11:06am Thursday 25th February 2010
By Katherine MacAlister
As a lifelong movie buff, reviewer Mark Kermode can still scarcely believe he gets to watch films for a living, writes Katherine MacAlister.
Mark Kermode must wake up every morning and pat himself on the back.
“What have I got to do today. Oh I know, watch a film and then tell everyone about it.” But then that’s what he’s been doing every day since he was a child, only these days he’s being paid for it. And, as a nation, we value his opinion. Tune into Radio 5, BBC2’s The Culture Show, Newsnight and endless film-related TV shows and you’ll find him - in fact it’s hard to avoid what Mark Kermode thinks of any up-and-coming film.
But whatever you do, there are certain subjects you must avoid. The Exorcist is one – Mark is a self-confessed Exorcist nerd, and has even travelled to Washington DC to view the house where it was filmed. And guess where he went on his honeymoon? Yup, DC again for a head-swivelling send-off, but at least his wife got a taste of what was to come.
Actually she’s a cinema buff too, a professor of film indeed, so a match made in heaven then?
“We met at university actually,” Mark says, “and as I was a humourless student I had to be very persistent.”
It’s hardly the plot of The Notebook is it? “Well it was love at first sight, so what was I going to do, give up? I just persisted until I wore her down,” he laughs. “Persistence is my greatest strength.”
The couple now live, with their two children, in Hampshire and Mark commutes to London three days a week ... to watch films. “I do most of my writing, including my book, on the train.”
That book, It’s Only A Movie, sees Mark discuss “the director’s cut of his own life”, admitting that he’s now watched so many films even his childhood memories have merged with those of his favourite films.
Which is one of the themes he’ll be discussing at the Oxford Playhouse on Monday night. So why the talk? “Well, it’s meant to be funny,” he says, “and people seem to be finding it funny, because it’s going very well and we have pretty much sold out in most places. I do half an hour of anecdotes, half an hour of questions and then a bit of a debate. I’ve discovered I quite like telling stories and I like people and having arguments, so it’s the perfect gig for me.”
But while Mark may like people, it is usually in relation to film. Mark is famously the only person to have interviewed Angelina Jolie on the condition that she didn’t talk about her personal life. “I wanted to know about her work and that’s it. And while some stars are slightly bemused by me, they go along with it,” he says.
So, how do such lofty motives sit with his suitability to judge chick flicks, for instance? What did he think of, say, An Officer and a Gentleman? “Oh I loved it,” he says, unexpectedly. “It’s one of my all-time favourite films. I’ve got nothing against chick flicks. I love Richard Curtis, for example.
“The problem is that most chick flicks these days are rubbish and there’s nothing I can do about that. I had to review Valentine’s Day recently with Julia Roberts and I went in thinking ‘please be good, please be good’, because people accuse me of being contrary, and I am out of step with the general consensus a lot of the time, but it was awful. It was like eating wood.”
“Except that, as long as you explain your views elegantly and entertainingly, people will still want to know your opinions.”
And then Mark adds: “To start with I kept thinking someone would say, ‘You need to stop doing that now and go get a proper job’. But I’m 46 and it hasn’t happened yet. So everyday when I wake up, I’m amazed I’m still doing it.”
It’s Only a Movie, at Oxford Playhouse on Monday, will be followed by a screening of It’s a Wonderful Life. Mark will be signing copies of the book in the foyer from 5.30-6.30pm.
Call 01865 305305
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/trade_directory/