and nuggets of conversation. A lot comes

from Casey Affleck and also from Matthew Broderick, who can be

incredibly funny. He is slightly downtrodden here and has for me

best scene in the film. It's an odd comparison to make but it's like a

Sunday night sitcom because it's not very funny very often but

something strangely reassuring about it at the same time. I feel slightly

embarrassed to admit that but it's true. Yes, it's comforting. Can I

just say this, what I normally love about these heist films, even

Ocean's Eleven, it always involves just men usually sitting around

white board, making plans, and are going "Then we will do this and

then we will do that", but they leave out a whole chunk so when the

plan comes together you think: that's so clever, I didn't see it

coming. That didn't happen in this film. It won't happen if you are

expecting that, but Alan Alda is also in it we should say. Various

things you wouldn't want to admit in public is that for most of my

have been a huge Eddie Murphy fan the idea that you have him in

film which kind of has a bit of a go very gentlely at the banks, veers

away a little bit and blames it all or Bernie Madoff, but it's almost

breath between this and Trading Places, and there's just enough for

this to be close enough. I would give it a B. Next Straw Dogs,

remake of the 1971 controversial Sam Peckinpah movie. In this version

man re-elect with his wife to the deep south. What do you think?

beautiful. We don't even lock our doors. I'm glad we came. The pastor

worked all week long writing that sermon, then he has got to watch you

get up and leave? Some people call that rude. OK. Just a

red neck wisdom for you. Charlie, there is something in The Bible I

believe. What is that, sir? Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's

wife. I believe in that too, but what happens when thy neighbour's

wife covets you? What then? You are a coward.

No, I'm not. Yeah, so am I. Plain No, I'm not. Yeah, so am I. Plain

and simple. No, I'm not. Yeah. Yeah. If you had done something -

Amy. If you had said something or done something, anything. I

trying to get them to talk. Would you be quiet? Education is

difficult thing to control, Harry. No extra charge. KNOCKING. GUNSHOT.

911. Emergency. There are five men 911. Emergency. There are five men

911. Emergency. There are five men remakes I think are a very soft

remakes I think are a very soft remakes I think are a very soft

911. Emergency. target and we will talk about

later in the series, and they have their place but Straw Dogs is not

great advert for a remake. It is incredibly tied to Sam Peckinpah's

original, huge chunks of script are copied over verbatim but at the same

time the changes it has made are disastrous. One obvious example

the casting. Straw Dogs is a story all about this nerdy, awkward

intellectual who has to get in touch with his inner wild man and the

original casting is perfect, Dustin Hoffman. Here they have changed him

from being a mathematician to a writer and cast James Marsden, from

the X Men, with his six pack and chisel jaw so not only is the film

hugely unbelievable but it has to make up time apologising for itself,

so he has to wear inappropriate footwear, he has to pay with

credit card in the diner, and he has to have played la cross at Harvard.

I think it's disastrous for the film and impossible to believe that if

you were casting somebody awkward, you would cast James Marsden.

available for one thing. LAUGHTER. feel bad about using the word

"tripe" - sometimes it's the only word that works. The problem is the

original is so creepy and so it of gets under your skin and it's

pretty terrifying. Dustin of course, is brilliant in it and

there are proper scenes of suspense and terror. This is a nonsense, if I

can use that word, and I feel but it's shot in the present day

obviously. They are surrounded by technological stuff, they've got

computers, and if they were threatened you just think they would

have gone on Expedia and got a flight out. It's a screen writer

from LA but you are supposed to believe he hasn't seen any

he has no idea. It didn't ring true. Absolutely not and relocating it

from Cornwall to the deep south America is another very, very bad

decision actually. For a we've seen that film a million

times. Deliverance was made at about the same time. It's also done fakely

because James Woods is one of chief villains and he is about as

southern fried as Judi Dench. worst thing about this movie,

all the criticisms we are levelling at it, is that it's actually

mediocre rather than terrible. you are going to do a bad remake of

the Sam Peckinpah film, go the hog and have some show tunes in

there. I can see his ghost whirling in his grave as we speak. Erm,

good. It has been 40 years since the original release of Straw Dogs

was followed shortly afterwards Clockwork Orange, at the time two

the most shocking films to get a commercial release. Danny goes back

in time - literally. - yes, there. And as you might expect,

In 1971 movie-goers had a shocking In 1971 movie-goers had a shocking

year for sex and violence but two of these films, Sam Peckinpah's Straw

Dogs and Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange would become notorious for

years to come, both adaptations of British models shot by American

directors in England. The violence hits you like a meat cleaver between

the eyes. Neither of these films will I ever forget the first time I

saw them. Both films would be judged unsafe for British audiences

and become impossible to see for years to come. I don't know how

society can go so far. They became landmarks in the history of

censorship and social taboos. First up, Straw Dogs, Sam Peckinpah's

of marriage, manhood and revenge with Dustin Hoffman as a mousy

American mathematician who with his wife to a local Cornish

village. When the locals turn nasty she is brutally raped and he is

forced to defend his home. It was an iconic film of its

don't think it has ever been repeated. What's shocking

Straw Dogs is not so much the violence of the film, it's the rape

scene itself. Please leave me. This film showed rape as: well,

sort of wanted it. That makes it one of those rare films which is

actually more controversial it was then. It's about the

countryside and the great and horrible truth of that. The

countryside is not a sweet and nice place of harmony and gentleness, it

is a place of violence, horror and confrontation. SHOUTING

As a city boy there was always a As a city boy there was always a

As a city boy there was always a fear I had about going out to the

fear I had about going out to the fear I had about going out to the

As a city boy there was country. They are all crazy out

there. So there was something about seeing all the townspeople turning

against the outsider which made big impression.

In Kubrick's futuristic version of In Kubrick's futuristic version of

Britain, A Clockwork Orange, Alex and his gang commit acts of

senseless ultra violence with women frequently the victims. A Clockwork

Orange is a violent film but it is in a more cerebral sense

violence. The violence was so extreme, so kind

of stylised and so comical, probably makes it so difficult to

watch. It's laughing at you same time as trying to horrify and

shock you. .

Also very upsetting is the violence Also very upsetting is the violence

committed towards the main Alex. No! Stop it, stop it, please,

I beg you! It's a painful scene to watch, but it's such an amazing

piece of cinema. It's really the work of a director who is at the top

of his game. I've learnt my lesson, sir, I see now what I've never seen

before, I am cured, praise God! Interestingly though, for all

the films had in common no than 13 leading film critics had

written to the Times to complain about Straw Dogs, with many of the

same people acclaiming A Clockwork Orange as a work of genius. Kubrick

withdrew the film over scenes of copy - over fears of copycat crimes.

I don't think now and then a snippet here and there has harmed films at

all. I think the two films in question, personally I

wonderful films, could easily been just as good without the full

content. That was A Clockwork Orange and Straw Dogs. Yes, indeed.

You will judge each film on its own individual merits?

will be wrong and it will be for the public to decide how often

right or wrong. A Clockwork Orange came this incredible cult item,

almost more like a rumour than film. For whatever reason they were

both removed from public consumption and therefore the more that happens,

the more people want to see them. The more you hear, the more you

to see it. Born of the restless late 60s, these controversial films took

nearly three decades to be re-released in Britain. Times have

changed so that we don't these films with the same eyes.

These films kind of speak those times, and even though they

are set, one in a very rural setting and another in the future,

very much about the period in they were made. There's

about the 60s which turned nasty and became the 70s. American cinema of

that time had something about it, it became much more brutal and much

more real, and there was something about showing there was an edginess

to it. The funny thing is that these weren't obscure underground B

movies that were causing such commotion but films from two of the

world's biggest directors. It's hard to imagine a Christopher Nolan or

David Fincher touching so many raw nerves these days but then again

it's also hard to think of what could possibly have the same effect

here in unshockable 2011. see on Friday? I went to see the

Human Centipede 2, strangely own. This is basically about an

obsessed human cent paedfan who then tried to re inact it. The film was

banned a few months ago on the basis that the main character abducts

them, but they are trying to some personality into it. They are

thinking: here I am, a struggling actor, having my moment and I

make the most of it. One guy in particular, number 5 or 6, is

literally almost doing jazz hands. Really quite a sight. The film is a

footnote for horror aficionados if you do want a date night, tell me

and I will come a babysit. Noted. Next, Jack Goes Boating, the

directorial debut of Philip Seymour Hoffman. I told him I loved him, he

was a great dad, and he woke of the coma. Oh God! Then he fell

down, hit his head in the and then he died. Oh!

I basically play a guy who has had few relationships in his life but

nothing substantial. That's it. He is not stunted, not slow, not

anything, he is just a guy who is the age of 45 and maybe has been

laid a couple of times, top. know what I mean? Tops. I'm sorry.

No. I wanted to. I even imagined it with you. It was a pitch black

night, we were in a spaceship flying through space.

I think of it as a sweet love story of two people who come together

life starts for them, an awakening of sorts and the other couple that

sets them up, their relationship starts to show the cracks and theirs

deteriorates. Someone beautiful here. Wow, you look really good.

You look for some other life or some You look for some other life or some

You look for some other life or some other person. You think I'm nothing.

other person. You think I'm nothing. other person. You think I'm nothing.

You look for some I don't want it to ever be like

that. Maybe I should go. No, you can hold me. Let's go a little

deeper. Why I chose Sir Derek Jacobi to be the first film I direct

is it's a small movie, basically centred on four people so there's a

lot of scenes that's just you and another person. Or even two other

people. So there's not a lot of room. You are half of the acting,

you know, and so this - and I'm in a lot of the movie, and so that was

tricky. I'm glad I played the part before in a play version, even

though it was much different in the film. That helped.

Maybe a little goodnight kiss. Maybe. You know, nothing

overwhelming. OK. Night. Night.

I've only just watched it. Watching I've only just watched it. Watching

those clips makes me want to watch it again. I really loved this film.

I thought it was tender and there were very beautiful moments,

especially when Philip Seymour Hoffman is learning how to swim.

That might sound bizarre - No, a great scene, that. It is,

there are moments when it is obviously a play but you

like it's a play just being filmed which sometimes I felt strangely in

Doubt, which Philip Seymour was also in. I was absolutely

immersed in these four and I found bits of it incredibly

moving. Find me the person who doesn't love Philip Seymour Hoffman,

bring him to the studio and we will publicly humiliate him. Wow. That

said it would be nice if one esteemed actor didn't do a small

style adaptation of a play for his directorial debut. That said,

performances are great. Seymour Hoffman himself brings real

nuance but across the board the performances are great.

compare this to the The Ides of March, which we talked about last

week, another actors' movie, again adopted from a play,

Seymour Hoffman one of the characters, I actually this that

much more gripping but Clooney's directing isn't as imaginative as

Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is a small film but there is imagination

and some real flourishes. It reminds me a lot of Mike Leigh

me a lot of Mike Leigh which is strange because it's a New York

movie. You could easily set this in Britain. It's not fantastic. It's

pleasant, I think, rather than - I think it's better than pleasant.

No, I'm going to stick with pleasant. There's a little too much

pointless quirk in it for me. little too much quirk. Wow, harsh.

OK, Jack Goes Boating is on limited nationwide release and you can log

onto our website to find details of where it will be showing.

Next Weekend, a romance which blossoms unexpectedly after a

one-night stand. This is for an art project and you are going to lie

there and record me speaking and people will listen to it? If you

make the grade, yeah. Oh, come on. Erm , I don't know, I can hardly

remember anything. Just start from the beginning when you first saw me.

I don't know, I just saw you. Stop stalling, just talk. All right. OK.

Erm, OK, I saw you in the club and I thought you were, I thought you were

out of my league or whatever, I liked your T-shirt a lot.

league are you in? I don't know. Erm, third division maybe?

think you believe that for a moment. Then you followed me into the

toilets and tried to wind me the urinal. Hot. Well, you left.

And then I left. Yes. Why? There was someone else I

was someone else I wanted but by the time I found him he was with

else, so - So I was your second choice. I

I think when you think about the I think when you think about the

number of love stories made the genuine ones have to be cherished. I

think this is genuinely brilliant, it shows a relationship forming over

48 hours and something happens between them. Over the same number

of minutes you become incredibly wrapped up and invested in it and by

the end you are with them every of the way. That's actually what a

truly great romance does. It will have comparisons to things like

Before Sunrise, Lost in Translation. It will deserve those

It will deserve those. What is so nice as well, this doesn't shy away

from the fact it is a gay love story but for audiences, for gay, straight

people, any combination thereof, this is such a fantastic film and I

think people will form a with this movie. I totally agree. I

loved it. I was sobbing at the end. The way the director, the

cameraman's in - at the beginning there's a scene

having a curry and you can see people thinking you should bring two

plates, and then you see people in the background, you are absolutely

immersed. I read somewhere someone that said films we connect with is

where you see somebody change the inside out. That is right.

Chris who plays Glen absolutely changes from the inside out. I

it so moving, I want to see it again. It is your film of the week,

it is definitely mine. It would be my film of most weeks. The

performances are very eye-catching and the actors will get a lot of

praise. The director shouldn't get forgotten about. The way he lights

things, the rhythm he gets with the film, it's a brilliant piece of film

making. I want to emphasise, if both our film of the week, that's

not because it's a low budget British film and is plucky and -

no, it is brilliant. It is the best film making by a distance this week.

I would urge people to go and see it this weekend. It's a firework of a

movie. Yes, it's so romantic. This week, the BFI begins a MGM Musical

retrospective which will run November and December. Here

look at some of the films that will be on offer.

# Somewhere over the rainbow # Somewhere over the rainbow

# Way up high # There's a land that I heard of

# Once in a lullaby # # There's no

# There's no business like showbiz # There's no business like showbiz

# If you tell me it's so #

# Meet Me In St Louis # Meet Me In St Louis

# Meet me at the fair # Don't tell me the lights are

shining # Any place but there #

# Bless your beautiful hide # Bless your beautiful hide

# Wherever you may be # we ain't met yet but I'm willing

to bet # You are the gal for me #

And joining us is musicals fan And joining us is musicals fan

Antonia Quirke and curator of this BFI season David Benedict. Thank you

both so much for coming in. Pleasure. Danny and I at this

juncture, I think it's only fair, wouldn't you - Take the floor.

Would say out loud that not in a bad way musicals aren't possibly our

favourite genre. I want to be convinced, but do you find that

lot, that people are often down on Mughals? I have to say in the last

half an hour Danny has said jazz hands and show tunes as the last

word in naffness. That's the problem, musicals as seen as

unrealistic and there for the simple-minded and some of them are,

but so are some horror and action movies. There are very, very good

musicals and the good ones make you realise just how joyous the form can

be. What makes a great musical? Is it the stars, is it the whole -

well, they are the ultimate showcase for our most beloved stars. You see

the satire, the colour, the gloss, and just how barmy they are.

American In Paris is a very eccentric film. The final ballet

sequence is a very, very strange and eccentric moment. Let me ask you,

why were MGM so great at them? They just got to be really, really good

at them because there were a whole bunch of people there in a special

unit run by Arthur Freed and they made the most expensive, glamorous,

richly textured movies. It's about skill base. Lots and lots of studios

have become good at different genres. MGM had really, really

classy staff and built musicals around the talents of the people

there. They weren't just star vehicles, they were really, really

strong films. Danny, why is it that somebody like - sometimes it can

make me nervous when there's no warning before they break into song.

Literally they are just standing there, tidying or something and then

- away. And you are thinking for goodness sake just wash up.

not hold up a sign? I have a personal grudge, a problem - because

as a kid I was a huge Marks brothers film and I was always resentful that

they had these terrible musical numbers and I felt chewed up by

that. My grandmother was fixated with Howard Keel which was another

problem. But when musicals are bad it's in numbers like that one in the

Marx brothers film. Great musicals are properly constructed and you

understand why they are bursting into song. You don't watch

Bond movie and go: he couldn't jump from that building to the next,

course he couldn't. Don't tell that. You mentioned An American In

Paris. Yes. I know you love it. Let's remind ourselves. Here

clip. .

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds

MUSIC. Look, no, I know. MUSIC. Look, no, I know.

Perfection. Perfection! Me you watching that, you - just

perfection. Why? Look at Leslie there, she was 15 years old

Gene Kelly first spotted her in a ballet and then remembered her two

years later in this. The tortured innocence of her face and what's so

spectacular about Gene Kelly, particularly in this film, is the

way he can hold a smile and the same time better than even Louis

Armstrong and yet there's something slightly malevolent, difficult about

him and you can see written all over his face he is an incredibly

complicated man, a hard worker. When you see someone like Fred Astaire,

such a natural sweetheart, and then you see somebody like Kelly, he is

thinking the whole time, choreographed the whole thing and he

is just perfect. You agree? Absolutely. Great performances

do something. Of course I would say this because I am talking about a

cinema season at the cinema, but you have to see them on the big screen.

I think that makes a massive difference. There's something about

the scale. I know you don't like people bursting into song but when

they do it on a huge screen on that scale it makes a weird sense in a

way that on your TV at home it can be ridiculous. I saw this movie for

the first time on the big screen the other day and noticed things that I

haven't seen before. The extras, old ladies with their bunions dancing

up in the cafes in Paris. The variety of children matt

particularly gorgeous. I thought knew this movie incredibly well but

I noticed these things. I do hear you but when you mention Gene Kelly

and that hardness, that's what I've always found uncomfortable. I

appreciate technically these are brilliant but his hardness puts me

off in the same way that Judy Garland's glazedness puts me off.

When you see her singing in In St Louis, she sings to a weeping

child and her voice has a tremor in it and the look of care

and attention on her face, and you know what she was going

the time, as you say it's - perhaps I'm getting too

emotional. The other thing, you always like one musical but never

think it's a musical. Earlier, I was like: I love Oliver, but they

sing. That's true. I love West Side Story but never think of it as a

musical. There are a small number that transcend it, and Singing in

the Rain Transcends Them All. You Can Find All the Details by Logging

Onto BFI.Org.Uk. Now It's Time for the Questionnaire, This

I'm not good at watching films more I'm not good at watching films more

than once but there are a couple. Probably the one that I can easily

Something so captivating about that Something so captivating about that

movie, just visually, my initial connections with it.

There is no other film like it. There is no other film like it.

love the smell of napalm in the morning. When they final meet, that

build-up. I've never seen such a build-up, such a mysterious

character, somebody mirroring his actions, climbing motor his mind

when they make that journey, so when they finally meet, it's

powerful stuff. Are you an assassin?

Anything with Paul Newman or Steve Anything with Paul Newman or Steve

I'm a soldier. You McQueen, I just love. The Great

Escape with Steve McQueen, I could go on, there's butch Cassidy,

are just movies that for me, a guy's guy, you know, but pall Newman and

McQueen were the dudes. Pap ilon, Steve McQueen, when you have a guy -

these are the characters that I love to take on as well. Exceptionally

quiet and yet very, very wilful and stubborn and so much going on in

their minds but you just - it's sucking you in, you know? Then you

never know - unpredictable and this strength and this endurance.

Guy that is just by existing are Guy that is just by existing are

fascinating. I'm gonna be fine. I'm gonna be fine.

So I married an axe murderer. Mike So I married an axe murderer. Mike

Myers. I put that on and I'm like, you know what: get out of the way of

that television! There are Scottish characters in there and

they just do the stupidest stuff. # If you think I'm sexy and you want

my body # All you've got to do is come

# # it's so irreverent and silly,

Mike Myers was a genius, it was he was at his best and you just get

so wrapped up in it. Yes, I love you so much. Oh God. Charlie. I'm

naked, aren't I? Yes, yes, you are naked. Yeah.

Thank you so much for coming in. We Thank you so much for coming in. We

are all convinced, we are all going, BFI musical season. I'm about to

launch into song. That's all for tonight. In next week's show we will

be reviewing Wuthering Heights and The Rum

Diaries. Playing us out is Shame, the new film from director Steve

McQueen, in cinemas in January 2012. Thank you very much for

How did it go last night? Good How did it go last night? Good

night. Let's do it again tonight. My sister is downtown somewhere.

Can I stay for a few days? Your hard drive is dirty. I mean it is

filthy. Slowly. I'm trying to help you. How are you helping me, huh?

You come in here and you are weight on me. You are a burden. You