Michael Winterbottom

Is he a little bit like this?

Michael Winterbottom? Yeah.

Not really, no.

There would be a sex scene in this film.

Yeah, complexity can be hard to digest, but it's also what makes the film resonate with those who appreciate the nuances of the music industry.

I totally agree, and there's something about the way Michael Winterbottom directs it that feels very raw and authentic.

It pulls you right in.

For sure, it feels almost documentary-like at times, but do you think that takes away from the cinematic experience?

I think with the film industry as well, that, you know, it's, it is, um, there was a very sort of, it was almost a pressing book, a collection of articles or writings from different filmmakers in the UK.

I think it was particular about Michael Winterbottom about five years ago, but it was about working in the UK film industry.

And it was always people saying it was incredible careers, incredible award-winning films, but that I, you know, by the day you're making, very little money each year.

So it's not, you can't be about money.

So, so tell me some of the, you know, touchstones for you.

Well-

...

... who thought of that idea?

Michael Winterbottom.

He's the director and he, he writes the whole story and, you know, a, a fair bit of the, the dialogue as well.

And then-

But before that, they had originally had...

Someone's quite acclaimed in British cinema, and that's Michael Winterbottom, who I know as someone that's often worked with Steve Coogan, who is famous for the character Alan Partridge.

I think he directed something called 24-Hour Party People about... 80s music and the hacienda and the factory and factory records where steve coogan starred as um anthony or tony wilson as some people call him um tony wilson's bit of a personal hero of mine and that's worth checking out if you like 80s uh british history or 80s music british music particularly so like uh it's joy division and new order that that sort of era um um he was going to go for this is michael whittle michael winterbottom he was going to go for a sort of gritty and very realistic tone i guess that's quite typical of of british movies the old kitchen sink type aesthetic um he so winterbottom actually shot it's quite a Winterbottom actually shot two whole nights of real footage of football at a Darlington FC match.

They might have been lower league or a few leagues down from Premier League at this point.

And Michael Winterbottom's plan was to film a real reserve game and then digitally superimpose St James' Park, the Newcastle Stadium, around it.

There was panic amongst the producers as they felt the footage looked too much like a bleak TV documentary.

They wanted a glossy commercial Hollywood feel to appeal to a global audience and satisfy, as you've kind of touched on, Mike, the fact that Adidas appears throughout is that they were a

Yeah.

Yeah, it was incredible.

The following summer, uh, Margo, uh, was approached by Michael Winterbottom, who was a lovely young film, British, uh, British filmmaker, and he was making a film in Donegal with schoolchildren.

And he, well, you know, young kids playing schoolchildren.

And he got in touch with Margo to say, "I know you've made this wonderful film, and do you know any young people that I could use?" And a lot of the Derry girls, um, had gone on to different things at the time, I think.

What's the opposite of zeitgeist? that's what it was yeah because it was coming it was a movie about uh a um veteran yeah that was tortured by uh memories and it was coming out uh three weeks before we were to invade iraq the first time and it was not on the uh cultural short list shall we say yeah and uh it was it couldn't have succeeded considering that and so um again time is my best friend and it it it if something if you do something that's good people will find it eventually there's three movies i love that very few people saw and the three movies i chose to do after i won my oscar And they are Catch a Fire with Philip Noyce, Secret Life of Words directed by Isabel Cosette with Sarah Polley and Julie Christie.

And the third one is Code 46 directed by Michael Winterbottom with Samantha Morton.

She was

just here, by the way, Samantha.

That's really exciting.

Also, I've just seen there's a special presentation of The Trip to the Northern Lights, which is Michael Winterbottom back directing Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in another edition of The Trip.

That's where they just go have dinners and do impressions of Michael Caine to each other.

The trip sort of like got a bit shit by the end, right? I think they did three seasons or two seasons in a special or something.