Back in October I a friend of mine called me. He said: “I was speaking to Linda today who said she’d heard that the movie you’re making really sucks.” Now this Linda (name changed) happened to be an old friend of mine so her words really upset me. But what upset me more was that she was judging a) a film that she hadn’t seen and, more importantly, b) a film that hadn’t been shot! With friends like that etc…
Today the phone started ringing once more. The rumour mill has started up again only now the rumours are along the lines of “apparently the movie Nigel’s made is really good.” I confess that it’s great that the town has decided to like my work but what’s confusing to me is that only about ten people have seen it in anything like its finished form. I’m really proud of this film and want it and 2gether to do fantastically well but would trade this early buzz for some reason in the world. Dear reader, please be kind to my little film after I’ve spent so much effort on it but also be kind to every other film you might wish to see no matter what anybody says and remember these words from Richard E. Grant’s funny book ‘Withnails’: “I ponder the question that’s always asked, ‘Did you know at the time (you were filming) you were destined to be in a hit or a howler?’…Three answers spring forth. Casablanca was considered ‘unreleasable,’ the Dakota plane was considered ‘unflyable’ and the Titanic ‘unsinkable.’”
Have the courage to form your own opinions and don’t give two figs what a movie does at the box office in its opening weekend.