An Interview with Greg Olliver By Tashi Khan

 

An Interview with

Greg Olliver

The director of the film

Turned Towards The Sun

By Tashi Khan                         fabtashi20@hotmail.com

                                       www.bfilondonfilmfestival.com

 

 

 Greg Olliver

gregolliver.com/

www.turnedtowardsthesun.com

Me & our rendezvous

My schedule in the London film festival (10-21 October 2012) started early in the morning with all the press screenings one after the other, it was hard we Only have 20 to 30 minutes to catch up with fellow delegates over a cup of coffee or sit and write the reviews to get them out of the way but time is short and the mind is buzzing as to how to meet the directors for the afternoon tea or go for other events? so we have to find a secluded spot to sit on the laptop to organise interviews, press talks and attend the Q&A's, but watching films is the priority and we have to get to as many films as we can under our belts.

Most of the times we are scuttling between the various venues, BFI, Soho house, Curzon Soho, Hospital club , Odeon Westend, Cineworld, Vue and ICA.           

The whole thing is just frenzy, the mind becomes woozy and you can't think straight.               

A fellow delegate mentioned the name of a documentary Turned towards the Sun, I wanted to have an insight in the directors’ mind and meddle why directors choose these topics?  So I rushed from BFI to the Hospital Club to see the film but due to traffic sauntered halfway through the film but whatever J saw was an experience to watch.    

 In my little spare time I rushed my request to the delegate centre and they kindly fixed the time for me to interview Greg Oliver, but before I went to interview Greg, Juliet Dawson(PR) very kindly  sent me the link to watch the whole film which was a treat. Micky's sense of humour at the age of 96 was remarkable.

The interview itself was a complete pleasure.

I strutted in the busy lobby of the Mayfair Hotel where the interview was taking place with the director and as i glanced around to  find Juliet and to find a seat to perch myself, this good looking American got up to offer me his seat but I am  not sure why? maybe my sixth sense I asked him "are you Greg” and he readily responded "indeed I am" so we started to search for a cosy corner to have a chat when Juliet rushed in breathless as she was intending to introduce us but had texted me earlier that she will be delayed, was amazed that we found each other without her help.

So we started my questionnaire but the whole interview was very light hearted, Greg had great sense of humour himself and so in between we kept lapsing into chit chatting about other subjects.

An Interview                           Tashi Khan with Greg Olliver in Mayfair Hotel

 Why did you choose this topic?

 Greg- Adventures so anyone watching the film is having fun.

Why choose Micky Burn?

Greg- I Met someone in an airport, one of the investors in the film who told me about him and he sounded too good to be true so I went and met him.

How did you shoot the film?

Greg- I followed him on and off for two years, I met him when he was 96 years old.

What was it about him that you liked?

Greg- He looked forward to getting old and he made getting old fun, that was a special quality about him, then I met him he was really compelling and I am myself looking forward to getting old.

 

Whose idea was it to film the other people?

Greg- He had ideas of where he wanted to go and met friends he had not seen in a long time like the Duchess of Devonshire. It was my idea to take him to France and Germany.

 

Was the film planned or more fly on the wall?

Greg- The film was a combination of planned and unplanned. He had a lot of fun telling his stories, he loved it.

 

Why does he mention suicide?

Greg- He talks about suicide-he was just joking because he wanted to send an e-mail and could not, he was expressing the anger in a funny Mickey sort of way.

 

Could you have asked him more about Guy Burgess?

Greg- He got pretty detailed about Guy Burgess he decided to say his piece and I got the most out of him I could. You could not get everything into an hour and half film. He was happy to talk about anything.

What is your next project?

Greg- I am also doing a film about blues guitarist Johnny Winter, I am looking for a distributor.

Regarding Mickey Burn story, I can let you know about distribution later. 

                            By Tashi Khan