Cursed Films, season 2, episode 3, on Tarkovsky's Stalker, premiered yesterday on Shudder. The film tells the story of the troubled production of Tarkovsky's legendary 1979 science fiction film, and the myths that have grown up around the film. The episode features a great cast of informants, including the late Tarkovsky scholar Robert Bird, cinematographer Roger Deakins, photographer Arvo Iho (all of whom, at one time or another, I've met - gents all). Oh, and me.
My contribution was shot - after some discussion about where to actually do the interview - in New York State, somewhere in the Sleepy Hollow/Ossinning region. I was actually in Boston at the time, and after deciding against shooting in the UK, I agreed to go down to NYC to meet the guys and do the interview in what I originally thought was going to be somewhere uptown. This meant getting up at 0500, and going down from Cambridge where I was staying in a very nice AirBnB on Prospect Hill in Somerville to get the 0700 MegaBus from South Station. I got into NYC late, due to the bus getting stuck in traffic in the Bronx/Uptown. I met the crew at the Met, and then we then went back uptown - more Manhattan traffic - but carried on into the countryside, where it transpired we had the use of a very nice house somewhere around Sleepy Hollow (as in Legend of...).
But it was far from a sleepy interview. We were now very behind schedule: not only had I to be back on the 7pm MegaBus back to Boston, but Jay, Brian and the guys had to get to La Guardia to fly to Chicago to interview Robert Bird. The interview was done at breakneck speed, all shot in about 45 minutes or less. And then we ran back to the van, and got on the road again. They dropped me at the Cotton Club, and drove hell for leather to the airport (they made the flight), while I got an Uber downtown to the Madison Square Garden area and got the bus. I remember the air con was broken, and the driver couldn't switch it off. We arrived back at South Station in Boston absolutely frozen. I got the T back to Cambridge, and was in bed around 0200. A 21-hour day.
Anyway, luvvie story aside, it's a great episode, and I recommend it. A pleasure to have been part of such a great project.
