Our first ever digital edition of the duly renamed Mark Kermode Online in 3D was just as packed as our usual live shows. Joining Mark from across the globe, our seven guests brought the same animated brilliance to their video interviews as can be counted upon in an evening at the BFI Southbank.
Gugu M’batha Raw joined Mark first, talking about her starring role in the recently digitally released Misbehaviour. All the way from LA, she talked about the many-sided story of the 1970 Miss World protest told by the film, and its relevance to today. Plus, she and Mark revisit her breakthrough role in Amma Assante’s Belle.
Bringing the “party on the top, comfort on the bottom” with his tuxedo and PJs videocall combo, Jack Howard joined Mark next. They talked lockdown life, isolation film clubs, and in a truly shocking admission Jack revealed that he’d never seen The Exorcist. Frankly, we’re surprised Mark didn’t just hang up.
Sharing his film club choices too was comedy legend and ‘Smartest Man In The World’ Greg Proops. Another of our guests calling from California, he also gave us a peak at the surprising result of a garage clear-out – his lockdown ‘shrine’.
Show day marked the digital release of Calm With Horses, Nick Rowland’s gritty drama set amongst small-town crime in rural Ireland. Patching in its stars Niahm Algar and Cosmo Jarvis, Mark got the inside perspective on the development process behind their characters Ursula and Arm ̶ with the help of crisps and cans by the canal. That’s a method approach we could get behind…
Translating our regular ‘Here’s The Thing’ feature into the lexicon of lockdown, Mark interviewed brand new BFI CEO Ben Roberts, who’s had to incorporate a global pandemic into his handover. He shared details of the BFI’s Britain In Lockdown video preservation project, and offered his reassurances about the future of cinema beyond.
Meera Syal joined Mark for ‘The Film That Changed My Life’, choosing Douglas Sirk’s Immitation Of Life for itscompassionate approach to identity and belonging. Treating us to her ‘Guilty Pleasure’ too, she revisited the guiltlessly wonderful When Harry Met Sally.
The show stuck to its trademark ‘Sound & Vision’ finale, playing out to Frances Ha’s joyous invocation of Bowie’s ‘Modern Love’. We wish we could all skip down the Southbank again, but until then you can join us online for the next digital MK3D. For extended versions of tonight’s interviews, check out the Kermode On Film podcast on all platforms, or on Twitter and Instagram @kermodeonfilm.
