This month was our 73rd MK3D at the BFI Southbank and featured yet more wonderful guests and discussions about film.
The show opened with GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY director Rian Johnson and stars Kathryn Hahn and Kate Hudson, who shared their experiences working on the film and the community atmosphere as they shot during the pandemic. The three mentioned their highlights of filming #GlassOnion as well as their favourite detective movies. Rian revealed a love of THE LAST OF SHEILA which was the inspiration for his own whodunnits.
In Here’s The Thing Mark paid tribute to the passing of talented actress Angela Ladbury, who also had a cameo in #GlassOnion. Mark went on to highlight Black History Month and celebrate the new release of THE WOMAN KING which stars Viola Davis, whose performance will no doubt see her nominated for best actress this year. Mark then made a strong case for the audience to take action to save the Edinburgh Filmhouse, Aberdeen Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), which went into administration earlier this month. The EIFF was the oldest continuously running film festival, and it and both cinemas were key to the creative landscape in the UK and worldwide. This is devastating news for the industry – you too can sign the petition to save them, here: https://chng.it/tKHxf9MNtS
Our second guest was director Eddie Sternberg, who spoke about his feature I USED TO BE FAMOUS; a feel-good British Netflix film about the friendship of a washed-up pop star (Ed Skrein) and a musically gifted neurodivergent young man (Leo Long). Eddie speaks about his casting choices, representation, and inspirations behind the film, which was followed by a discussion of his love for horror, and in particular IT FOLLOWS.
During Ask the Audience, Mark received questions about his favourite director-actor duo; his answer mentioned the collaborative works of Cornish based filmmaker Mark Jenkin and Mary Woodvine, and the somewhat explosive pairing of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Mark also offered advice to aspiring film critics.
Next, Mark interviewed BFI film programmers Anna Bogutskaya and Michael Blyth about the upcoming horror season IN DREAMS ARE MONSTERS – the trailer for which is enough to scare you alone. Anna and Michael talked about their selection process for the films being shown, and mentioned their favourites, THE LURE and SOCIETY. If you’re a horror fan, this season is for you. It runs from October-December across the UK so you have no excuse to miss it!
Lastly, Mark welcomed Professor Sir Christopher Frayling to the stage to chat about his new book VAMPIRE CINEMA: THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED YEARS, which comes out later this month. Christopher also spoke about his love for NOSFERATU, and introduced the audience to the strangely comedic and largely unknown Universal short BOO!
When asked his opinion on vampire classic TWILIGHT, Christopher expressed his disdain for the ‘approved by parents’ vampires in the films – an opinion Mark couldn’t help to disagree with.
Mark closed the show with a Sound & Vision segment celebrating the “maybe-horror” film BEETLEJUICE.
