“…gone and made me child again…”

From the port of Thessaloniki…to the sunny streets of Copenhagen. NatFilm Festivalen started with a Dim Sum dinner and a concert by the amazing Bonnie “Prince” Billy. (see updated pics.) Screened the film once at the brilliant Cinemateket/Danish Film Institute (which also houses the restaurant/cafe Sult which has the greatest weekend brunch buffet on the Earth. And - now this is for the Scott Walker nerd elite…there is, of course, a poster for the film “Sult” (”Hunger” in English) in the cafe, one of SW’s favorite films, based on one of his favorite books, by Knut Hamsun. So there. ) Anyway, hunger be damned, we gorged ourselves and then feasted on the rarely screened Jodorowsky mindbender “El Topo.”

Next stop was a screening in the city of Aarhus, three hours away by train, in the sweetest cinema on the Earth, Ost for Paradis.

Camera battery died or I would have taken a few snaps of this historic building, a real gem of an arthouse - a real dying breed, run by an amazing man who has seen many generations of moviegoers come and go. He told us that Laurel and Hardy actually performed there on the last night of their European Tour many moons ago - and that Hardy got so drunk after the show he needed to be rolled back to his hotel in a wheelbarrow. As did we - what a tour…and it’s just kicking off…looking forward to HotDocs and the UK release. The UK press is starting to roll in, starting with a four star review in Empire.

Thanks to everyone who came to check the film out in Austin - we all had a great time at SXSW, and I think we definitely converted a good deal more Scott fans. Let the obsession begin!

The only drawback to having a film in a film festival is that you rarely have time to see other films.  Luckily I was able to catch the luminous and moving “Kurt Cobain: About a Son” by AJ Schnack as well as a new print of Bruce Weber’s classic portrait of Chet Baker, “Let’s Get Lost” which was the film that gave me the idea to do a film about Scott Walker in the first place.
Completely wrecked after 24 hours of planes/trains/taxicabs trying to get home despite the storms - off to Thessaloníki in about five hours. SXSW press rolling in - check in the News & Reviews for a few new bits: review in Salon.com, Austin Chronicle and American-Statesman, and buzz on various blogs. And of course, a few more tequila-induced photos of the Texas-sized fun we had…
And it is official - we have been selected for the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. (full line-up here)

Finally get to bring it on home!

good people; please cast your eyes to the friends section to the right and click on ‘cathal coughlan’ and explore the world of this extraordinary musician.  Have just come from his extraordinary gig at Bush Hall where we were slathered in oldies and newies (from his new album Foburg) and left panting for more.  The tatty splendour of  Bush Hall could barely contain the inferno that is CC. Magnificent.  (He features far too briefly in our humble film, but he will return ten-fold on the DVD.)

So the USA must endure another Driftless week…all good things come to…haste makes…patience is a…

and so on.

in the meantime…the raves continue to roll in…check updated album press including a review from eMusic, the first I believe to categorize the album as ‘punk’ - I’ve always thought he was far more punk than most of what dresses up as punk these days.
and in the meantime…the edit of the film continues apace.  Grant Gee and I are huddled in Brighton hacking away, our man Jerry Chater working in tandem in the wilds of Battersea…a particularly moving moment emerged just recently…Ute Lemper listening to “Lullaby (By-by-by)”, which Scott wrote for her album “Punishing Kiss”.  She hadn’t head it in 5 years.  She is genuinely taken by surprise, and stops, utters a barely audible “wow” as the song soars…

Good on-camera chat w Mr. Sefton: Meltdown, Ute, Scope J, etc. Early wrap due to a certain, er…cancellation/postponement…

So - official end of production still in sight: Tuesday?

Have been living with The Drift for a few weeks now - feeling like one of the first human explorers to make it to Mars. The album itself should be nominated for Best Foreign Film - it defies “album” - it is more like a continent. Will take five documentaries to work through it.

Very drifted.� More than time is out of joint - BUT:

Nearing the official end of production.

Two interviews to go.� The first digital splices have been made…

London, February, 2006. Escaped the snow DRIFTS in NYC - into another sort of whiteout…

“We are entering into silence, the most noisy, chaotic silence.” (more…)

Radiohead interview in the can. Johnny Marr in the can. Sitting across from Jonny, Colin and Ed I didn’t realize I was nervous until we were rolling for about five minutes. “So what do you want to ask us?”
Trying not to conduct the typical interview I travel with stacks of Scott LPs and singles. I want the experience to be tactile, and they get right into it, never having seen Scott’s albums on vinyl, the gatefold sleeves, the notes, the lyrics. They’ve never heard the “Nite Flights” tracks so we start there. Amazing to see these guys grooving on an old Scott track for the first time.

Johnny Marr a few weeks later at the Night and Day Cafe & Bar in Manchester. Waiting for the word from Scott’s camp that we’re cleared to shoot I spend afternoons at my friend’s flat in London flipping through magazines - in the Smiths special edition of Q that I read cover-to-cover there’s a bit about “Strangeways”; “I wanted a real Scott Walker vibe on this one.” Johnny is quoted as saying. I call Tanya, my Dublin-based music supervisor. ” Get me Johnny Marr!” he wasn’t on our original hit list for some inexplicable reason, but can’t imagine the project without his input now, so incredibly thoughtful and deeply into the music. We listen to “The Seventh Seal” and he picks apart the arrangement instrument by instrument - it’s one of his all-time favorite songs. We tell him we were not allowed to shoot a recent session Scott did with a guitar player because Scott had invented some new impossible-to-play chords and it was a very intense session.”They shoulda’ called me!” he says. Can you imagine?

Friday, Dec. 10.� We’re nearly out of funds. I’ve been here since October. We got some good stuff but it’s not enough. All at once, we finally get word that Allison Goldfrapp is available as is Simon Raymonde and Rob Ellis - all on the same day. So we’ve arranged to have them all driven over to the flat in Bermondsey to shoot all three interviews. No matter that the #1 bus rumbles by the front window every ten minutes - we need to cut a solid promo before I go home for the holidays and really need more material to work with. The car that’s sent to pick up Simon goes to the wrong neighborhood entirely so we’re already an hour behind, but once we get the Scott spinning, it’s all good. Simon (former Cocteau Twin and son of Walker Brother’s arranger Ivor Raymonde) is moved to tears by “Two Ragged Soldiers”, Rob (experimantal/electronic composer and PJ Harvey’s percussionist/producer/collaborator) wants to listen to “Patriot” from TILT (the first Scott Walker album he had ever heard). About halfway through Allison’s interview she asks (with a roll of her eyes) “So, you’ve been listening to Scott Walker songs ALL DAY�” I top off her pinot gris and off we go.

Now we’ve got about four days to log it all and cut the promo.

“…a year or so ago, when I met with David Bates, Former A&R man and founder of DB records, (who was responsible for releasing TILT in the UK while at Fontana) he said a film about Scott should be like a cross between The Blair Witch Project and Waiting for Godot.� I laughed then but now, it makes pitch perfect sense.� Filmmakers lost in the wilderness, terrified by, yet drawn to, the strange percussive sounds and yelps in the darkness…could this be the sound of the new Scott Walker album?� Will we live to tell?� As of today, October 10, 2004, we are still waiting.”

welcome to the making of…the theory behind…the thoughts about…this film we are to call…
‘30 Century Man: the music of Scott Walker’.

in the days/weeks/months to come:

news of our progress
excerpted interviews
filmmaker’s diary
who’s who
what’s what

many pieces/never easy