Interview

Serj Tankian interview: full transcript

System of a Down vocalist talks to The List

20 Aug 2008

System of a Down were a singular prospect in metal, intelligent, intricate and utterly unique. Now vocalist Serj Tankian has released his first solo album, Elect the Dead, as you'd expect it's as distinctive as his former band. Classical pianos morph…

Splinter - Toby Wilkins interview

18 Mar 2009

Toby Wilkins cut his teeth in graphic design and visual effects (his work can be seen in everything from Cats & Dogs and Scooby Doo 2 to Red Dragon and Rush Hour 2) moving on to directing shorts, such as the award winning Kidney Thieves as well as a…

Interview - Céline Sciamma

13 Mar 2008

‘I wrote the screenplay for Water Lilies while I was studying screenwriting at La Femis film school in Paris, and the director Xavier Beauvois, who was on the graduation committee, told me I had to make the film myself. My starting point was that I…

Interview: John Irving

Exploring the tragedy and death of the American author's work

15 Oct 2009

In the closing chapter of John Irving’s epic new novel, Last Night in Twisted River, a character struggles to find the opening line for his latest book. He agonises over it for a morning, then puts it to one side – and 24 hours later hits pay…

Andrew Dominik - Contrary cowboy

29 Nov 2007

It’s taken New Zealand-born, Australia-bred filmmaker Andrew Dominik (pictured) seven years to make the follow-up to his much-praised debut, Chopper. Like that film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a wildly unconventional…

EIFF 2009 - Mark Kermode

11 Jun 2009

What are your thoughts on the EIFF? My line has always been that Edinburgh is like Cannes only civilised. Cannes is horrible, genuinely horrible. It’s completely the wrong culture to watch films; it’s a hideous broiling Riviera full of incredibly rich…

First word: Jim Kerr

14 May 2009

First record you ever bought David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Last time you were chatted up This morning! First film you saw that really moved you Bambi. Last lie you told It’s been a while … honest! First movie…

Interview - Mark Hartley

5 Mar 2009

‘To me they were just like American exploitation films, but they had Australian locations and Australian actors. So I felt a connection to them. After seeing them I wanted to read about them, but I realised they hadn’t been written about at all. ‘In…

Visionless Express - Fernando Meirelles director of Blindness

13 Nov 2008

‘What’s the most challenging thing about making a film about blindness?’ asks Fernando Meirelles, the relentlessly upbeat director of relentlessly downbeat mood-blackeners City of God and The Constant Gardner. ‘Trying to establish relationships between…

Interview - Elph

10 Apr 2008

Rosie Lesso You have an established reputation as a graffiti artist, so how do you feel about exhibiting with Recoat Gallery? Elph Over the last few years I’ve done quite a few exhibitions in small galleries, so I felt fine about showing the work in…

Interview - David Sillars

27 Mar 2008

Alexander Kennedy Can you tell us briefly about your new work? David Sillars Well it’s an evolving show; the pictures and the installation will be changing. Most of the pieces just now are about that continuing enquiry into our experience of…

Interview - Robert Orchardson

28 Feb 2008

David Pollock What form does your work take? Robert Orchardson Effectively, it’s sculpture, it’s three-dimensional work. But it also sits between sculpture and the references which play out within each piece. Certainly for this exhibition the works…

Jason Schwartzman - The Darjeeling Limited

15 Nov 2007

‘I felt like we were kids making a movie,’ says Jason Schwartzman. ‘Every day we set out to work was an adventure. We never knew what was going to happen.’ The 27-year-old American actor might well be reminiscing about his big screen debut in 1998 in…

Kele on Missy Elliott, Raymond Carver and criticism of his guitar-playing

Interview: Kele Okereke from Bloc Party

3 Nov 2010

First record you ever bought? Elastica: Elastica. First film you saw that really moved you? The Sound of Music. Last lie you told? I told a journalist that Bloc Party split up because I wanted to work with the guy that produced AQUA’s…

Harder, better, faster, stronger - Iain M. Banks interview

The Fife-born author on Led Zeppelin, bacon rolls

5 Aug 2010

The Fife-born author of 24 sci-fi books and mainstream novels talks to The List about Led Zeppelin, bacon rolls and his continual surprise at being even slightly famous First record you ever bought There were three, the day after I persuaded my…

Kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley at this year's Fringe

The Glasgow comedy queen Jane Godley answer 5 questions

30 Jul 2010

Glasgow comedy queen Janey Godley has pushed all her blue material aside to team up with daughter Ashley Storrie for their kids show Tall Storrie & Wee Godley. She tells us why we should go along. Give five reasons why people should come and see…

Colin Hoult's follow up to 2009's Carnival of Monsters

From monsters to villains in one fell swoop

29 Jul 2010

‘What we have is a cabaret from hell, of lost souls; they’re all there for wicked crimes they’ve done in real life.’ No, it’s not Nick Clegg describing a Cabinet meeting, this is Colin Hoult (formerly of Colin and Fergus) chatting about his follow-up to…

Interview: Wes Craven

As The Last House on the Left remake hits DVD, we talk to the legendary horror director

16 Oct 2009

The Last House on the Left was your first movie, shot in Super 6 and with a very low budget in 1972. How have you changed since then? I would like to think that I have acquired some wisdom along the way … How did the idea of making a remake come…

Sean Hughes: Giving up and giving in

The comic talks adverts, anti-depressants and acting your age

13 Aug 2009

When former Perrier winner Sean Hughes was last in town he lit up The Gilded Balloon, in the right way, allowing the audience to forget a torrential downpour outside. The only damp squib of the evening inside was the enforced sing-a-long to a Waterboys…

EIFF 2009 - Wide Open Spaces

11 Jun 2009

Wide Open Spaces was a co-production between the UK and Ireland. I raised the money from the UK end. Co-productions are becoming much more important for any producer, really just in order to raise enough money to make films. Normally it’s difficult to…

First word - Shazia Mirza

11 Jun 2009

First record you ever bought? Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. I thought he was really hot but then I was 14 and I’d never seen a man before. I still play it from time to time; it reminds me of school, having a Lady Di hairstyle, and thinking…

Interview: Repo's Darren Lynn Bousman and Terrance Zdunich

18 Mar 2009

Repo: The Genetic Opera is a truly unique film mixing rock opera with lashings of gore and dark sci-fi. Set in a world where transplanted organs are repossessed if you fail to meet your payments. Director Darren Lynn Bousman (who also directed Saw II…

Interview - Mark Strong

5 Mar 2009

‘You cannot play an “evil” character without finding the humanity in them. That’s what I find very interesting. You’re not asking for sympathy, but you’re not just painting a one-dimensional character,’ says Mark Strong. Having played his fair share of…

Glasgow Film Festival: Richard Jobson and Jim Hickey interview

5 Feb 2009

Film directors Richard Jobson and Jim Hickey both have low-budget genre films appearing as part of Glasgow Film Festival’s Great Scots strand. Jobson’s New Town Killers sees Dougray Scott’s hedge fund manager hunting a teenage boy in a white-knuckle…

Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Arta Dobroshi

8 Jan 2009

So what’s their secret? In film after film Belgian filmmakers the Dardenne brothers have cast unknown actors and elicited powerfully naturalistic performances from them: think of Jérémie Renier in La Promesse, Emilie Dequenne in Rosetta, Morgan Marinne…