Misura from DHM
There’s a loaded doc on BBC2 at 9pm today. They bought the non-scripted rights to Animal House and people who’ve seen it have told me it’s a good film. I’ve turned down the same suggestion 40 times since 1994, but decided to do this because the guys had made Once Upon A Time In Iraq and Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland which were stand out series.
When I asked the director of those why he wanted to go from Falujah and the Falls Road to a fanzine writer he just nodded at the young skinhead producer sitting next to him, Jessica Brady, and said she loved the book.
Jess talked about Animal House and I realised she had read it properly and understood it. So I signed up.
It was intense doing the interviews, I found myself irritated and bored by the new directors questions about why we put women we fancied in the mag, pointing out we also had loads of great women writers and other colleagues, plus articles about women comedians, musicians and actors we liked. I found it challenging to talk about my family situation at the time just before I came up with the idea for loaded, but overall the team from @keofilms worked very hard and there were a lot of funny moments.
There’s one person in it who told me she’d never even read a copy of loaded but she judges us anyway. There’s contributions from the maniacs who produced the mag and other people who were around and whose opinion I respect like @irvine.welsh @msmirandasawyer and @katiepuckrik.
When they started filming I felt very ill and worried about whether I’d still be here now. Thankfully I am. If you’d like buy a signed copy of Animal House DM me and I’ll send you the details in a few days.
The magazine was so long ago but I had a great team, a great time and a great boss in Alan Lewis.
I’m writing this overlooking the Caribbean Sea from an amazing lookout lodge in Dominica. I’ll be kayaking when it’s on. I’ve done my bit I don’t need to be looking at the screen thinking “I really should have worn my glasses and I shouldn’t have said that.” It’s important to stay in the present. The sea awaits.