Name one film everyone should see. The
Addiction, by Abel Ferrara. This is a seriously weird, creepy and
brilliant movie about vampires starring Christopher Walken. Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with and
why? I have actually been stuck in a lift (on my own),
and the security guards who jemmied the doors open and dragged me
out were surprised by my glacial calm, a state I arrived at by
meditating on the ‘lift scenes’ from The Shining and
Damien Omen 2. Anyway, I should like to be stuck in a lift with
Sophia Loren, the most beautiful person in cinema history, just
so I had an excuse to gaze at her face, close-up, for a long
period of time. In your opinion, what are the three qualities every
great film should possess? It should be sublimely
beautiful, like Visconti’s The Leopard, or sublimely funny
like Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels, or sublimely
exciting, like Scorsese’s Raging Bull. What is your idea of a perfect evening? Not
necessarily a film. The most perfect evening I had recently was
being on the winning team in a pub quiz in a London club. Pub
quizzes are sporting contests for the nerd generation. You are the film police for one day, what do you ban? The
Piano by Jane Campion. This annoying, wittering, shallow,
overrated middlebrow film is so much more insidious than honest
rubbish like Sex Lives Of The Potato Men. Which authors and literary characters have acted as
the inspiration for your novels? I love VS
Naipaul’s A House For Mr Biswas, Dickens’ Bleak House,
BS Johnson’s House Mother Normal, the Letters and Memoirs of
Kingsley Amis (his account of meeting Roald Dahl is still one of
the funniest things in the language), Money by Martin Amis, What
A Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe, Girlfriend In A Comaby Douglas
Coupland. Do you have any rituals before you begin writing?
I’m sorry to say that I like to drink an entire two-litre
bottle of Diet Coke while I’m writing for that evil
Aspartame rush. What is the best piece of advice you have ever been
given? “Never drink gin after dinner” is the
weirdest advice I’ve been given. The most sound advice
I’ve been given is: “Be persistent. Persistence is the
key to success.” Your new book Dr Sweet… is a dark comedy – what
is your favourite comedy film or tv series? My favourite
comedy film is the Ealing classic Kind Hearts And Coronets, which
I love more than I can say. Favourite TV comedy: Seinfeld (which
stayed brilliant long after Friends curdled), The Larry Sanders
Show. From Britain: Baddiel and Skinner’s Fantasy Football
League, Rising Damp, The Office and Phoenix Nights. What do you never leave the house without? An
uneasy sense that I have left the gas on. Finally, any tips for the top for film over the coming
months? I recommend Uzak by the Turkish director Nuri
Ceylan, a very beautiful and sad movie about male loneliness, out
28 May. There is also a bizarre documentary coming out soon
called Supersize Me about someone who tried to live entirely on
food from McDonald’s, with horrific results. Dr Sweet And His Daughter is out now. Picador £7.99.
Peter Bradshaw will be appearing at Borders on 27th May, 7pm. ARCHIVE: 3rd week TT 2004
Chatting Up… Peter Bradshaw
