Brian Cox criticises film industry for not pushing indy films
Cox says he can't find a distributor for his new movie The Escapist
Also In The News
|
Twilight - the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's teen vampire novels – is to be released early by Warner Brothers as a replacement for the delayed Harry Potter film. |  |
Sunday, 17, Aug 2008 05:25
Emmy-winning actor Brian Cox criticised the film industry yesterday for failing to push independent movies.
Cox spoke of his fear that his "best work" may go unrecognised while promoting his latest film at Tilda Swinton's alternative film festival in Nairn this week, in the hope of attracting a distributor.
The Escapist, which also stars Damian Lewis and Joseph Fiennes, is about a prisoner serving life (played by Cox) who breaks out of jail to see his estranged, dying daughter.
"It did very well [at film festivals], but we have no distribution," Cox told the Independent on Sunday. "I am trying to get it seen by more than two people and a dog. I think it is very hard to work at the level we work at making these independent films and not to have recognition."
Cox added that he had discussed the problem with Nairn festival co-organisers Mark Cousins and Swinton, who is part-funding the eight-and-a-half day Ballerina Ballroom alternative film festival.
"I think people do want to see films, but it is tough," Cox said. "One time in this town... in one day, Pirates of the Caribbean was played 52 times. A small independent movie played up against that doesn't have a chance.
"There is an inequity, a lack of fairness. Film festivals take up the slack but the cinema I grew up with and love is a cinema of films that were visceral and touched the heart... I'm not knocking it, because I earn my living doing it, but I want a reasonable platform to show the work which I consider to be my best work.
"It is these little festivals that reignite everything. What is lacking is cinema-going as a community activity.... We are too busy flogging it, making the bucks, as opposed to thinking about what the thing is."
The Nairn festival, which started on Friday, features free entry for those who bring fairy cakes, a "grunge scale" of six out of ten, and £3 tickets for beanbag seats. It has attracted audiences from across the world.