Yesterday I had to go to urgent care for post covid. I thought I had a sinus infection post covid and Paxlovid. Three hours I'll never get back. But chest xray was good, it's just post covid healing period now. Uncomfortable, no fun, but dealing with it.
While I was waiting I listened to Marc's podcast with one of my favorite actors, Malcolm McDowell.
Episode 1530 - Malcolm McDowell WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
If you like Malcolm you have to hear this one. Asked how he got the show he's on now, Son of a Critch, based in Newfoundland, he said someone saw him in a show, "Truth Seekers" and they got ahold of him. I've been watching this show from the beginning and apparently it is the biggest comedy show CBC has in Canada now.
There is also a ""Caligula recut coming out in August. I saw that film when I worked at Tower Video and it came out on VHS & Beta. I had to rent (from us) a Beta machine to watch it back then. No one I knew had a home video machine. I was staying at my parent's house. This was after the USAF and college as I was transitioning back into the workforce.
A friend of mine and I brought it over and we started watching the film, then realized how bizarre it was. Not knowing that the famous actors in it had thought they were in a real drama, but it was produced by Bob Guccione of Penthouse. We hit one of those scenes in the film and stopped the film and decided we had to go buy some weed before finishing this film.
So we headed out, leaving the machine attached to my parent's living room TV. We returned in about an hour, walking in and seeing my mon sitting on the couch and the film running. I panicked. My very Catholic mom was watching THAT film? I looked at my friend and we both grinned.. Mom seemed mesmerized, as if she didn't even notice us come in.
She saw the looks on our faces, looked at the TV, hit pause, and they panic swept her face. She got very upset and stood up and started complaining about how filthy the film was. We tried to explain but she hurried upstairs to her bedroom where she spent most of her time, reading or watching tv, or whatever.
My friend and I were both stunned. We sat down looking at the paused scene, a rather racy one and felt horrible. We talked about it and then my friend said, "But...she was watching it." I said, "But how much?" I picked up the control and hit reverse. We had to back up quite a ways to get to where we had stopped the film and realized she had watched quite a bit and many questionable scenes.
At that point we (quietly) broke up with laughter. Stoned as we already were, we continued to film to completion, quite shocked by the end that those actors were even in it. Malcolm McDowell...well, maybe. But Helen Mirren? John Gieldud? How?
This was maybe 1984 or so. It wasn't until this podcast I found out how. Malcom told Marc they had been hired to do that film and he knew the director. When he questioned the money behind the film he was told it was the Penthouse publisher but the director had said, "Who cares?"
It wasn't until the film was completed, their roles all finished and "in the can" that Guccione added the pornographic scenes, unbeknownst to the actors. Actors who had signed a contract and could do nothing about it. Although, Gore Vidal, who had written the (in Malcom's words, horrible) screenplay, had them take his name off the film. Malcom said he had a screenwriter help him rewrite it and it wasn't a bad film, except for the Guccione editing where for instance, 40 minutes of Helen Mirren's acting had been removed and porno replacing it, leaving her only 15 minutes of screen time.
Apparently more recently some guy had purchased a storage unit and found a complete print of the entire film and has re-edited it and in August of 2024 a new version is coming out which is the original film and according to McDowell, a very good film now. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Regarding "A Clockwork Orange" Malcom has some interesting stories about Kubrick. He said at some point Kubrick had asked him what he wanted to wear in the film as they were walking out to Malcom's car at Kubrick's place. Which surprised him. He asked, "What do I want to wear?" Kubrick said, "Yes. What do you have?" And they looked in his car where his cricket gear was. And so Malcolm ended up wearing some of that as his costume in the film.
About his "Singing in the Rain" dance in the film, that was apparently ad-libbed during their designing the scene and Kubrick liked it so much, he immediately purchased the rights to using the song in the film. Something Gene Kelly was not happy about it after the film's release.
Marc asked Malcolm if he ever thought about doing a "Son of a Critch" TV show reprise Alex from "A Clockwork Orange" as the grandpa version on the show. Malcolm loved the idea and said he was going to pitch it and that they just had to do it. That, would be awesome.
They discussed the film "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" which Marc recently hosted a showing of at a theater. I need to re-watch that film.
Malcom's favorite movie: "Fargo"
So let me get this straight... Trump is calling his own criminal trial the "Biden trial" because what? Biden was president when Trump committed HIS crimes when HE was president? What? Unbelievable this guy...
And with that... I wish you all great success and health! Until next time!
Cheers! Sláinte!
Cheers! Sláinte!
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