:01:35. > :01:43.Hello and welcome to The Culture Show from the royal adad mi. We are
:01:43. > :01:52.talking vision Rhys and dissenters. Sculpture and Savages, Mormonism
:01:52. > :01:59.and musicals. Coming up: blockbuster bronzes,
:01:59. > :02:08.from creators Matt Parker. And director Oliver Stone on
:02:08. > :02:12.Savages, his latest gory tale. First up, the Royal Academy has
:02:12. > :02:17.crossed continents and five menia in the name of their new show, the
:02:17. > :02:22.aim to bring together in one place, some of the planet's most
:02:22. > :02:26.extraordinary bronze sculptures. My old friend Danny Katz has been
:02:26. > :02:31.buying and selling sculpture for 40 years. I asked him to join me in
:02:31. > :02:40.picking out some of the most remarkable objects from this truly
:02:40. > :02:50.great exhibition. Beautiful bronze. From the minuture
:02:50. > :02:52.
:02:52. > :03:00.to the monumental. Bronze has been Chericked as an -- cherished since
:03:00. > :03:06.an antiquity. Made from a mixture of copper, tin,
:03:06. > :03:13.zing and lead, it has cast its artistic spell down through the
:03:13. > :03:17.ages. The exhibition is arranged theme
:03:17. > :03:26.atically, from the ancient world to the present day.
:03:26. > :03:33.First up on our tour is the dancing satire, recovered from the depths
:03:33. > :03:37.of the Sicilyian sea. It's not a bad start. Could you
:03:37. > :03:42.imagine the lucky fisherman who went out to catch his fish one day
:03:42. > :03:45.and got that in the met. I met the fisherman and he told me that when
:03:45. > :03:51.the figure came up, it came up headfirst out of the water, it
:03:51. > :03:56.danced out of the water, with fish and crabs, screaming from the hole
:03:56. > :04:01.in the head. Look at the drama in its face. Extraordinary, the way
:04:01. > :04:06.the tension in his face is pulled back. He is in full flight, having
:04:06. > :04:12.a go. I love the way they put it in this gallery, a dark blue gallery,
:04:12. > :04:22.as if to suggest the sea from which it came. Look at that, like it's
:04:22. > :04:24.
:04:24. > :04:31.taking off. We have live-off. -- Look at that, I didn't know they
:04:31. > :04:41.had those here. Here they are three of the great monumental bronze
:04:41. > :04:47.
:04:47. > :04:50.sculptures of the of the Florentin Renaissance. They are by a chap
:04:50. > :04:56.Rusticci, whose work you have bought and sold. What do you think
:04:56. > :05:01.about it? Obviously the catalogue has been written by a knowledgable
:05:02. > :05:07.scholar, but he's wrong. These are by da Vinci. You say that quietly.
:05:07. > :05:12.I don't say it in jest. There is only one man who could have
:05:12. > :05:22.designed drapery like that. That's come out of a sketch book by da
:05:22. > :05:31.
:05:31. > :05:41.Vinci. That hand out stretched. That is like da Vinci's signature.
:05:41. > :05:41.
:05:41. > :05:46.Leonardo helped with these skull.Ures. -- sculptures. It can't
:05:46. > :05:56.get better. It can't get better. Oh, no, look
:05:56. > :05:56.
:05:56. > :06:01.at this, my goodness gracious. Donatello, look at him. He is your
:06:01. > :06:05.favourite artist of all time. he is actually having fun with this.
:06:05. > :06:12.This is the mind of a genius, a man developing an idea, a form, a shape,
:06:12. > :06:16.this is the one object so far I photoally covered -- totally
:06:16. > :06:21.covered. You want to take it home couldn't live with something like
:06:21. > :06:26.this. We learn from this. What did he do with bronze that he couldn't
:06:26. > :06:30.have done with another medium. carve this in one piece of marble
:06:30. > :06:36.would have been impossible, but he was fascinated by the use of bronze.
:06:36. > :06:40.He was the first man to make a full-scale individual statue.
:06:40. > :06:45.can reinvent the whole form, you are not impressoned by the block of
:06:45. > :06:49.marble. No, because it's more solid, it is strong letter. For those who
:06:49. > :06:56.come to the Royal Academy and engage with this object, it is just
:06:56. > :07:04.about enjoyment and fulfilment and happiness. It's good good for the
:07:04. > :07:11.soul. Next to room seven which contains something a little strange.
:07:11. > :07:17.When I first saw this, I thought Mexico? No. Is it Mexico? What is
:07:17. > :07:24.it, ancient Viking what could it be? It says here it's English, to
:07:24. > :07:30.ward off evil spirits. Durham cathedral. I am a bit of evil in my
:07:30. > :07:40.dad. That's a scary bugger, look at that thing. That would scare any
:07:40. > :07:42.
:07:42. > :07:49.bit of evil out of anyone. It's not a Gargoyle. If you look at the side,
:07:49. > :07:59.it's got teeth like a mantra. Think of the noise that's going to make.
:07:59. > :08:03.Clang and boom boom! I'm scared! I need a cup of tea. To calm our
:08:03. > :08:09.spirits, we enter room 10, to look at one of the show's most
:08:09. > :08:13.astonishing pieces. I think summing up this exhibition, with this
:08:13. > :08:17.amazing new discovery from Bulgaria says something about the durability,
:08:17. > :08:22.lasting process of casting in bronze, because this has been --
:08:22. > :08:32.had this been made in stone or terracotta, it wouldn't be here
:08:32. > :08:35.
:08:35. > :08:38.today. It's like a face, still alive. He's staring out at us with
:08:38. > :08:44.those eyes. Did you see a photograph of the chap who
:08:44. > :08:50.discovered this, an aged archaeologist. He would only wear
:08:50. > :08:55.under pants, he was known as the great underpant archaeologist. If a
:08:55. > :09:02.modern day film director was going to make a film about ancient Greece,
:09:02. > :09:06.this would be it. This is something else. It is absolutely amazing.
:09:06. > :09:11.think that is the pinacle of this exhibition, one of the last things,
:09:11. > :09:16.we get this high art, high culture and it continues throughout the
:09:16. > :09:24.whole exhibition, this great high quality of bronze. It is ever
:09:24. > :09:28.lasting, lasts forever and it is here for us to wonder and marvel at.
:09:28. > :09:33.It's like it was created yesterday. Extraordinary.
:09:33. > :09:40.Bronze is at the Royal Academy until 9th December. Next something
:09:40. > :09:45.foul mouthed, scatheingly satirical and multi-award winning. The Book
:09:45. > :09:49.Of Mormon is a musical created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the
:09:49. > :09:53.team behind South Park. It tells the story of two Mormon boys sent
:09:53. > :09:57.on a mission to Africa. The show hits these shores next year but
:09:57. > :10:06.first it's touring the US and last week saw its glittering premiere in
:10:06. > :10:12.Hollywood. Hollywood stars are out in force
:10:12. > :10:16.for the LA opening of The Book Of Mormon, a musical from the creators
:10:16. > :10:22.of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The plot is take two of
:10:22. > :10:27.these kids, white boys that grew up in a privileged, in a really nice
:10:27. > :10:37.middle American Mormon home in Utah and we send them to, like, the most
:10:37. > :10:40.
:10:40. > :10:47.war torn famine stricken ravaged part of Africa.
:10:47. > :10:54.In this scene the missionaries belatedly discover the local song
:10:54. > :11:00.has a blasphemous English transation. -- translation. Holy
:11:00. > :11:07.moly, I said it like 13 times. we were first doing the show on
:11:07. > :11:11.Broadway, they were saying are you ready for the bash lash lash we
:11:11. > :11:17.thought there won't be one. We live in a same free country that allows
:11:17. > :11:22.us to practise our religion. And it was like exactly what it really
:11:22. > :11:28.should say. # This was the time for me to step
:11:28. > :11:34.up, so why was I so scared. # A warlord who shoots people in
:11:34. > :11:40.the face, what is so scary about that. The songs dictate where the
:11:40. > :11:44.show goes. # I believe that the lord God
:11:44. > :11:51.created the universe # I believe that he sent his only
:11:51. > :11:55.son to die for my sins # And I believe that ancient Jews
:11:55. > :12:01.built boats and sailed to America For a lot of people out there, in a
:12:02. > :12:06.lot of ways a Mormon represents an American period. And it is like the
:12:06. > :12:10.ultimate version of the overly happy-go-lucky, overly nice, trying
:12:10. > :12:16.to pretend everything is OK, and not that bright about the actual
:12:16. > :12:23.goings on of the world. The naive cheesy optimism that more Mondays
:12:23. > :12:29.have is a sort of an American thing. # I am a Mormon
:12:29. > :12:34.and a Mormon just believes The Book Of Mormon has enjoyed huge
:12:34. > :12:40.commercial and critical success, already racking up nine Tony Awards.
:12:40. > :12:45.The winner is The Book Of Mormon. Next year the show is heading to
:12:45. > :12:52.London's West End, something its creators never envisaged. The fact
:12:52. > :13:00.we are talking about coming to London is crazy. We have always
:13:00. > :13:10.said we are 40%-ers, maybe 20%. 40% of people like our stuff but the
:13:10. > :13:19.
:13:19. > :13:24.ones that like it really like it. The Book Of Mormon opens in London
:13:24. > :13:29.next March. The actor Colin Firth has been busy recently, not chasing
:13:29. > :13:33.his latest Oscar but helping to to compile a book. The People Speak
:13:33. > :13:37.tells the story of our nation through the voices of the
:13:37. > :13:42.dissenters and ordinary folk who took on the establishment. On
:13:42. > :13:47.Sunday, a star studded cast assembled at London's Tabernacle to
:13:47. > :13:53.speak the stirring words afresh. Clemency Burton-Hill went along.
:13:53. > :14:03.I am Arthur king of the Britons. Whose castle is that? King of the
:14:03. > :14:03.
:14:03. > :14:11.who? The Britons. What What who are the Britons? I didn't know we had a
:14:11. > :14:14.king. We are living in a dictatorship, which working class...
:14:14. > :14:21.Bringing class into it again. Conceived in America, the people's
:14:21. > :14:24.speak is the brainchild of Howard Howard Zin. By traumatising
:14:24. > :14:30.speeches and songs, the project aims to bring to life the American
:14:30. > :14:33.story through the voices of its people. Anthony Arnove has joined
:14:33. > :14:39.forces with Colin tpeurt to bring the idea across the pond and turn
:14:39. > :14:43.the spotlight on to British history. In Britain we have a tradition of
:14:43. > :14:46.being sceptical of actors who embrace causes and turn into
:14:46. > :14:51.activists, but how important is it to get the likes of Colin Firth
:14:51. > :14:55.involved? Colin got involved organically. He saw an American
:14:55. > :15:05.production and was moved by it and felt these words needed to be heard
:15:05. > :15:13.
:15:13. > :15:16.in England. I am going to be reading a a clip from Harold Pinter.
:15:16. > :15:22.How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described
:15:22. > :15:28.as a mass murderer and war criminal. 100,000? More than enough I would
:15:28. > :15:36.have thought. Therefore it is just that Bush and Blair will arraigned
:15:37. > :15:41.before the international criminal Courts of Justice.
:15:41. > :15:45.The scope of the project is vast. Covering the movements and issues
:15:45. > :15:49.that shaped, rocked and defined the nation, but from an individual's
:15:49. > :15:53.perspective, reminding us that democracy is built from the bottom
:15:54. > :15:57.up. When a man says he is free, does he mean he is wholly,
:15:57. > :16:05.independent in thought and deed or does he mean he's not doing
:16:05. > :16:08.anything at the moment. I am excited to be start to be part
:16:08. > :16:11.of something that is celebrating the lunatic fringe or say what
:16:11. > :16:20.people are thinking from the heart and we are at the beginning of the
:16:20. > :16:25.movement, trying to get those voices not mainstream.
:16:25. > :16:30.The great thing about Margaret Thatcher was that she left us in
:16:30. > :16:36.absolutely no doubt. One of the things that is striking
:16:36. > :16:41.in the book is that these things for which we take for granted now
:16:41. > :16:46.were acts of treason when they are first pos eted and often the people
:16:46. > :16:52.advocating for them lost their lives. Absolutely. The things we
:16:52. > :16:58.consider as basic rights were once crimes. Nous terribly long ago.
:16:58. > :17:03.People were tortured for them. say we are rebels, because there is
:17:03. > :17:08.no other way open to us of obtaining redress for the
:17:08. > :17:15.grievances, grave grievances Which? Women have. You have a powerful
:17:15. > :17:23.moment in British history, amazing female trail brazer. I am thrilled
:17:23. > :17:30.and honoured to be reading the speech. It's quite an empowering
:17:30. > :17:36.moment for her. I think you just see that ferocity she had. I mean
:17:36. > :17:44.to be a voter in the land that gave me birth or that they shall kill me.
:17:44. > :17:51.And my challenge to the government is this: kill me or give me my
:17:51. > :17:56.freedom. I shall force you to make that choice. Campaigning and
:17:56. > :18:02.outspoken women feature heavily in both the book and the performance.
:18:02. > :18:05.Virginia Woolf was one of the woman who stuck her head above the
:18:05. > :18:11.parapet. How important is it for those words to be head by an
:18:11. > :18:15.audience?. I am reading from her book a room of one's own, it was
:18:15. > :18:18.written to be spoken, and when you read it to yourself, it is a very
:18:19. > :18:21.different different thing. Off relationship to her thought and you
:18:21. > :18:26.find yourself talk to go her in your head. When you stand up and
:18:26. > :18:30.read it out loud, you are appealing to a collective. It is a rally, it
:18:30. > :18:34.is a cry. It is a very thoughtful and interesting and intelligent cry
:18:34. > :18:39.but it still becomes a rally and cry for change.
:18:39. > :18:43.At last nick green the actor manager took pity on her, she found
:18:43. > :18:47.herself with child by that gentleman and so who shall measure
:18:47. > :18:53.the heat and violence of the poet's heart when caught and tangled in a
:18:53. > :19:02.woman's body, killed herself one winter's night and lies buried at
:19:02. > :19:09.some crossroads where the omnibuses now stop. That, more or less, is
:19:09. > :19:13.how the story would run, I think, if a woman in Shakespeare's day had
:19:13. > :19:18.Shakespeare's genius. It is people who stepped outside the norm of
:19:18. > :19:21.their day, to speak on an issue where it was considered unpopular.
:19:21. > :19:25.This is a book of people who did that and as a result of that, we
:19:25. > :19:35.have the freedoms we do enjoy today. But there are also freedoms that
:19:35. > :19:36.
:19:36. > :19:42.can be erode d. I believe despite the enormous odds which exist,
:19:42. > :19:47.unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination as
:19:47. > :19:52.citizens to redefine the real truth of our lives and our societies is a
:19:52. > :19:57.crucial, obligation which deinvolves upon us all. It is, in
:19:57. > :20:00.fact, mandatory. If such a determination is not embodied in
:20:01. > :20:08.our political vision, we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly
:20:08. > :20:14.lost to us. The dignity of man. Next tonight, director Oliver
:20:14. > :20:18.Stone's the man behind such major movies as JFK, platoon and Natural
:20:18. > :20:22.Born Killers. Soy say he's bold, some think he's merely obsessed by
:20:22. > :20:28.graphic violence, but many agree he's been rather off the boil in
:20:28. > :20:38.recent years. But does his latest film Savages mark a return to form.
:20:38. > :20:48.Here's Mark Kermode. Oliver Stone's new film Savages is
:20:48. > :20:57.
:20:57. > :21:06.a son and blood soaked triler from Starting as a screen writer, stone
:21:06. > :21:13.made his mark mark directing Platoon, Born on 4th July, Nixon
:21:13. > :21:17.and JFK and Wall Street. Why do you need to wreck this company? You are
:21:17. > :21:20.made many films in which you have not one lead, but a selection of
:21:20. > :21:26.leads. Tell me about the difficulties of working with an
:21:26. > :21:34.ensemble. A pain in the ass. On Savages it was six actors, three
:21:34. > :21:44.young people, and they are not as experienced as Benecio or John or
:21:44. > :21:45.
:21:45. > :21:51.sell ma. They are like pupies. It is a different chemistry.
:21:51. > :21:56.The plot of Stone's latest film follows some pop dealers as their
:21:56. > :22:00.existence is blown apart when they refuse to join forces with a
:22:00. > :22:04.violent mex kal drug cartel. want out of the dope business, it's
:22:04. > :22:14.been a drag. You are making a mistake. This leads to the kidnap
:22:14. > :22:21.
:22:21. > :22:26.of their shared girlfriend played by Blake Lively. Can you describe
:22:26. > :22:31.sell ma high eck's character, because he has been described as a
:22:32. > :22:36.dragon lady fill and for me she is the centre of the film. She is
:22:36. > :22:41.speaks for herself. I wouldn't have a problem, cutting both their
:22:41. > :22:47.throats. She was The head of a cartel but losing power in Mexico.
:22:47. > :22:50.She's been betrayed from within and from without and she is slipping.
:22:50. > :22:54.Universal at the beginning of the of the movie said are you sure she
:22:54. > :23:00.is right for this movie. She doesn't seem tough enough. And I
:23:00. > :23:07.said I know her personally, she's one tough lady. Is everything all
:23:07. > :23:16.right? Yes, why you ask? realistic is Dell Torro's character.
:23:16. > :23:24.He is a really evil figure, he has an extraordinary hair arrangement,
:23:25. > :23:32.he exudes nastiness. He did some very strange things. That's your
:23:32. > :23:40.bed, that is your toilet, that is your sink. No tooth brush? You want
:23:40. > :23:50.to use my finger. John Travolta is a fascinating
:23:50. > :23:53.
:23:53. > :23:58.character, he is an agent who is corrupt. In an ironic way, it is
:23:58. > :24:06.Travolta who is the seiziest guy in the -- sleaziest guy in the whole
:24:06. > :24:10.cast. Just a matter of time before they legalise it. I take the deal
:24:10. > :24:14.instead of decaptation. It is a work of entertainment, but do you
:24:14. > :24:19.think of it as a political statement?. No, I have given up on
:24:19. > :24:26.the drug war. You have 42 years of hypocrisy going on on where the
:24:26. > :24:29.money has gotten bigger and the drugs have got more plentiful and
:24:29. > :24:35.more profitable. The prison system in the US has exploded because of
:24:35. > :24:42.drugs. A huge number of inmates are people who committed victimless
:24:42. > :24:45.crimes, like smoking grass. I don't see anything wrong with marijuana,
:24:45. > :24:51.it's been made illegal in the US. But the federal government doesn't
:24:51. > :24:55.agree. Does it matter to you how the film is received critically.
:24:55. > :25:00.The interesting thing is that the reviews are divided? I didn't read
:25:00. > :25:06.reviews. Do you never? I will in a year. I don't want to get hurt too
:25:06. > :25:11.much, because I do. You get hurt by that stuff? Yes, I get hurt by it,
:25:11. > :25:15.yes. I get hurt by not being understood. I like to be understood.
:25:15. > :25:20.What can people expect from Savages. What did you get out of it.
:25:20. > :25:28.thought you were having more fun than in the last three films you
:25:28. > :25:35.have made because you were working a film primarily a work of
:25:35. > :25:41.entertainment. It's not fun to make a movie, it's hard. Is it not fun?.
:25:41. > :25:47.It's like being a quarterback on a football team and trying to get
:25:47. > :25:54.down the field. He enjoys it after he wins.
:25:54. > :26:02.Savages is released on Friday. Jennifer Egan won a Pulitzer Prize
:26:02. > :26:07.for her last novel a visit for the good squad. Her latest work Black
:26:07. > :26:12.Box was published in the United States as a series of tweets, while
:26:13. > :26:18.here it's only being released as an E book. Gimmick or the future?
:26:18. > :26:23.Grace Dent has been considering the matter.
:26:23. > :26:30.Earlier this year, eager readers waited with baited breath for the
:26:30. > :26:36.next instalment from Jennifer Egan. I love twitter. But I think that if
:26:36. > :26:40.I had written a bestselling zeitgeisty novel like Jennifer Egan,
:26:40. > :26:45.I would have wanted to cash in on my next novel. I wouldn't have
:26:45. > :26:52.risked it by putting it on on twitter. I track her down in New
:26:52. > :27:00.York and asked her why she did it? Hello. Why did you decide to
:27:00. > :27:03.publish via twitter? You are not a big tweeter, are you? I have had a
:27:03. > :27:12.terrible time with diviter. I thought maybe I would want to tweet,
:27:12. > :27:15.I was interested in it, but I found I couldn't find the right attitude
:27:15. > :27:21.or persona that made tweeting as myself feel natural, so that is the
:27:21. > :27:24.extent of my tweeting. But my interest in twitter remains,
:27:24. > :27:30.despite the failure at it personally. I found myself
:27:30. > :27:33.wondering what kind of story would benefit from being read
:27:33. > :27:40.individually in the way that they would be if it were actually
:27:40. > :27:45.tweeted in real time. Necessary ingredients for a successful
:27:45. > :27:48.projection, giggles, shiness, the goal is to be both irrestistible
:27:48. > :27:53.and invisible. When you succeed, a certain sharpness will go out of
:27:53. > :27:58.his eyes. I was looking for some kind of voice that could work in
:27:58. > :28:02.this tweeting form, and I found myself thinking about, imagining a
:28:02. > :28:06.female spy in the south of France, delivering bulletins about what
:28:06. > :28:15.she's doing, not in the form of descriptions of the action, like I
:28:15. > :28:24.did this, this happened, that seemsically sayed but in the
:28:24. > :28:27.lessons she der derives in the action. A button is imed on your
:28:27. > :28:33.right knee, depress twice to indicate to loved ones you are well
:28:33. > :28:38.and thinking of them. You may send this signal only once a day. A
:28:38. > :28:43.continuous depression of the button indicates an emergency. Do you
:28:43. > :28:46.think twitter could be the future of the novel, or is it just a
:28:46. > :28:53.playground for procrastinating people like me who spend too much
:28:53. > :28:58.time on the internet?. I think the novel has always been a very ecleck
:28:59. > :29:04.tick plexible form, few look at earlier novels. Some are really
:29:04. > :29:10.wild, swaggering, endeavours using all kinds of discourse and bending
:29:10. > :29:15.it to their purposes, whether it is legal discourse, letter writing,
:29:15. > :29:20.all the the technological possibilities, they were using. It
:29:20. > :29:25.is part of the history and the rational for the novel to grab hold
:29:25. > :29:33.of whatever is around and bend it to its its purposes. What will the
:29:33. > :29:37.novel look like in 20, 30 years, we have no idea. That wraps it up for
:29:37. > :29:43.tonight. Make sure you don't miss next week's culture show when we
:29:43. > :29:47.have a special interview with JK Rowling and exclusive readings from
:29:47. > :29:51.The Casual Vacancy, her first aimed purely at grownups. We will leave