London Film Festival news round-up

The latest news and views from the second week of the London Film Festival

The Trash Man
Making ‘Jackass: The Movie’ look like ‘La Règle du Jeu’, ‘Trash Humpers’ is the latest no-fi film from Harmony Korine, who was in town on Saturday to present it. He offered a stark warning to the audience: ‘Look, the name of this film is literal. It is about people fucking trash. If you don’t think you’re going to like it, then please leave now. I don’t want anyone walking out during the screening.’ No one took up his initial offer, but there were one or two people for whom a torrent of video-shot scenes of pensioners gyrating against dustbins proved too much. Korine returned to answer questions, revealing that the experience of making his previous film, ‘Mister Lonely’, was not something he wanted to revisit, and that having collaborated with Werner Herzog in the past, the only director he would work with in the future is Clint Eastwood.









Not so bright Boris
Boris Johnson wandered on to the stage of the Odeon Leicester Square to introduce the gala screening of Jane Campion’s ‘Bright Star’ last Monday. The festival no longer has a specific Mayor of London’s Gala, but still Johnson tried to steal the limelight, waffling on inaudibly about Keats and buses and forgetting to invite the real star of the night – Jane Campion – to the stage. Thankfully, Campion took to the mic and introduced her film with eloquence and grace.

Clive Owen is back
Clive Owen was in town for bittersweet family drama ‘The Boys Are Back’, but he got talking to Time Out about a film he’s about to shoot in Detroit – a drama called ‘Trust’ directed by David Schwimmer. Owen told us, ‘It’s a really affecting script about a family ripped apart when their 14-year-old girl thinks she’s talking to a teenager on the internet, but when he rocks into town, he’s 45.’ Owen stresses that he plays the father. ‘People always say, “… And what part are you playing?”’ He’s convinced about the film’s importance. ‘It’s uncompromising. It’s a big topic that needs to be talked about.’

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