Paul Gorman

Film

Too Too Utterly: Malcolm McLaren’s film pitch by fax to James Bond scriptwriters

//Fax of treatment sent by Malcolm McLaren to Neal Purvis and Robert Wade on January 9, 1991//

These faded pages constitute a film pitch Malcolm McLaren sent by fax to screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade way back in 1991.

//The first page of the fax shows that this treatment was completed a couple of weeks before it was sent, on December 20, 1990//
//From my transcription of the now-very faded fax//

Purvis and Wade are responsible for many  film successes including the astounding run of screenplays for the seven James Bond movies from 1999’s The World Is Not Enough to the recently released No Time To Die. I’ve known them for a  while and Neal has mentioned their contact with McLaren during preparations for their first feature Let Him Have It, so made sure it was covered  in the hardback edition of The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren.

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Fashion Beast: Arena Homme + pays tribute to Malcolm McLaren’s collaboration with Alan Moore

//Introductory spread from the Fashion Beast feature in Arena Homme + 53, Summer/Autumn 2020//

//Above: Fashion Beast story, AH+ 53. Photography Drew Vickers; fashion Tom Guinness//

The new issue of Arena Homme + – which is available to read through Exact Editions here for those who can’t obtain physical copies – includes a 28-page extravaganza on Malcolm McLaren’s activities across cinema, fashion and music during the mid-80s.

With an extract from my new biography of McLaren, the feature homes in on Fashion Beast, the unrealised film collaboration with Britain’s dark magus of comic book writing Alan Moore. It also includes my interview with Moore as well as an ingenious fashion story photographed by Drew Vickers and styled by Tom Guinness.

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Rocketman: Mr Freedom, Tommy Roberts and Jim O’Connor’s winged boots


//Above Taron Egerton as Elton John and Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin meet “Tommy Roberts” in Rocketman. Stills from Kii Arens promo video for Egerton and John’s new single (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again//

//The pair of Mr Freedom winged boots acquired by Cecil Beaton for the V&A 1971 exhibition: Fashion: An Anthology//

During the production of Elton John biopic Rocketman there were plans for a scene set in London’s groundbreaking pop-art boutique Mr Freedom in the early 70s.

This was to set up the central character’s visual transformation during visits to the store under the influence of its charismatic founder and frontman, the late, lamented Tommy Roberts.

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DJ = Don’t Join! The Barney Bubbles x Jake Riviera influence in The Last Jedi

//Left: DJ figure; right: Music press ad, January 1979. Image: Brooklyn Vegan//

Thanks to my FB friend Vadim Kosmos for alerting me to this (I am not keen on Star Wars so avoid media coverage): a reference in the latest film in the franchise, The Last Jedi, to the Barney Bubbles/Jake Riviera advertising campaign for Elvis Costello And The Attractions’ 1979 LP Armed Forces.

In The Last Jedi Benicio del Toro plays an opportunistic hacker referred to as “DJ”; for some time there has been speculation as to what the initials stand for.

Now director Rian Johnson has revealed they represent “Don’t Join!”, the slogan used in British music press ads for Armed Forces which featured in my Bubbles’ monograph Reasons To Be Cheerful.

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In praise of David ‘Piggy’ Worth: Tony Hall’s unpublished photographs of the great British collector, male model and stylist

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//David “Piggy” Worth and Judy Nylon at the back of the building which housed his basement flat, Edith Grove, World’s End, London, 1971. Photo: © Tony Hall. No reproduction without permission//
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//Worth in Ossie Clark snakeskin coat, Brompton Cemetry, west London, 1971. Photo: © Tony Hall. No reproduction without permission//
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//On West Pier, Brighton, 1971. Photo: © Tony Hall. No reproduction without permission//

“Piggy was a special dreamer” Judy Nylon

“Piggy got me my first job with Helmut Newton” Yvonne Gold

“He was an amazing character, funny, exuberant, outgoing, such fun to be with. Everybody wanted to be his friend” Tony Hall

Before David Gandy, before Nick Kamen, there was David “Piggy” Worth.

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//With Graeme Edge’s girlfriend at the Moody Blues’ drummer’s apartment, Bayswater, west London, 1971. Photo: © Tony Hall. No reproduction without permission//

Continue reading In praise of David ‘Piggy’ Worth: Tony Hall’s unpublished photographs of the great British collector, male model and stylist

Nick Ebeling’s supercool ride into Dennis Hopper’s heart of darkness with ‘El Hombre Invisible’ Satya de la Manitou

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//Dennis Hopper and Satya de la Manitou photographed by Wim Wenders in Taos, 1978 (c) Wim WendersStiftung 2016//

Along For The Ride is the wild and suitably idisoyncratic documentary from LA-based artist Nick Ebeling about male friendship –  in particular the relationship between Ebeling’s cinematic hero Dennis Hopper and his right-hand man, “El Hombre Invisible” Satya de la Manitou – and the often fraught nature of film-making.

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//Satya de la Manitou in Along For The Ride//

With a score by Gemma Thompson of Savages and produced by Sheri Timmons, the core of Along For The Ride lies in stories of de la Manitou’s 40-year friendship with Hopper, as related to Ebeling over coffee in various LA diners.

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Death And The Lady: Nick Abrahams’ film for Shirley Collins’ first record in 38 years

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//Shirley Collins with hooden horses. Photo: Toby Amies//

“Shirley has a voice that seems to be in touch with the traditions of the past, but also the dark mystery that makes England so weird, wild and mesmerising, and it is these two aspects that I wanted to convey in the video.”
Nick Abrahams, 2016

I’m captivated by the magical film made by Nick Abrahams to accompany the Shirley Collins song Death And The Lady.

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