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Pulp - Interview with Jonathan Ross Part 2

He’s poker-faced but his eyes are twinkling with mischief as he looks at Adam (who is now deeply regretting kneeling down next to Jonathan to tell him about the movie – it’s a director thing, apparently!). “You are being groomed”, admits Adam. “You’re being groomed to join the PULP cult”. “Well, I’m very pleased to be a member of the PULP cult,” replies Jonathan in a benevolent manner. Phew!

So, does Ross think that British comic writers bring something different to the table, compared to their American counterparts? “I think some British comic book writers do”, he replies. “The recent greats like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, we’ve got Warren Ellis, we’ve got Mark Miller… These guys, there’s a certain kind of contemporary maturity to what they do, a kind of awareness of modern movies, modern fiction. They’re able to mix up the genres in that kind of way which maybe Americans don’t quite as much. When I pick up a book by someone like Ellis or by Morrison or by Moore you know there’s normally a depth of thinking involved which takes you out of the realm of the normal story. They’ve got something to say, either about politics, or about drugs or about society in some way, that is always interesting and intriguing. You might not necessarily agree with it, but there’s a little bit more food for thought in the majority of books that come from the minds of UK creators.”

Food for thought, eh? Well, what did he make of PULP’s fake comic book ‘The Sodomizer’, then? Jonathan turns straight to camera, reviewer mode engaged. “When I first saw the Sodomizer I was shocked”, he states. “I was shocked that it hadn’t been done before. It’s a brilliant comic. It’s more than a comic, it transcends the art form. I think this should be in the British Museum. And the Louvre, and the New York Metropolitan, and the Guggenheim, because it’s clearly a parody. A brilliant, sublime parody of male power fantasies that lie at the very heart, the kernel, if you will, of the comic book trope. No-one could do something as relentlessly bad as this unless it was a joke. A very clever joke and very well executed. Congratulations. You’ve pulled it off.” A pause. “And from the look of the artwork you’ve pulled it off more than once… Dirty boy.”

On to less… invasive subject matter. What’s his desert island movie? Ross ponders this. “Maybe Godfather 2, that’s an incredible film. Or failing that I might go with Predator. Or Harold and Maud?” Adam teases him about not being able to pick just one, at which point Jonathan gives up all attempts to be serious and adds “or maybe Junior starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, where he becomes pregnant, just so I could study the medical legitimacy involved and see whether indeed it was possible, and could dream about the sequel that never was where they promised that Danny DeVito might get pregnant, which is wrong in just about every single way.”

There’ve been quite a few fans dressed as Batman striding through the BICS this weekend, all from different eras, but JR’s favourite Batman movie probably isn’t the one most film fans would expect. “It would be the original Batman movie with Adam West in”, he confesses. “If only for the fact that they have this thing where there’s the United Nations round the table and you can tell they’re from different countries because they’re all wearing traditional headwear from that country. I always feel really disappointed when I see the actual United Nations and there isn’t a bloke in a headdress, and there’s not a bloke with a giant African thing with feathers whipping the flies off, and there’s not a Morroccan guy with a fez. That is what the United Nations should be like so you know who you’re talking to. Not just the occasional turban, I want every hat possible.”

And with the film industry’s current Holly-woody for remakes, which film does Jonathan think should be remade? On this subject he errs on the side of caution, reasoning that there are many that could be made but probably shouldn’t. “Maybe we should have this new trend where they only remake movies that should have been great but weren’t,” he suggests. “That might be good. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The movie was nowhere near as good as the TV series so maybe remake that as a movie and get it right.”

So given his opinionated nature and often controversial views, if he could star in his own comic book would he rather be a superhero or a supervillain? “I’d like to think that I could be a superheroic villain – a little bit of both – because that’s the problem with comics: it’s either all good or all bad, and none of us are all good or all bad. We all have good days and we all have bad days. I’d like to think if I had a superpower I would use it well and I would use it responsibly, but occasionally I would just use it for fun.”

And his chosen superpower? “When you actually have to pin one down they all seem a little limited, don’t they? Super strength, super speed, flight… it’d be fun but really you want the whole package, don’t you?” He pauses for thought and that wicked twinkle in his eye returns. “The Mr. Fantastic stretching thing seems funny, but as I get older things are stretching anyway. I mean, some of things I have to tuck in my socks when I play tennis you don’t even want to know!”

The room has now erupted into fits of laughter and it’s clear the interview’s drawing to a close, but just as I’m about to offer my thanks and allow Jonathan to make his escape, he spots Adam again... “Here’s one!” he shouts, beaming. “I want the power to wear a dark blue rollneck sweater in public without feeling self conscious!” As ever, he’s just said what nobody else in the room had big enough balls to say. Adam is, indeed, wearing a blue rollneck and, frankly, it’s not his best look ever.

Clearly not learning from his previous ‘kneeling down’ experience, Adam grins and makes his way across the room, hunkering down next to Jonathan to defend himself. “I have to say, I’m a principal extra in the film as well and this is costume.” Amazingly, he’s telling the truth, though that doesn’t stop Wossy. Clearly for him anyone who’s laughing along is fair game, and the higher up the pecking order you are, the more you deserve to have the Michael extracted. “It looks like it’s on backwards!” he chuckles, examining the offending item with confusion as the crew hoots with laughter. “It looks like you should have your legs through that top! I don’t know what it is. I’ll bet that does up under the legs with poppers!”

That’ll be my enduring memory of my interview with Jonathan Ross – a room full of laughing people who, for that brief time, felt like any faults they might have had were better off laughed at than taken seriously. It’s rather telling that Ross is an avid tennis player because that’s pretty much how it feels to be in conversation with him – as if he’s serving up a bunch of risqué aces and dying to see who’s going to hit one back at him. If anyone who’s ever been offended by his comments stopped taking themselves seriously for long enough to grab a racket and challenge him to a match, they might be surprised to discover that they rather enjoyed the experience!

Find out all about PULP at www.pulpthemovie.com!

Images courtesy of AlisonGrangerPhotography and Damian Hayes.

Written by Amelia Tyler

www.twitter.com/ameliatyler

A self-confessed geek with a love of anything involving superpowers, aliens or kickass futuristic weaponry, Amelia is an actress and voiceover artist. She was SyFy's continuity announcer for five years, spends more time online than is healthy, and would one day like to own her very own scutter and/or tribble.

Catch her soon in several movies, including as overly-affectionate Ashley in 'PULP', devious temptress Sarah Smith in 'Wasters', fiesty political protester Charlotte in 'Bad Blood', and Superman's biological mother Lara in 'Superman: Requiem'.

www.twitter.com/ameliatyler