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.

This month’s MK3D was an especially lively evening to mark a very special occasion: our 50^th show. A ‘Sound & Vision’ extravaganza, the night celebrated those golden moments when music and film intersect to create goosebumpy cinematic perfection  ̶  and we were thrilled to share it with some exceptional guests dear to us at MK3D.

First up, Mark’s partners in skiffle The Dodge Brothers – tonight consisting of guitarists Mike Hammond and Aly Hirji, with Neil Brand on the keys  ̶  joined him onstage. Bringing back the magic of the pre-talkie era for a few moments, they performed a live improvised score to the 1930 silent film City Girl. Neil stuck around onstage to revel with Mark in his favourite musical screen moments, from the sweeping orchestral notes of Murder On The Orient Express to the spine-tingling synths of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

Director Amma Assante joined Mark next to discuss her upcoming project Mrs America, a 1970s-set drama about the backlash against the American Equal Rights Amendment. Like Neil, she shares her favourite movie music moment – an altogether more comic choice.

A Bond-themed number was the favourite of composer David Arnold, who also took to the piano to perform his own captivating piece inspired by the nation’s favourite secret agent. Sanjeev Bhaskar showed his range with picks from Hollywood and Bollywood alike, and final guest Jason Isaacs was his usual sweary self with a scene from The Godfather and a gangster anecdote to match.

A raucous rockabilly playout of Rocket In My Pocket saw the night end on a high note, with the whole gang – and producer Hedda – jumping onstage to join in. Here’s to the next 50!

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Rounding off the show’s fourth year, the final MK3D of 2019 featured great guests and some festive treats. Thank you to our special supporters, Kodak.

Mark welcomed the audience and began the show with a Q&A, which saw the audience quiz Mark on various topics, including Spielberg’s upcoming West Side Story remake.

Our first guest was the terrific Taron Egerton, star of Rocketman, for which he received rave reviews and nominations for an array of awards, including a Golden Globe.  Taron talked about his performance in the Elton John biopic directed by Dexter Fletcher (who came on the show last month). Mark and Taron talked about how the film came about, and the preparation involved in taking on the role. They also talked about Eddie the Eagle, Kingsman, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and discussed how monumental Rocketman has been, and how it will influence the choices Taron makes going forward.

Up next in Here’s The Thing Mark discussed the impending release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, taking the opportunity to reiterate how brilliant The Last Jedi was, despite the nasty criticism it received both during and after its release. Mark also paid tribute to Danny Aiello, star of Do The Right Thing and Moonstruck, who sadly passed away earlier in the month.

Next up, actress Emily Beecham came on to talk about her new film, Little Joe, for which she won the Best Actress prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Jessica Hausner, the film opens in February and sees Emily play a single mother who works in plant breeding facility. Emily talked about her Cannes win and the extraordinary experience of making the film. Mark also talked to Emily about her role in Hail, Caesar! alongside Ralph Fiennes and Alden Ehrenreich, and asked about Emily’s upcoming films, including Cruella which stars Emma Stone and Emma Thompson and is a live-action origin tale of Cruella de Vil.

To get in the festive spirit, and inspired by the recent success of Knives Out, Mark played a Christmas parlour game with the audience in which various pictorial clues came up on-screen and the audience could guess which whodunnit film they related to!

In last month’s show, Mark exclusively revealed that the BFI are hosting a screening of Mark Jenkin’s Bait in January featuring a live-score by award-winning Cornish-Welsh musician Gwenno Saunders. Gwenno joined Mark on-stage to talk about writing the score, and her relationship with Cornish music. Gwenno treated the audience to a performance of her song Tir Ha Mor (land and sea) which features on her album Le Kov, which is sung entirely in Cornish. Gwenno returned to the stage and taught the audience her infamous, vegan friendly Cornish cheese chant, Eus Keus?

Continuing with the musical theme, Mark talked about his upcoming ‘A Hollywood Christmas’ concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and treated the audience to an exclusive preview of his rendition of Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town on the double bass.

This month’s List-O-Mania was a festive extravaganza which saw Mark give his Top Twelve Christmas musical moments from the movies. The list included choices from lesser-seen Christmas films including Tangerine and Black Nativity, as well as songs from The Snowman, It’s A Wonderful Life, Love, Actually and Meet Me in St. Louis.

Mark ended the show in style with an audience singalong of Blue Christmas, accompanied by Mark on the piano.

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This month’s MK3D was so jam-packed that it made our 46th edition the longest running show (so far). All of tonight’s guests have been involved in projects that were shot on Kodak, who are our special supporters!

We began with Here’s The Thing in which Mark exclusively revealed an upcoming screening of Mark Jenkin’s Bait at BFI Southbank, accompanied by a live score from award-winning musician, Gwenno Saunders. Mark also paid tribute to the great actor and producer, Robert Evans, who passed away last month. In cinemas now and on Netflix from Friday (29th November), Mark flagged-up Jérémy Clapin’s brilliant animation, I Lost My Body. Mark also mentioned John Pilger’s new documentary, The Dirty War on the NHS, and reminded that it is the final few days in which you can register to vote! Finally, Mark flagged up his upcoming show at the Royal Albert Hall, ‘A Hollywood Christmas’. This will see Mark and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra perform an array of festive film scores, from the likes of Elf, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Love, Actually.

For Coming Attractions, our first guest was the sublime Lesley Manville, who talked about her new film, Ordinary Love, in which she co-stars with Liam Neeson. Directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, whose previous work includes Good Vibrations, Ordinary Love charts a middle-aged couple and their journey as Lesley’s character is diagnosed with breast cancer. Mark and Lesley also talked about working with Mike Leigh, and her award-winning performance in Another Year. Mark asked Lesley about her experience of working with Paul Thomas Anderson on her academy-award nominated role in Phantom Thread. Mark ended the interview by urging people to see Ordinary Love, and mentioned Lesley’s upcoming role in The Visit, which opens at the National Theatre early next year.

Next up, the incomparable Edgar Wright took on one of the show’s most well-loved features, Guilty Pleasures. Mark touched on the multitude of brilliant films that Edgar has directed, including Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim v. the World, and Baby Driver. Edgar is currently working on not one, but two, films: a psychological-horror set in central London starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, called Last Night in Soho, and a documentary about the band, Sparks. Mark revealed we had asked Edgar to choose a film for The Film That Changed My Life, but Edgar sent through six choices (An American Werewolf in London, Raising Arizona, Carrie, The Driver, Evil Dead II, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly). Instead, Mark focused on Edgar’s guilty pleasure, Michael Winner’s The Sentinel. Edgar adeptly spoke of his complicated love for the film, the trailer of which inspired his own Don’t trailer. Edgar even read aloud from Michael Winner’s autobiography, to share an excruciating anecdote from it.

Mark turned to the audience next for Ask the Audience, and answered questions about which films he is most and least looking forward to seeing in 2020, about Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, and the recent controversy over Vue’s decision to pull Blue Story.

The brilliant guests just kept on coming, and Maxine Peake was next for The Film That Changed My Life. Mark asked Maxine about her plethora of work, including her latest film Fanny Lye Deliver’d, which premiered at this year’s BFI London Film Festival. Maxine also spoke of her work in The Falling, Gwen, and Funny Cow. She also touched on Lesley Manville’s earlier comments about working with Mike Leigh, and the great experience she had on Peterloo. Mark then turned to Maxine’s choice: John Cassavetes’s Gloria. Expressing her admiration for the great Gena Rowlands, Maxine talked about the kinds of roles on offer for mature actresses.

Our final guest of the night was Dexter Fletcher, actor and director of Caravaggio, Wild Bill, Sunshine on Leith, and Rocketman. Mark congratulated Dexter on the great Rocketman. They talked about Dexter’s early work as an actor, including his role in David Lynch’s The Elephant Man. Mark brought the focus to Dexter’s role in Fernando Trueba’s The Dream of the Mad Monkey – and Dexter raved about the film that changed his world-view, professionally: Emir Kusturica’s Black Cat, White Cat.

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Mark opened the show and welcomed the audience with his usual Q&A, in which he offered his thoughts on an array of topics, including remake culture, Scorsese vs. Marvel, and Joker. He also talked about the films he saw at this year’s BFI London Film Festival, including Knives Out, for which Mark hosted a screen talk with writer-director, Rian Johnson.

Mark was thrilled to introduce Kodak as our very first special supporter, referencing the brilliant work that Kodak do. Mentioning the great success of Mark Jenkin’s Bait, which was shot on Kodak stock, Mark revealed how Jenkin’s film has become the highest grossing Cornish film ever and explained the importance of shooting on film.

Believe it or not, it has been 21 years since Mark and Nick first worked together on The Fear of God, a documentary about William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, and to celebrate this anniversary, the extended ‘festival cut’ has been added to BBC iPlayer and is available to watch now.

Referring to Ang Lee’s Gemini Man and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, Mark offered his views on ‘youthification’, the new trend which digitally de-ages actors by using footage of said actors from when they were younger. Most notably, Robert De Niro and Will Smith have recently been ‘youthified’.

Our first guest was director, Wash Westmoreland, who was President of the Official Competition Jury at this year’s BFI London Film Festival. Mark and Wash spoke of this year’s competition winner, which included Monos, which won the Best Film Award (decided by Wash’s jury). Other winners at this year’s festival included Mati Diop’s Atlantics and Rubika Shah’s White Riot, which won the First Feature and Documentary competitions respectively. Wash talked about his new film, Earthquake Bird, which stars Alicia Vikander and arrives on Netflix in November. Mark also asked Wash about his previous work, including Colette and Still Alice (for which Julianne Moore won her Best Actress Oscar). Mark extolled the virtues of Wash’s early films,Quinceañera, and Wash promised to come back to the BFI and introduce a screening of the film, alongside Mark.

Up next, Mark welcomed director Tom Harper, whose new film The Aeronauts, is out in early November. Reuniting Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne, the film charts the journey of a headstrong scientist and wealthy young widow who carry out a balloon expedition in an attempt to fly higher than anyone in history. Mark also congratulated Tom on the great success of Wild Rose, which has recently won 3 Scottish BAFTAs, including Best Actress and Best Writer for Jessie Buckley and Nicole Taylor, both of whom came on the show earlier in the year.

Inspired by Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, a sequel to Stephen King’s novel The Shining, this month’s List-O-Mania saw Mark give his top 10 useless and unnecessary prequels and sequels, ranging from Men in Black II to John Boorman’s 1977 follow-up to Mark’s favourite film…Exorcist II: The Heretic.

Our final guest was the wonderful Joanna Hogg, who spoke about the success of her recent film, The Souvenir, starring Honor Swinton Byrne and Tom Burke. Joanna also talked about the film’s sequel, The Souvenir: Part II, which she is currently editing. They about her previous work, including Archipelago and Exhibition, before talking about Joanna’s passion for musicals. Inspired by the BFI’s Musicals season, which is currently on, Joanna talked about the great Bob Fosse, and his films Sweet Charity and All That Jazz in particular. Joanna revealed she would love to make a musical in the future, so watch this space…

Mark paid tribute to the glorious Make ‘Em Laugh sequence from Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s classic Singin’ in the Rain, recently re-released in cinemas across the UK as part of the BFI Musicals season.

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