b'Director Interviews UKshe wasnt Australian. I think her parentshappy, and when I didnt I wasnt. Dominique. The Stones have been in drag, owned a Chinese restaurant in Auckland.Thats not something I would havewhy the hell cant we be in drag? And She was on holiday in Sydney and cameguessed. Its all forced perspective andwe all said, thats a great idea. So what to an audition. Whether shed ever beenthings like that. we have is a little house like Coronation an actress before or not I dont know,Right. Well the stuff he was drawing,Street, a series thats been running here but she was young and very beautiful.even in the early 1950s, those great big tallfor 40 years, a nasty little semi-detached Once she walked in, no one else borebuildings. Everything he drew was throughhouse. And it all came pouring out, I said, any relevance at all. She was the Chinaa ten millimeter lens. Nobody drew likeFreddie, youve got to be this Liverpudlian Girl. That was shot on the beach outsidethat. That was all through a fisheye lens. slag cleaning her nails. John, youve got Sydney, but some on that famous beachThe videos for Queens I Want Toto be a miserable old woman. Roger, with the Aborigines, the one everyoneBreak Free and Radio GaGa wereyouve got to be a schoolgirl. And so knows, Bondi Beach.next, and Radio GaGa has a trulyon. It all came pouring out within five You did a little homage to Davidsmassive look.minutes. We knew we had it, and it took lipstick smear.When the world of music videos hit theus three or four days to film it. We were all Yes, the drag act in Boys Keephigh budgets, that budget was not totallyill from laughing by the end. I remember Swinging, and its something I think theyout of the ordinary. I had done Underone of those old Hoover ads from one of used to do at the end of the drag acts inPressure for them previously, but that wasthose 1950s housewife magazines. And the Hamburg nightclubs. If there was a bigjust film footage. The first one Id doneI thought, wouldnt it be excellent to have drag act on, I think they used to do that.properly for Queen was Radio GaGa. IFreddies entrance around the side of a David Bowie had seen it, I hadnt. went out to lunch with Freddie and Roger,door, pushing a Hoover.Lets talk about the Scorpions Rockand we had a very good lunch, and threeYou did a couple more with Billy Idol Def Leppard Rock of Ages Mallet directed all the videos for Blondie\'sYou LikeA Hurricane. quarters of the way through lunch, FreddieEyes Without A Face and Catch My Eat to the Beat, one of the first true "video albums"I knew the Scorpions were a huge bandsays that theyve just bought the right toFall. Both of these videos are filledin Europe and especially Germany, but Idthe film Metropolis, and I was so excited,with interesting imagery. Eyes Without and stayed out of our way. And David wasnever really been that familiar with them. I made an idiot of myself by slammingA Face has a lot of conscious color in a very powerful being, and the recordHow did you come with the maniamy knife down so hard on my plate that Iit. What do you recall from that shoot? company wasnt exactly going to tell himthat seems to be happening on screen?broke the plate. From that moment on, weOn Eyes Without A Face I landed one what to do and what not to do. During the choruses, while hesgot on quite well. day, and we had to shoot it the next day, What were the logistical challengessinging, the people in the cages areThe iconic clapping and arms in theand we hadnt gotten any ideas yet. In a of shooting those videos? You had a lotlunging forward and the set moves asair momenthow was that created?way, it was desperation time, that one. We of locales.wellVery easily. I had all those howevercame up with it, but it was a very hurried Nothing. We just got on a plane, weIt was just something that we hadntmany people were there, and I suddenlyconcept. Dont get me wrong, I think it met our Australian crew and we just wentdone before, so we decided to do that.thought, what the fuck are they going toworked very well, but it wasnt something and filmed something. In Lets Dance,Price Wormsley, the art director and Ido? It had never occurred to me.Andwe considered, we just did it.the extras in the bar were in this little one- decided to do something we hadnt donetheres that synth-y clapping going on,You have a very slow push-n move horse town in the desert. This was ten inbefore, shaking the cages, so well do thatand its quite difficult to learn. So I learnedin at the beginning. the morning by the way, and the extras inthis time. ithere we go again with the nails in BillyWell, thats How do you fill forty the bar were drinking away. As far as theyUsing the animals was challenging?Idols coffin-type situation. I learned it,seconds?were concerned, we were just a load ofThe cheetahs and panthers? and then I showed it to these hundreds ofWell, youve been doing this for a New York or London [expletive deleted]There was one panther, I remember,people, and they picked it up just like that.while, and you know that theres some They started joining in with the girlwho was not a happy panther. It was veryWatching the people doing that clapperformers you can do that with, and dancing, but they were being sarcastic andupset at the way I think it had been treated,move at Live Aid is pretty amazing.some you cant.cruel, and I said, Quick! Film it!, and itI think. There was one extraordinary thing.They clap, and the arms go up, andYes, but, Billy is a great rock and roll came out as if they were enjoying it. TheyFilm shoots at 24 frames per second,theyre frozen. Its just wild. performer, number one. He really is. Hes were actually hating every second of it. Iright? Well, this panther lashed out with itsAnd since then, every crowd in everysomething else. And the other one, Catch got my own back on the bastards.paw at the camera, and when I looked atcity in the world has done that. The firstMy Fall, was Billys idea, because we China Girl is pretty wild, and youthe film later, it had lashed out twice, andtime I saw a crowd do it, I was verywere about to do something that Billy didnt had some nude shots. Was there anyyou never saw it once. I remember thinkinggratified. like, that he wasnt comfortable with. He concern that you wouldnt get airedthat this is a superior living being. Freddie is such an amazingsaid, what about a Hanoi hotel, you know, with that nudity?The video seems to be happening inperformer. How did you find him toa broken down hotel with a Vietnam vet in jumping the bike and crashing through aDavid than me. I hadnt heard the album.We did two versions, one clean andthis bizarre cave as well.work with, especially on I Want Toit? So that was the idea.stained glass window without even a fireDavid rang up and said, Were off again,one pretty raunchy. We did From Here ToBack to my influences, which wereBreak Free, where he is really campingHe got massive hits out of those, officer there. Not even an ambulance.we want to do two new videos from thisEternity, the beach scene. all comic books. 1940s, 50s, 60s comicit up?and you went on to shoot To Be A On David Bowies Lets Dance andnew album. Come out to the house. And Was that a trend, to do two versions,books. Well, the artist was Bob Kane. InFreddie was, I think, the funniest manLover for him, which is one of my all-China Girl, this was a massive albumat this time, he was living in this castle. Soone rated R and one for broadcastAmerica, Bob Kane, and in England, FrankI ever met. The wit that would pour out oftime favorite videos ever. for him, completely due to his musicI went out there for a couple of days, andtelevision? Hampson, who did Dan Dare and thingshim all day was clever, erudite, educatedThat is one of my favorites ever too. video exposure. You had shot a lot of histhe first thing he said was that he wantedPeople were playing with it. They werelike that.and hilarious.Fat piano player, the whole thing. And Billy, on videotape, so this was your first forayto go to Australia and shoot it because the trying to make a porn video within a musicThats one of the amazing thingsSafe to say he came up with the ideaJesus Christ. Hed give Elvis a run for his into film for him, aside from the insertslights different, and this that and the other,video. Kevin [Godley] and Lol [Crme] triedabout it, you could have had the extrasfor the vacuum cleaner?money.in DJ. The visual landscapes are bigthe crews are great, etc. It was the first one it with Girls on Film. They had a slightlybehind regular prison bars, but the barsNo. We were going to anotherThe boxing ring Well, thats Elvis, and broad. Do you recall the conceptswed shot on 35mm film rather than 16mm.different approach. We did it with a nakedare moving back and forth.extravaganza, something like Gaga, andisnt it? for these? Theyre somewhat removedHow did you get a budget that couldChina girl. Yeah, that was the idea. I dont knowthen we thought, this is wrong. We wereYes, and I find it fascinating that you from the lyrics, especially Lets Dance. afford 35mm?Do you remember where you foundwhere I got that from, but I spent manyall in the city around a table in London,had Perri Lister, his girlfriend, and the The concepts on both of those wereI think after Ashes to Ashes, theythe actress? years of my career trying to make everyand Roger arrived late, and said look Ivegirl from a-Has Take On Me video as David, not me, or let me say much morewere pretty that we did whatever we didYes. She came from New Zealand,shot I did look like it had been drawn byhad this thought here. It was actually aone of the backup girls too.Bob Kane. And when I succeeded, I wasthought by his wife or girlfriend at the time, Oh, yes. I cant remember her name, 48MVTMISSUE #1ISSUE #1MVTM49'