GREAT STORIES
BEAUTIFULLY TOLD

For nearly 100 years the Chateau Marmont has been a byword for Hollywood secrets, tragedy and excess. From the making of Rebel Without A Cause to John Belushi's tragic death it's ground zero for industry craziness. I checked in for a look around.

In the 1970s a group of ferociously talented, terrifyingly ambitious advertising directors revolutionised the British ad industry. Then they turned their sights on the movies. This is the story of how Tony & Ridley Scott, Adrian Lyne and pals changed Hollywood forever.

How you remember Yul Brynner really depends on your age. For one generation he's the temperamental King Mongkut from the King And I. For another he's a psychotic cowboy cyborg in Westworld. But his life-story was if anything even more unlikely than any of the roles he played.

Antonioni's Blow Up is one of the defining movies of the 1960s. Strange, surreal and elliptical it defies easy description or explanation. So I had a go anyway for Empire Magazine.

Yours Retro is a cool mag that celebrates the golden age of movies. For my debut feature I looked at the making of Charles Laughton's The Night Of The Hunter, a towering cinematic achievement whose lukewarm response might have ended Laughton's directing career.

It started out as a respectable Hollywood epic with a screenplay by Gore Vidal and a cast of some of the hottest stars of the era. But Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione transformed it into the biggest, weirdest, floppiest porn movie ever made. This is the crazy tale of Caligula. Read it and weep.

With the advent of AI John Badham's 1983 classic is even more relevant, and terrifying, today than it was when it was released in 1983. I chatted to the director about the making of the movie for Yahoo Movies.

I was delighted to contribute to Dorling Kindersley's The Screen Traveller's Guide. It trots the movie globe, from San Francisco (Vertigo) to New Zealand (Lord Of The Rings). It's scheduled for publication in October, 2023.

He might be better known as the man who paired Green Eggs with Ham, and encouraged The Grinch to ruin Christmas, but Dr. Seuss once made a Hollywood movie, and it was as chaotic as any of his literary creations. This is its story.

Industria is a funky 'zine produced as a labour-of love by creative agency Ai and distributed via Picturehouse Cinemas. Its second edition was a celebration of Keanu Reeves, for which I wrote the lead.

Alain Resnais' beguiling masterpiece Last Year At Marienbad has been puzzling, enchanting and frustrating audiences for over 60 years. I booked a room at one of the strangest hotels in moviedom for Empire Magazine.

Fast Times At Ridgemont High remains one of the most beloved of the 80s teen-movie cycle. To celebrate the youthquake's 40th anniversary I talked to writer Cameron Crowe, and director Amy Heckerling about the movie that launched half a dozen Hollywood careers.

I've been interviewing stars for the better part of 25 years, but there's still a surreal thrill to getting a 'William Shatner has joined your zoom meeting' email. I chatted to The Shat about the history of the Star Trek movie franchise for Empire Magazine.

No other star has the sheer bloody staying power of John Travolta. From the early hits of Saturday Night Fever and Grease through the fallow 80s to his spectacular re-invention with Pulp Fiction he's Hollywood's king of the comebacks. I profiled him for Empire.

The BBC's educational site Bitesize asked me to come up with a format for fact-based short pieces on interesting topics. 'Secret History' was my pitch, and this mini-feature about the fascinating backstory of popcorn, the movies' favourite snack, was the first entry.