Welcome to MAD-chester and our uncovering of Michael Winterbottom's 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE
That's right! We're getting mad wi' it! We're goin' all the way to Manchester, the birthplace of exciting musical new waves since the dawn of time!
We're uncovering the Tony Wilson musical biopic 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE! Tony would make you believe this is not a film about him and how instrumental he was in nurturing these HUGE musical talents over the years using his clout as a TV personality to create the legendary Factory Records but you'd think otherwise.
Honestly, Michael Winterbottom has made a real special biopic here with a stellar cast of top shelf British talent and cameos from countless musicians who lived through this "true-to-life tale". Don't miss out and enjoy the party!
Party People and Peepees: A Cinematic Revelation
Laura: 24 Hour Party peepee.
Ryan: Um, party people.
Laura: Peepee. Well, hello there. Welcome to On the BiTTE, the podcast that uncovers full frontal male nudity in cinema. My name is Laura, and I am joined by my co host, Ryan.
Ryan: Hello.
Laura: Hi. Yeah, I'm going to sing the entire episode.
Ryan: No, don't.
Laura: I'm going to sing it.
Ryan: No, don't do that. Yeah, that is a bad idea. We just need to get through this.
Laura: I'm going to sing it right now.
Ryan: Yeah. It's like how the happy Mondays weren't able to record like, an album. They took years to do it because they were too busy, like, taking drugs and partying and stuff.
Laura: We're going to do this podcast with no lyrics.
Ryan: Yeah, no lyrics. No lyrics. And, yeah, I don't know, the happy Mondays are actually okay. I was going to say no substance, but I guess we kind of have some substance. Yeah.
Laura: Kentucky fried chicken.
Ryan: Yeah, they like themselves a little bit of takeaway.
Laura: Um, I have notes on that. I'm not going to bring it up just yet, but we are uncovering the 2002 biographical comedy drama, 24 hours. Uh, party people.
Ryan: Yes, we are.
Laura: Told you I was going to do it.
Ryan: Yeah, we're doing one of my favorite films.
Laura: We're doing one of my favorite actors.
Ryan: We are? Yes. Ah, well, before anyone gets too excited, that's not his that we see, but, uh, is this stars Steve Coogan.
Laura: Cougs.
Ryan: Big cougs playing the legendary Tony Wilson.
Laura: Absolutely.
Ryan: Of Granada fame.
Laura: Of Granada fame. Okay. Uh, Shirley Henderson's also in this film. Patty concedine, Andy Serkis, Rob Bryden, Simon Pegg.
Ryan: I, um, mean, the list goes on.
Laura: It's a very, very long list of, um, also cameos by many, many different musicians and Tony Wilson himself. And, ah, uh, directed by Michael Winterbottom.
Ryan: People who lived through the Manchester musical movement of the Mad Chester. It was pretty mental. It was pretty crazy. Um, yeah, I mean, Manchester has, uh, a reputation for producing quite, ah, stellar musical talent, um, over the decades.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: And it is directed by Michael Winterwom.
Laura: Um, before we get into that guy, I'm going to give you the synopsis. It's kind of long. Ready?
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Manchester 1976. Tony Wilson is an ambitious but frustrated local tv news reporter looking for a way to make his mark. After witnessing a life changing concert by a band known as the Sex Pistols, he persuades his station to televise one of their performances. And soon Manchester's punk groups are clamoring for him to manage them. Riding the wave of a musical revolution. Wilson and his friends create the legendary Factory Records label and the Hacienda club. The tagline for this film is share the ecstasy.
Ryan: Nice. Yeah, that synopsis wasn't bad. Yeah, it starts off as if it's going to be like a Tome. Because the minute it says a place in a year, you're like, oh, yeah, it's going to give you a place in a year later. Um. Yeah. Um. So really, this is kind of like a pseudo dramatization of as close to true story of the Tony Wilson saga. And his involvement in the Manchester music scene. Which basically kind of sees a, uh. Whole bunch of groups and bands. And things come from basically an erupting kind of musical. You know, you'll see the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, the Buzzcocks. Um, I think Susie and the Banshees, the Clash. Uh, obviously Joy Division. That then was Warsaw, and then became new order. And then obviously the happy Mondays. Um, there's a few bands and acts here that I'd never heard of before. What was that shitty band that he was tanning their legs?
Laura: Was that a certain ratio?
Ryan: Certain ratio, yeah. I don't know if I've ever bothered with that.
Laura: It also mentions the Giroudi column, and I don't know who that is.
Ryan: I mean, well, there was also that folky musician as well. That kind of keeps on coming back. Like when God speaks to him at the end of the movie, he's like. He's ready for a best hot. Like a greatest hits collection. His music is easy to listen. Cougan as lot of. Yeah, there's a lot of kuganisms in this, and certainly the film itself. And I feel like at its root, it's very organic. Which in part kind of makes it feel quite visceral and quite realistic. And it kind of doesn't have much of a preoccupation with style. Even though it has some relatively. Quite stylistic flourishes in it. Even though I think its main driving force is that it's shot relatively, quite realistically. Because it's not intrusive, like the directing style of it. Um.
Laura: Yeah. Steve Coogan said that he never had to hit a mark or find a light. There was a lot of improvisation. The only people on set typically were like Michael, uh, the dop, Robbie Mueller, the sound guy. Um, they would just huddle and move around the room. And he said he would frequently do scenes and not even know where the camera was.
Ryan: Yeah, I didn't realize that Robbie Mueller had shot this until I think there was the making of, or there was the featurette that was kind of focused, um, on Michael Winterbaum. But yeah, I mean, anyone who's familiar with anything that. I mean, we've spoken about Robbie Mueller before when we did to live and die in LA. Obviously he's worked with wind vendors before. He did Paris, Texas, Alice in the cities, um, breaking the waves with, uh, Lars von Trier.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Um, he also did repo man for, I think it's Alex Cox, um, and Ghost dog, obviously, with Jim Jarmush. So yeah, he's a pretty seasoned, uh, dop by this point.
Laura: This was his last feature film that he did.
Ryan: Oh, wow. Okay, well, yeah, that's a shame. Um.
Laura: Because he passed away. That's a shame. Or is it a shame that this is his last film?
Ryan: It's a shame that he passed away. But I'd come into making this movie with obviously quite an extensive legacy. Um, no, I think it's interesting to kind of bring up because you wouldn't look at it and think, wow, Robbie Mueller shot this. It definitely has a very distinctive kind of look and feel. Uh, I wouldn't look at 24 hours party people and think it was a distinctive, uh, Robbie Mueller movie just by looking at it. I think that's why I was kind of surprised that he'd shot it.
Laura: Mhm.
Ryan: And it's not a slight against it, it's just that it's just different. Yeah, the film does a really good job stylistically, even though it's trying to not be stylistic by virtue of the fact that it uses different cameras. It's mostly handheld, it's shot digitally and then it's post processed, which I think overall does a really good job of distillating the Manchester music scene of the time. Like the energy, the color, the culture, which I think is particularly distinctive to that musical. Uh, so, yeah, so Steve Coogan read.
Laura: In a newspaper that Winterbottom was going to make a film about the Manchester music scene and that he was already cast to play Tony Wilson. But Michael Woodnerbottom hadn't asked him. Mean, so he called him and he.
Ryan: Goes, not the best.
Laura: He's like, hey, I'm sorry, I hadn't got around to asking you yet. Will you do it?
Ryan: Well, thank fuck he said no. Yeah. Um. Well, yeah, this was their first film together, right?
Laura: Mhm.
Ryan: Um, and obviously they've gone on, when I talk about, obviously, the filmography that they've got, there's a lot that they've done. There's plenty of films that we've seen with them in it. Basically.
Laura: They did seven more projects together.
Ryan: Yeah. And they continue to make projects together.
Laura: Which you haven't even, um, I'm like skipping all the way through all my notes. So why don't you tell us about Michael?
Ryan: I will.
Laura: Mr. Winterbottom.
Ryan: So, Mr. Winterbottom. Michael Winterbottom, he's an english film director. Um, he's had three films that have competed for the Palm door.
Laura: Including this one.
Ryan: Including this one. So the other two were, ah, welcome to Sarajevo and Wonderland. Um, he got his start working in tv, and I remember first seeing his name, um, because he directed the cracker pilot, the Jimmy McGovern series. Uh, the pilot was mad woman in the attic. Um, I remember that being relatively quite distinctive. His filmography is intimidating. Um, I did write them down and I think we are going to revisit winter bottom at some point on the podcast. Um, but part of me is like, I can just do this once and I never have to do it again.
Laura: I'm just going to take a nap really quick while you do this.
Ryan: Starting in 1989, we have Rosie the great from tv. We have forget about me, 1990, which was also for tv. Under the sun from 92, which is also tv. Love lies Bleeding, 93. That was also for tv, which is also the name of a film that's coming out, uh, relatively, quite soon. With Kirsten Stewart family from 1994, which was for tv. Butterfly kiss, that was 94, go now for 95. Jude for 96. Welcome to Saravo, which is what I obviously pointed out earlier, which was 97, I want you from 98, Wonderland, 1999, with or without you from 99, the claim from 2000. And then we have in this world, 2002, code 46 from 2003. Nine songs from 2004, which wink Wink might also be a film that we do or not do. Who knows? Um, the road to Guantanamo from 2006. A mighty heart from 2007. You know that Angelina Jolie movie?
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: Um, Geneva, 2008, a shock doctrine from 2009. The killer inside me, 2010, which is a movie we won't be doing. But I enjoyed that film. Well, I say enjoyed. Um, it's a movie. Uh, the trip from 2010. The tv version. I'd obviously recommend the tv version of any of those trip, uh, anthologies.
Laura: Yeah, the series are better. You get a lot more jokes.
Ryan: Yes, because they kind of bastardized them when they brought them over to the US and kind of made them concise and to fit into movies. Uh, Trishna from 2011, every day, 2012. The look of Love from 2013. Trip to Italy from 2014, which was on tv. Face of an Angel, 2014. Emperor's new clothes, 2015. On the road, 2016. Trip to Spain, 2017. Wedding guests, 2013. Oh, wait, hold on. 2018. Sorry. Greed. Uh, from 2019, which we saw in the cinema and we did. Hated.
Laura: I didn't like it very much.
Ryan: No, we didn't like.
Laura: Oh, maybe I'll watch it again because I love Steve.
Ryan: Good luck with that trip to Greece from 2020. Isolation. 2020. 111 days in May. 2022. This England, which was 2022. And that was for tv. And then we have Shoshana in 2023.
Laura: Did you mention a cock and bull story?
Ryan: Um, you didn't. Probably not.
Laura: 2005, Tristram Shandy.
Ryan: It was the claim then. 24 hours party people in 2002. A cock and bull story from 2005.
Laura: Okay. Yeah. Oh, got it.
Ryan: Because my notes. Uh, it's a long list. Yeah, there we go. That's me.
Laura: I love Tristram Shandy. One of those, like, unfilmable books.
Ryan: Yeah. I don't know if I even said that either.
Laura: You didn't. I've been waiting because that's one of my favorites, watching that film. We had it at Hollywood video when I worked there and we had one copy and I looked at it and I go, I don't know what this is. I picked it up and that's how I got introduced to Alan Partridge. So knowing me, knowing you and stuff, they had all of the commercials, like at the beginning of the dvd, I'm like, what is this? So it's great. Big fan.
Ryan: Yeah. Because Tristram Shand. Hold on. Oh, no, it was the cock and.
Laura: Bull story in the States. It was Tristram Shandy. A cock and bull story.
Ryan: Why did they say just because it has cock in it?
Laura: I don't know.
Ryan: Either way, I did say. I said cock and bull story because that's what it was in the UK anyway.
Laura: Yeah. That's the title of the film.
Ryan: Perfect.
Laura: It's like when they did, uh, Alpha Papa and then it got brought to the States and it's Alan Partridge. Alpha Papa.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Because people didn't know. Not that would help. If you don't know who Alan Partridge is, it's not going to help anyway.
Ryan: Yeah, it doesn't matter. Okay.
Laura: That movie is very funny. So Steve Coogan actually met Tony Wilson when he was around ten years old when he went to a party.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Tony Wilson went to a party at Steve Coogan's house because his aunt was a makeup artist at Granada TV.
Ryan: All right. Okay.
Laura: Mhm.
Ryan: The people, you know.
Laura: And. Yeah. So later on in, like, 1990s, Steve Coogan was the resident funny man on one of his shows.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: And Steve said, I knew I could impersonate him, although I'd have to do more than that in the film. I had the rhythms of his speech. He would veer between being very northern, working class and then very kind of like almost.
Ryan: That. Yeah. That comes through. There's a lot of fourth wall breaking stuff in the movie as well.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: It's very kind of self referential. Um. Where it's kind of like the footnotes. Like the cliff notes of the Tony Wilson story. Just kind of reminding you that. Hold on. This is actually some. Like. Most of this is true. But here, just to make sure that we don't over exaggerate. This is exactly what's happening here.
Laura: And Tony Wilson said that a lot of stuff in the film is made up. But Michael Winterbottom said that the only stuff they used is stuff that he told. Uh.
Ryan: Yeah, I like to take. Yeah. I don't know. Well, there's plenty of quotes. There's plenty of uh. Pontificating. And uh. There's a lot of hyper intellectualism kind of going on with at least this version of Tony Wilson. Um. Like the John Ford quote where it's like if you have the choice between printing the legend or printing the truth, then you print the legend because the legend is obviously more interesting. Um. Again, that's me paraphrasing that. Anyway, I think I butchered it.
Laura: But it was around about.
Ryan: Yeah, but this covers at least about 15 years, probably. Yeah. Probably less than 15 years of this saga that Tony Wilson is involved in. Because for the most part, Tony in the movie makes sure that it's not a story about. About. It's a story of what happened in Manchester around that time that just happens to star him for the most part. Yeah.
Laura: It's also a lot about him. That's the.
Ryan: It definitely is. Yeah. And at least his depiction in the film by. Of. He's incredibly charismatic and everybody likes him. But certainly your salt of the like. You know, you've got Paddy Constantine. You obviously have Sean Ryder. You have like. You have these characters obviously depicting people from real life. They can see through the veneer of what the is. You know. The tv personality Tony Wilson. Um.
Laura: Peter hook from New Order described the film as a film about the biggest in Manchester. Played by the second biggest.
Ryan: Yeah. That makes. They're salt of the earth individuals for the most part. Like working class families who have uh. Uh. A penchant for this music, for music, for art. Um. And it very much comes through in the music. It's just a shame that these very creative individuals have to pay it up with someone like Tony Wilson. Because he has the money, he has the power to get them to where they need to be. Um, but I do like the idea that we watch the film and Tony is an onlooker. Like, he's your pathway into this world. Um, and it does hit a lot of the main marks without feeling too political, I guess, because it does refer to a lot of. Certainly a lot of the timestamps in the movie are referenced by moments in history. And I think the film is split into two halves by that point. It starts in 76 and effectively ends, let's say, what, 97?
Laura: I think it is something like that.
Ryan: When the hasie enda shuts down. Um, so it starts with, obviously the birth of this character, this Tony Wilson, who's already quite, ah, ah, a prominent tv figure, very well known, very well liked. Um, and he decides to obviously enter the Manchester music scene, which is now, at this point in the 70s, starting to explode because punk has made it onto the scene. And then we effectively focus on his relationship to, uh, Joy Division.
Laura: Yeah, that's the beginning. It's like Joy Division is the beginning and then the end is happy Mondays, basically.
Ryan: Pretty much, yeah. And the halfway point is pretty much Ian Curtis's suicide.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: And then we immediately. There's a slight lull and then we immediately are introduced to the happy Mondays.
Laura: There you go. Yeah, that's it. You wrapped it up.
Ryan: Pretty much. That is my summary of the movie. I hope you enjoyed it.
Laura: So Mick Hucknell stopped speaking to Steve Coogan after the joke about God calling his music rubbish.
Ryan: Yeah. I mean, it is though. I mean, simply red just is not a good band. It's not a good. Just. They're not very good. Mick Hucknell's awful. Have you seen pictures of Mick Hucknell recently? He's got a gold tooth.
Laura: You did show me that recently. I don't know why that came up, but yeah, you did.
Ryan: I was like, look at this, look at this mint. Like, whatever he's trying to do. Um, he had that one song that was very popular in the. Couldn't care less about simply red. So, yeah, I think if McLaughlin, if you have an opportunity to excise met Cucknell from your life, you'd probably take it.
Laura: Wow.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: He's not going to talk to you anymore either.
Ryan: Oh, that's a real shame. I mean, not like he spoke to me before. Uh, well, it just means he's got no sense of humor. That's the problem there. That's what that comes across as. He has no sense of humor whatsoever.
Laura: I have so many interesting facts.
Ryan: Yeah, I just find them interesting. Yeah. Because I don't really want to go beat for beat in the movie. There's a lot of funny stuff in the film. Certainly a lot of my notes are basically like, um, they're just lines. Wasn't this funny? He's like talking about Alice Cooper, ah. On his show. And he's like, supposedly he'll be hanging a dwarf live on stage. There's a lot of reference to dwarfs in this movie that I found because there's the dwarf. He's going to hang on stage. Alice Cooper, obviously. Um, there's the dwarf that he meets who's washing the elephants at Chester Zoo.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: And then I thought there was another one. Is there not another one?
Laura: Not that I remember, but yeah. Well, how detailed are your notes on that subject?
Ryan: I have no idea. But, uh, one of my favorite bits in the movie, and it's completely innocuous, is when they meet Peter K for the first time. And he's called, I think it's Don Tony. Right. He's the guy owns the initial club, which is what effectively becomes the first, like Fac number one, I think. Fac one. And he just points at the cleaning lady in the middle of dance floor and he just goes, Margaret. And that's it. And for whatever reason, uh, it's so funny. One of my favorite bits in the movie, and then I guess we can kind of move on, is the conversation as to how they come to the name factory because it's such a legendary moment. Because certainly in the Manchester music scene like the factory and factory records and, uh, the legacy of the hacienda, that sort of thing, how innocuous it is that they come up with the name of factory and it's just like, yeah, I just saw a sign that said factory closing. So we could just have something that says factory opening.
Laura: The idea was that Tony would be a slightly unreliable narrator, which we've kind of already gone over. So the writer Frank Cattrell, Boyce and Winterbottom kind of talked about the model being Tristram Shandy, where you've got someone struggling to tell a story. So I think that's kind of interesting how Tristram Shandy was maybe always something they wanted to deal with and then they ended up three years later actually making that film.
Ryan: Yeah, I think I like the fact that as much as this is grounded in reality, it's kind of like the story as told by Tony Wilson. And it's kind of quite fantastical as much as it is true. And there are elements of it that are true. It's like the fantastic journey of Tony Wilson because, yeah, as much as he tries his best to detach himself from being a prominent player in this narrative, he is a prominent player in this narrative. Like certain wheels do not turn, certain cogs do not turn unless Tony Wilson is there to help them turn. And it's know Andy Serkis is in the movie and he's probably the standout role, in my opinion, as Martin Henna, um, the quote unquote genius, quote unquote music producer. Um, who, when he dies, his body was so big that his, uh, coffin could not fit in the hole because the hole for the grave was not wide enough. Like he was too big for death. Um, like his standout moment. He is incredible in the film and obviously Paddy consedin doing his very best. Paddy Consadine as the incredibly scary manager, uh, or was manager of Joy division, then new order, I think it was. Um.
Laura: He's great. He's always great. They're all so young and cute.
Ryan: Yeah, they are incredibly young and. Yeah. Christopher Eccleston's in it for like 20 seconds. He has like a quote that gets.
Laura: Repeatedly the homeless guy on the street. It's great.
Ryan: Yeah. Because they do that whole thing where they reenact very prominent moments in Tony Wilson's career.
Laura: Mhm.
Ryan: And kind of give them, I guess, a little bit more artistic. Tony Wilson. Anthony Wilson used to. Used to present, um, wheel of fortune in the UK, which is where I remember him from. I don't remember any of these other shows and stuff. I was far too young. But yeah, I do remember Wheel of Fortune. So a lot of these moments, like these weird pieces that he gets sent to do, like the elephant and the duck herding the sheep.
Laura: Yeah. Um.
Ryan: Why a duck? Um, and then obviously the crier. Is it the crier? Is that what they call them? Crier, the town crier?
Laura: The hang glide.
Ryan: Yeah, the hang glide, yeah. And it's like the amount of artistic weight they put on these moments as well, which I find very amusing. I do feel like a lot of the movie is a little fantastical purely on the basis so that people can find it funny because it's so ridiculous at points that it is just a bit barmy for the most part.
Laura: A really fun way of doing a musical biopic, essentially just turning it around, kind of using Tony as a tv presenter and bringing that into the narrative and kind of using the film know he is the tv presenter of the film and kind of bringing us through, uh. I love the moment later on where he's like, oh, did you notice that some of the real people we're talking about are actually in the film and.
Ryan: Then pointing them out to us in hidden roles? Um, yeah, because I can't remember her name. But the woman who's like the backing singer for the happy Mondays.
Laura: Mhm.
Ryan: Was actually the backing singer for the happy Mondays.
Laura: That's great.
Ryan: Um, and she reprises her real life role in, obviously, the recreation here. Um, yeah, I do like that. Effectively, what 24 hours party people is, is if you've seen any kind of modern comedy show, it kind of falls into a lot of the trappings of that. It's like handheld camera, mostly improvised, and it's kind of a little bit more ridiculous than you want it to be. So m. It's kind of very much like. Well, I think it falls into that camp. I think, like the thick of it. Um, or the office. Um, or even parts of Alan Partridge, like early partridge. I think it falls squarely into that, where it's mostly dialogue heavy and it's not particularly visual comedy.
Laura: Right. Because they're playing it straight.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Because you can't play it as a joke. Because that doesn't make sense.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: That's not funny.
Ryan: So that's kind of where I kind of feel like it falls under because there's some weird stuff in this movie as well.
Laura: Aliens and stuff.
Ryan: Aliens turn up and Sean Ryder has a vision and there's an alien and the spacecraft has Bez on it. And then Bez shows up and everyone's like, it's fucking Bez.
Laura: I was just thinking about velvet Goldmine when that happened.
Ryan: Yeah, but, yeah. Spaceships. Yeah. Well, this film's better than velvet Goldmine. Um.
Laura: They're different.
Ryan: They are different.
Laura: Their value.
Ryan: Yeah. This film just, uh. I'm a little bit closer to this. I love this film so much. Yeah.
Laura: Before we get into any other thing, I just want to say that they recreated the hacienda, basically to scale. And one of Steve Coogan's first gigs was actually at the Hacienda in 1986, where he opened for his brother's band. And he said he got goosebumps when he walked in to that set for the first time because it was just so perfect.
Ryan: The way they had done it was. I, uh, think it was torn down. Right. Or it was repurposed. Um, because the end of the movie is when it gets repossessed, basically. Um, yeah.
Laura: Uh, Steve Kugan said that there was no legendary last night as depicted in the film. He got to do his climactic speech for that scene. Uh, they got it out of the way with a clear head. And then he said he took half an e after. It was an immersive experience.
Ryan: Wow.
Laura: And they weren't particularly well behaved.
Ryan: All right, well, there you go.
Laura: They partied.
Ryan: So that never happened. Apparently not, no, it just got repossessed and that was it.
Laura: But the actors did party good.
Ryan: So a thousand Mancunians did not, uh. What was the line again? May 1000 Mancunians bloom? Yeah. So they did not bloom in real life, which is a shame.
Laura: That moment in the movie where Tony goes into the back of that shaggon wagon. Who was he with? Do you remember? I don't know who.
Ryan: That guy, Peter Kay.
Laura: He's getting a blowy from that prostitute.
Ryan: Come in, love. And you're not going to come in and fuck off. Yeah.
Laura: I just love when Shirley Henderson, like his wife. Uh, Tony's wife, yeah. Opens the back of the van and she just laughs. She's like, what are you doing, Tony?
Ryan: Tony, what are you doing? What you doing?
Laura: And then she leaves. And he just finishes getting his blowjob.
Ryan: Yeah. He didn't want to be left with a half joby. That's when you get blue balls and then your nuts fall off.
Laura: And then she goes and sleeps with the buzzcock's singer. Right?
Ryan: Howard.
Laura: Howard Devoto. And he goes, I only got a blowjob. That's full penetration. Yeah, I like that.
Ryan: And then Howard's the bathroom attendant. Like the real life Howard's.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: And he's like, I don't remember this ever. Huh. Yeah. There's little moments like that where I'm like, yeah. You know, like, this is perfectly fine. Um, we have the special edition dvd, which is the two disc from God knows how long ago that was released when I picked it up. But it has a visual commentary of many of the original players watching the movie. We didn't watch it all the way through. Of the musician. Yeah. The musicians, like the primary players in the actual real life story who are sitting and watching the movie. Um, so I would be interested to watch that all the way through. It just. Yeah, it feels like we weren't prepared to watch the film twice.
Laura: Not today.
Ryan: Not today. Um, but, yes, certainly. That certainly looks like, uh. It's interesting.
Laura: I'm sure you get a lot of truths, a lot of secret truths.
Ryan: Or not. Yeah. Or no truths. They'll just be like, no, I don't need to talk about this because the only other thing I would like to say about the movie before we probably move on is I think that sequence where, um, they record she's lost control, I think is incredibly magical. I think it's great. The drummer's on the roof, and he's only got a snare and a bass drum, and that's it.
Laura: He goes, how am I supposed to know when to stop? And Andy Serkis goes, you don't need to worry about that. And he's up there all night, drumming all night long.
Ryan: We've got a rattle. There's a rattle, and there's a rattle in the drum kit. And how long is that going to take? I don't know. Do I still have to pay? And it's like, well, I'm still working, are I? 50 pounds an hour. 50 pounds an hour. He was a genius, though.
Laura: I think I'm ready to talk about that penis scene. Oh, yeah.
Ryan: Well, there's two.
Laura: The first one.
Ryan: Okay, good.
Laura: I, uh, don't have any more songs. An hour, 11 minutes, 17 seconds. We're on the happy Mondays tour bus. We're watching porn on the bus with best friends.
Ryan: It's like a tour montage going from location to location, and we get to see. Yeah, the happy Mondays bus is like a party bus. It's like the venga bus. The venga, uh, bus is coming, and everybody's coming. And then you're going to come. You're coming, and you're coming.
Laura: This bus is really sticky.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: So.
Ryan: Yeah, um, that bus is very sticky.
Laura: It looks really gross and smelly.
Ryan: Yeah, well, yeah, Rowetta's there and the rider. Dad, I can't remember what you say. The father rider, let's say, is just like, take the porn off. It's not suitable for the lady in Rowetta who's playing herself, like. No, I think I've seen this one before.
Laura: Um, yeah, and then you see Paul, writer.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Played by Paul Puppeell. Must be easy for him.
Ryan: Well, he's porky pigging it.
Laura: He's fully porky pigging it. T shirt, no bottoms.
Ryan: Yeah. Just penis out.
Laura: Just porky pig. Full on show for everybody on the bus. Um, he's kissing butts.
Ryan: He's kissing, like, in thongs. Lady butts. Yeah.
Laura: Encased in thongs. Kissing butts and doing drugs.
Ryan: Yeah, because, yeah, you end up seeing some vagina as well.
Laura: You sure do.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Brazilian.
Ryan: It's a real part, but. Yeah. Well, I don't know what these ladies are. I don't know.
Laura: They're having a nice time.
Ryan: They're having fun with the Rider boys? Um, yeah. Rider dies. Um. Yeah.
Laura: I don't know why he doesn't have any pants on.
Ryan: He's been fine.
Laura: He's, uh, just enjoying, uh, the company of his friends and family.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: I don't know how I would. Yeah, I don't have that kind of relationship with my family.
Ryan: No.
Laura: To where I would feel comfortable pulling out my penis if I was a man that had a penis.
Ryan: Yes. Just for the record, you don't have a penis.
Laura: It's a real shame. I think I definitely. Maybe in a past life, potentially. Again, I do not have one right now. And, uh, that's a real shame.
Ryan: Not really. But anyway.
Laura: Penis envy.
Ryan: Let's continue on. Yeah, no, that is. That, uh. It's a little turbo. Turbo.
Laura: It's a turbo boss.
Ryan: It's a turbo boss montage.
Laura: Turbo boss chanceless. Um, not too long after that initial scene, which I totally forgot about this one, there's another penis scene in an hour, 29 minutes and 40 seconds with the other writer, Sean Ryder, played by Danny Cunningham.
Ryan: Yeah, some stuff's happened. So they've released. Obviously, they've been gone. Tour like the happy Mondays is as a band, they are one of the sole contributors to keeping the, uh, hesianda, uh, and factory records afloat. The problem is that they're incredibly spotty and I guess a little like, it's carnage trying to get them to make music and their managers, like, enabling them and just kind know. Sean Ryder's doing heroin. He's also doing methadone. Then they want to go to Ibiza to record this album. They want to go to the Bahamas to record this album. All this sort of thing.
Laura: That was the thing about the KFC joke that they were making, because KFC was their code word for going to get drugs in real life. So there's like that shot of them walking down the street with buckets of chicken. They're like, chicken, hooray. Which is basically a joke about them doing drugs.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Which is funny because they do a bunch of drugs in the film. But I love that they also get chicken.
Ryan: So this one moment that happens in the film, which, again, is kind know. It's incredibly kind know. It's a little bit. They've gone. I think they've gone to the Bahamas.
Laura: They're in Barbados.
Ryan: Yeah, Barbados. They've, like, factory records, has no more money, and now that they have no more money, they're not able to buy drugs. So they sell all of the equipment and the furniture, and then they sell their clothes. And then there's a Sean Ryder on this tiny little island. And a title comes up called the misadventures of Ryderson Cruz Caruso. Oh, yeah, sorry. The misadventures of, you know, Robin's Caruso. Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I thought it said Ryder's cruise.
Laura: No, yeah.
Ryan: Anyway, it's on the island. It's one shot.
Laura: And Sean Ryder is out on. He says, oh, I'm off on a deserted island. He's just off on a little stone in the water. Know, I could finish the album, but why the fuck would I do?
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And he's just naked. Know they sold all their clothes to buy drugs and crack on.
Ryan: Yep.
Laura: And he's just standing there naked on a rock out in the water. Yep.
Ryan: Nice little wide shot.
Laura: And it also does like a reverse backing up thing as well.
Ryan: Yeah, it does this weird thing where it.
Laura: What is it in film terms?
Ryan: I, uh, don't know, like a filmic double take thing. Yeah, it's kind of what it does. It's the easiest way to describe it.
Laura: Him standing out there in the buff.
Ryan: Swiveling, swiveling in the buff. Swivel. By the power of editing, he will swivel, which is what he does.
Laura: I had a, uh, mini heart attack when I was looking up Danny Cunningham, because his first film credit, not the first one he probably ever did, but on know, IMDb or on letterboxed or whatever, is a little shop of horrors, which is my childhood favorite movie of all time. I could probably say every single line and musical note of little shop of horrors to you right now.
Ryan: Yeah. I mean, we don't need to hear that.
Laura: We don't have time.
Ryan: No. Or patience.
Laura: Testing my patience. No, I'm kidding. But he was a duop street singer in little shop of horrors. And I love that for him. And I love that for us.
Ryan: Crazy.
Laura: It's weird. It's just a strange thing to me.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: This movie is very fun, very colorful, weird. It's kind of exactly. I don't know, there's parts of Michael Winterbottom's movies that you would expect, like a bunch of weird shit like this, but he has other kind of straightforward things. But I always liked how he mixes reality in an interesting way, where you kind of have real characters based on real people, but they're playing. It's like an alternate version of know. Uh. He did it in the trip. He did it in Trishram Shandy. He did it in this where you kind of have these real people doing alternate versions of themselves. And I think that's always kind of.
Ryan: Like Nicholas, um, rogue that way. There's a film called. I think it's called insignificance. I think it is. Or is it performance? Might be performance where, um, I think. Is it Mick Jagger plays himself, but there's also a movie that he made where Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe also share a scene as well. And they're just kind of like wild out there versions of their real life counterparts.
Laura: I've never heard of that. Yeah, that sounds fun.
Ryan: Yeah, I saw those films when I was maybe like 18 or something.
Laura: Film school boy.
Ryan: I have performance on dvd if you want to watch it.
Laura: Mick Jagger could have been in so many different weird things that just didn't work out. Wasn't he supposed to be in Fitzgeraldo?
Ryan: Um, yes, he was supposed to be.
Laura: And I think they filmed a bunch of it, but then the main actor got sick. Anyway, wasn't he also supposed to be in Dune? In Jodorowski's Dune? Mick Jagger?
Ryan: Yeah. I mean, nobody likes Jodorowski anyway. He's kind of a bit of, uh, a really a pest. Yeah, well, because of all the. Yeah, yeah. Do you not remember any of.
Laura: Right.
Ryan: Anyway, dear, the fucking plane, like, circulating overhead. It's been going on for the last hour. It's been happening since you started the podcast. Uh, and it's just been circling around the fucking house. Crop dusting, everybody.
Laura: Why is this one episode where I get to talk about Steve Coogan cursed the dog won't be quiet, there's a plane doing wheelies in the sky.
Ryan: So here we are racing.
Laura: For, um, visibility and context. For me, I'm going to jump in. I gave it a three and a half. I don't know why. It's kind of middle of the road. Um, it is quite casual. So maybe it's more of a four, which I think is. It's a weird bit of casual nudity where you just wouldn't expect it. It's also kind of fun because it's a porky pig situation, which you don't get too often in real life.
Ryan: No, um, it's weirdly uncomfortable being in a porky pig sort of situation. If I've been in the midst of taking my clothes off and I do my bottoms first, I don't feel right having my top on. But having no bottoms on, it feels od.
Laura: It's underwear and a top is okay, but it just doesn't seem like that's the order of things, how you would take clothes off.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Go top down.
Ryan: Yes. That's usually because usually I go bottom up.
Laura: Well, so you're very familiar with a porky pig?
Ryan: No. As in, like, when I dress myself, I go bottom up.
Laura: Yeah, but then when you take them off, you go top down.
Ryan: Top down, yeah.
Laura: Interesting.
Ryan: But sometimes when I do it out, order makes me feel weird. I don't like it.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Uh, just feels kind of odd.
Laura: Well, this guy didn't feel od about it at all.
Ryan: No. And I'd probably second that. Uh, I'd probably give it like a three. Um, yeah. It is casual and it is very unexpected. But for the level of carnage, it's kind of like the least weird thing about the whole. Because they're taking drugs, there's half naked women running around the bus, there's porn on the tv. It's very much within context of what's going on here.
Laura: There's definitely more female nudity than male nudity, but it's not as bad as some other films out there, at least because you have two instances of male nudity of two different people in completely different scenarios.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: So I don't know. And they're not sexual.
Ryan: No.
Laura: Either.
Ryan: No, they're not really at all. Um, and certainly kind of moving on to the. I guess the quip, uh, the misadventures of Ryderson Crusoe. See, I got that right. That, um, just is what it is. It'll be less than a three, probably, for that.
Laura: Be like maybe a two, because it's very far away. And we didn't even realize that it hadn't crossed the radar. The only one I had remembered was the bus nudity. So this one we were both watching go.
Ryan: Oh, yeah, there it is.
Laura: Look at that.
Ryan: Yeah. Ah. So it's all contextual. It makes sense that they're there. Um, but certainly the second one is definitely for laughs. It's a quip. Yeah, certainly when that title comes up and stuff like that, it's not meant to be taken seriously.
Laura: I'm interested to see what you rated the film because this is a very close to your heart type of movie. I gave it a four. I think it's very good. If I were to elaborate, I think that everyone is so good in it and so memorable. Steve Coogan is always wonderful. I love him. He's great. We're going to go see him later this year. I am very excited.
Ryan: He's good in this, in real life movie. Uh, yeah, he's really good in the film.
Laura: He's good in all the things. And this blossomed a beautiful relationship. Between he and Michael Winterbottom, where they got to do a bunch, eight projects at least together. I don't think they're doing any more trips, um, unfortunately, because they did four so far and they're all pretty fun, but I think that's really cool. Also, Rob Bryden, that relationship also turned into really fun things because they've done a bunch of stuff together as well.
Ryan: Yeah, Rob Bryden's in it for a couple of sequels.
Laura: He's great.
Ryan: Yeah, he's good. Um, yeah, no, I gave the film a five because I've always really liked this, of, um. I like the fact that it's weird. I think I find it stranger, know. I don't expect that, uh, because there's interviews and stuff with Michael Winterbottom and what he's interested in in terms of films and things like that. So he's very much kind of into realism and realistic things. And there's a lot of stuff in this movie that's quite wild and a little bit madcap in certain ways. Certainly for someone who doesn't have a preoccupation with style, this film is incredibly stylish. And I think the thing that sets it apart a little bit is the fact that it is stylish. And I think films of this time, certainly british independent films, they're kind of flooded. Fool with a bit of style. So I kind of clash a little bit with that. But I've always enjoyed this because I've always enjoyed this story and I think the stories told particularly well. Um, so, yeah, I gave it five because it always puts a smile on my face and I'm never bored watching this movie.
Laura: Do you like Patty Constadine chasing Steve Coogan around?
Ryan: And he's good. He's good. And I mean, he calls him a cunt like no less than a hundred times.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: You know, so he has great, uh.
Laura: All of his glasses are really good too.
Ryan: They are, yeah, he does.
Laura: He has great fashion.
Ryan: Yeah. He's got some fantastic bivocals.
Laura: It's really fun. It's a really good movie. So it's nice. Great.
Ryan: It's nice.
Laura: I like it very much.
Ryan: Yeah. Well, there you go.
Laura: So, thanks, y'all. If you wanted to know who won the palm door, uh, that year, it was the pianist.
Ryan: Great that it was nominated against another romantic Holocaust movie. Um, yeah, another one of those. Um, yeah. Okay. Well, that's a shame that it didn't win. What, the 24 hours party people didn't win?
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: I mean, it's not really because it's not like the film diminishes in value if it doesn't win anything.
Laura: Very true.
Ryan: Yeah, very true.
Laura: Well, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'm glad that we got to talk about, uh, 24 hours peepees.
Ryan: Yeah, it's been a riot. It's been a riot. I was trying to think of something else to say because I had a bunch of quotes down here, but I think I said them all anyway.
Laura: Yeah, we've done it.
Ryan: We did it. Yeah, we did it.
Laura: High five.
Ryan: Yeah, I'm too big for podcast because I'm a big boy.
Laura: Oh, okay. I got it. Uh, coming to you from the hacienda.
Ryan: Just confirmed I was fat.
Laura: Well, no, you were doing the joke about Andy Circus's character.
Ryan: Let's just wrap this up. Let's go.
Laura: I did it already. Coming to you from the hacienda, obviously, I've been Laura.
Ryan: Um, I've been Harknell.
Laura: Adios. I suppose that was, uh, it. Yeah, it. God damn it. Why? Shut the fuck up. We love.