Alistair Owen

The Mirror and the Road — Alistair Owen An exclusive series of interviews with bestselling author and screenwriter William Boyd

🎂 Happy 2nd Birthday to my 5th Q&A book, #TheMirrorAndTheRoad: Conversations with William Boyd. Observer, Independent, iNews & TLS all called it "fascinating", and Slow Horses author Mick Herron hoped to find it in his Christmas stocking. Cheers to that! 🍾

www.alistairowenwriter.com/the-mirror-a...

Every word... more people with RTD's clout and influence need to be standing up and speaking out in this way. "Censorship is in us." TV needs leaders and champions who stand up for the world we want to see and be. "TV is a light in the dark and we must not let that flame go out!"

She was sniffy about Chernobyl, too, so can safely be ignored, I think.

This might be a job for Rick Dalton (aka Sgt. Mike Lewis in The 14 Fists of McCluskey)...

I last watched this in February, in front of a crackling log burner, in a converted signal box on the former Bath to Bournemouth line. My only regret is that I forgot to bring with me the DVD of Oh, Mr Porter! for the perfect spooky railway double bill...

I thought I was the only one who had that line rattling round my head!

An Owen family favourite. The line "When you're telling these little stories, have a point - it makes it so much more interesting for the listener!" was often heard at the dining table...

I've now talked to three different people with very varied tastes and, like me, they all gave up on The Thursday Murder Club after 20 minutes. Does Netflix's "No. 1 in Movies" algorithm tell them when viewers have bailed on a film cos it's unmitigated shit...?

I always think of Buster's filing system when I write something down on a post-it note at work.

It's a great script, and one of my favourite comedies, right up there with Galaxy Quest and Planes, Trains & Automobiles - and Local Hero, to which it owes a lot (Fox calling the Grady weather line from LA echoes Peter Riegert calling the phone box in Ferness from Houston).

I saw at least eight of those at my then-local, the Showcase Peterborough - two of them in a double bill: T2 and Backdraft (four-and-a-half hours on a hot August day, not including break). The Rocketeer is one of my picks of the bunch, though, along with Thelma & Louise and Doc Hollwood. Happy days!

Hampton on Hampton — Alistair Owen Conversations with Christopher Hampton

This one is decent. Although I may be biased...

www.alistairowenwriter.com/hampton-on-h...

Oh, for an edit function on here! But yes, I love novel and film equally but differently. Like The Remains of the Day, the film honours the novel but stands apart from it, a distinct work of art in its own right.

The Sense of an Ending. A brilliant but austere novel becomes, thanks to screenwriter Nick Payne, an equally brilliant but more expansive film. Julian Barnes himself appreciated the deftness of the adaptation.

"Bring only what fits in a carry-on bag. Checking your luggage is asking for trouble."

- William Hurt, The Accidental Tourist (1988)

YouTube video by Movieclips Capricorn One (1978) - How to Break Bad News Scene (7/11) | Movieclips

I don't think it's possible to love this film too much. Maltin's Movie Guide likens it to an entire Republic serial cut together, and seen in that light it seems not so much uneven as unconventional. It also has one of the most inventive tellings of a joke I can think of...

youtu.be/ok6H1OFTmyA?...

1997, apparently. Or possibly 1988...

If you've seen The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate, and maybe Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, you'll be fine. If I've seen any of his other films, it's so long ago I can't remember them...

My 3 favourite reads in 2024 — Alistair Owen My 3 favourite reads in 2024

A couple of possibilities here, both available in paperback...

www.alistairowenwriter.com/blog/favouri...

It was, and it is. Good DVD double bill with Flightplan! (both entertaining B movies)

One person you know know has seen and heard of Nick of Time! Red Eye basically nicked the premise without the real time conceit.

Particularly - but very smoothly - menacing in Narrow Margin...

The second time he performed that trick, in fact, the first being Plenty (1985), which seems to be all but forgotten...

The Duellists

The Vetting Officer — Alistair Owen A story of secrets and second chances

🎂 My second literary birthday this week - 5 years since I published my debut novel, The Vetting Officer, first on Kindle and later in paperback. Part spy yarn, part love story, it earned a "Bravo!" from William Boyd, and a modest sense of pride from me! 🍾

www.alistairowenwriter.com/the-vetting-...

UK poster for the film Black Bag, featuring Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Rege-Jean Page and Pierce Brosnan.

"I watch her. I assume she watches me."

Everything you might expect from director Steven Soderbergh and Panic Room writer David Koepp, and perhaps a little bit more: sleek, smart, stylish, slyly witty and coolly seductive. Mr & Mrs Smith meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, by way of The Ipcress File.

Hampton on Hampton — Alistair Owen Conversations with Christopher Hampton

🎂 Happy 20th birthday to my third Q&A book, Hampton on Hampton - conversations with playwright, director & Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton. A book of the year in the Observer, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on Amazon & also available from @faberbooks.bsky.social. 🍾

www.alistairowenwriter.com/hampton-on-h...

Perfect for flowers - producing an explosion of colour.

YouTube video by ratherabstract Without a Clue (a comedy about Sherlock Holmes)

Arty Morty!

youtu.be/08JYt1hZN8E?...