We’re delighted to announce a very special Kill Your Friends event at Festival No.6. We will be showing a sneak preview of some clips from the forthcoming film of John Niven’s brilliant novel about the dark side of the music business, starring Nicholas Hoult as Steven Stelfox (released on 6 November). The mighty John Niven, Owen Harris (Director), Will Clarke and Gregor Cameron (Producers) will also be in conversation about the film with Irvine Welsh.
Agreed fifi, lots of dates flying around now! Great to have definite theatrical releases for France, UK and Ireland.....and...Exciting fact: the world premiere happens a whole 3 months earlier!
The Fantasy Filmfest in begins 5 August in Berlin, that is only 5 and a bit weeks away!
Do we have any German fans out there? Going to get tickets?
Yes! A big thrill to see Damo post the trailer door pic AND the fact that he got to see a screening of it. I wonder what it's like to see yourself in a film. Must be a surreal experience watching the character 3rd person, but remembering it 1st person. I hope he's thrilled with his "little fella".
Went through his Twitter, as you do, and Rosie I do believe this is the first direct post he's done about KYF! There were the enigmatic ice-cream tweets, and a few retweets later, but otherwise he's kept fairly silent on the whole thing. If it weren't for his co-stars we might not have known while he was filming what he was up to. At the time he'd just finished TBOAA, I too am surprised he didn't use the trailer door as an avi for a bit. But he's always careful about oversharing until things are officially announced...
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
The first thing I thought when I saw that pic was it looks like a twitter avvie in waiting. Perhaps he got impatient to use it. Or perhaps he's got another one lined up for something else which is happening when kill your friends is released..... lol! I'd guess he went to a screening, but I'm surprised that no-one else seems to have mentioned it....unless they did and I've missed ìt?
I recall that he tweeted something from the Electric Ballroom.....I don't think it was explicitly about kill your friends, but felt like the closest he came to acknowledging he was involved - tho I can't actually remember what it was!
It's all been so quiet around this film for so long - it feels like it's gaining some momentum at last.
domino reported a few "music types" have seen the film a couple weeks ago. I did see one tweet, but don't know who it was.
oh yeah, when he saw a Hudson Taylor poster at the Electric Ballroom. not a peep about why he was there, but we knew because there had been a call for extras or something to film the club scene there. Which is where his comedic dancing gold is supposed to happen and I can't FREAKIN WAIT TO SEE IT!!!!
I keep getting excited, and then I remember I wont be seeing this till sometime next year.
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
Totally a Being Human / Ripper Street moment! Cannot wait to see Damien in pics with both Craig Roberts and Joseph Mawle. It's gonna be such a good weird!
Interesting in-depth interview with KYF writer John Niven in the Independent.
The whole thing is worth a read, but the below stands out for me...
A fast and furious satire of stomach-churning excess, it features a memorable and monstrous anti-hero – Steven Stelfox – who spends much of the book with his penis stuffed into the mouth of one hapless prostitute or another, before deciding that the best way to get the better of his business rivals is simply to kill them. Niven doesn't soft-soap the racism and sexism in the industry – and the book is bursting with energy and outrageous behaviour.
"I was a political indie kid in my teens," he says. "I'd never hang out with people who would scream sexist abuse at women out of a van – but I can see how Kill Your Friends might be misinterpreted as a celebration of sexist culture. But I don't think that's what the book does. I'd be scared of a world where you couldn't have sexist, racist and misogynist characters in novels. To put these people in novels doesn't mean that that's what the book is; I mean, Lolita isn't a paedophile's handbook."
I ask him whether he wanted to say something about men. "I think that comes dangerously close to asking, 'what is the novel about?' It's about itself for 330 pages is the answer to that. Beware the novelist with a political agenda or message. There are novels written from that wellspring, but not ones I enjoy. I didn't set out to write a corrective text: the worst of humanity are often very entertaining. And writing about it keeps us off the streets."
I agree: I wouldn't want to live in a world that didn't allow offensive characters in fiction. Nor do I believe Steven Stelfox represents anything other than himself. The book is first-person narrative, with Stelfox as the narrator. He makes himself the hero of the story and he's still grotesque! And because he's the narrator, other characters are seen through his skewed perspective, which he proves over and over isn't anywhere near the way the rest of us see things. We don't just react to the other characters, we react to Stelfox's reaction to them. We can see he has faulty judgement. We can see he's a filthy kind of crazy that makes us cringe.
I'd never consider KYF a commentary on men. Stelfox is no more representative of real men than Barbie is of real women.
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He'd have told me to join him, and I would. - still true!
I also agree TJ, and it can be incredibly cathartic to watch a deliciously evil character. For me there is some discomfort in watching sexist racist homophobic characters and a slight inner confliction with enjoying it as entertainment, I get that it is fictional and not a commentary but still do feel something unsettling, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing in art. hope that makes sense. To give an example, Wolf Of Wall Street - a dark comedy - hilarious but at the same time I was left feeling a bit uneasy, not because of the whole explicit thing at all, but because of the sexism. Now I know that Leo Dicaprio and Martin Scorcese were not advocating any of it at all, but nevertheless. debauchery drugs sex in films never an issue for me but prejudice and exploitation on screen, without a comeuppance or some kind of non acceptance does always make me feel weird in whatever context its portrayed, so I laughed in the film but there was something niggling me too.
Domino, again we think alike. I'm bothered by racism and sexism (including homophobia) in real life, and have spent most of my life battling both, even to the point of restricting my children's access to their grandparents until said grandparents promised to change their language and behavior.
It bothers me in books, in music, in film. I cringe, and I've been known to walk out of a film because of what I consider gratuitous violence toward women. Obviously, some kinds of films I avoid altogether.
In the case of KYF, I'll be looking for how the narrative translates to the screen. I know what to expect, and I doubt I'll be rooting for Stelfox. I just hope the film doesn't try to polish him up and make him presentable somehow, in spite of his horribleness. I want him to be irredeemable.
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He'd have told me to join him, and I would. - still true!
I'm glad John Niven said that KYF is just about itself. I didn't read it as anything other than entertainment.......with a side helping of post Thatcher Britain and the detrimental effect that record companies had on the music industry. I certainly didn't consider Stelfox to be representitive of men., just a man. Interesting that you should use Barbie as a comparison tho TJ - they're both pretty evil in their own ways. But whereas most people would agree that Stelfox is pretty twisted, Barbie is given to little girls to play with......presumably they are supposed to identify with her!
There is plenty in the book to feel uncomfortable about and no attempt was made to make Stelfox in anyway sympathetic. I didn't really see him as being sexist, racist etc....because the fact is that he doesn't like or have any respect for anyone other than himself - who or what they are has no bearing on whether he's prepared to tolerate somebody....just what advantages he might get from them. I didn't like him.....but at the same time I strangely didn't find myself hating him.......maybe because we do see everything through his eyes. I think stunned is the best I can come up with. As the book unfolds I became more and more absorbed by the possibilities of what he might do next......and was still endlessly taken by surprise.
The film will inevitably give a different perspective - I'm quite fascinated to see how he comes across. I doubt I'll be rooting for him either, but I hope that he's true to the book. I really hope that he remains irredeemable too! And I like the fact that there isn't any comeuppance at the end....there's something about the story which would make that feel too contrived.