TheirMovie Doctorsevents have brought their on-air movie chats to venues around the UK.
And theres the small matter of a brand new book, that theyve authored together.
We got to chat to Simon and Mark about it.
In lieu of me being that good, could you do that bit for me?
Mark Kermode:[Laughs]
Simon Mayo:Is that an opening question?
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Told you.
Im not up to your standard.
How should I have done it?
SM:Thats right.
You just have to have an open, bland question and see where it goes.
I can do that.
Shall I try that again?
Simon and Mark, could you tell me a little bit about the book?
SM:Oh right!
Yeah, well, okay… good question.
Therefore, hes a Doctor.
Then we wanted to do some live shows, that were clearly not going to be radio shows.
Nobody was going to be on the radio.
Thats my very long, boring answer.
MK:Thats pretty much correct.
We like the fact that were just having a conversation with an audience.
We had to have some structure to it.
Why dont we do it like a clinic?
What we wanted to talk about was the way in which movies affect people.
Im a film critic, so my side of it tends to be more earthy.
But we were very interested in talking to audiences about what movies meant to them.
How do movies make you feel better or worse?
How do they excite you?
The ideas were much better than the ones wed had originally.
So we though thats quite doable.
And so from that, we sort of decided wed write a book.
Has this been a long time coming?
MK:Wed wanted to write a book together for a while.
Its complicated, because what we do is very different, and were very different people.
What we do is different.
And as a result of doing the live surgeries, we said why dont we divide it like this?
That was basically the very broad sweep of how it began.
Simon started writing his stuff, I started writing my stuff.
As it went on, it became an ongoing dialogue.
SM:Thats a far more fulsome answer.
I think youve got the essence of it there.
That even though millions are listening, its still you in a room talking pretty much by yourself.
Mark, you said that you wanted to have conversation to the audience just before.
How conscious, then, are you both of your audience when writing a book?
And how does that compare to when youre in a radio studio, with the two of you talking?
SM:Well I always think that I would do the same show…
I did hospital radio years ago.
A Sunday afternoon programme for Southlands Hospital.
And I did university radio when I was at Warwick.
Or if youre doing it to five million people.
I know this is a cliche, but you talk to one person.
But radio, and its even more intimate cousin the podcast, is a one to one communication.
Yes, were talking to each other, but were also talking to the one person.
Which is the way it always has been, I think.
Weve missed a massive trick in not waving that around before!
SM:Im keeping that back…!
MK:Why is that not the opening line?!
Thats always been the case with the radio show.
In the case of the book, its a very similar thing.
Ive written books before that I fully understand the primary audience for is people interested in movies.
No matter how much the publishers like them to be seen as general…
I wroteIts Only A Movie, nominally an autobiography.
But its not: its a book about all the movies that I watched growing up.
In the case ofThe Movie Doctorsbook, Simons writing half of it.
Taking care of making it work for a mainstream audience is already done.
Therefore, I can spend four pages complaining about Michael Cimino because its okay.
Theres another four pages next about films that people actually like and care about.
I have to ask, then: who wrote theGeorge Of The Junglebit?
But I agree with it!
SM:There is a deep joy in that movie, and it never gets discussed ever.
MK:It is always funny to see someone flying into a tree.
We did review it, I must have been at Radio One when I came out.
We did agree that it was very funny.
But you have championed it more than I have!
SM:I havent seen it for a long time because my DVD has gone missing.
But the more you talk about it, the more I want to.
Whenever something is co-authored, Im always interested in what the working relationship was.
I interviewed Ricky Gervais a few years ago, and his first two films as director he also co-directed.
He got different co-directors too.
How does that work with you two, particularly with the book?
I would very rarely temper anything that Marks written because its a flow.
Jenny Lord, who edited the book, she would have the final say.
So its a three-hander really, although we wrote the bits and pieces.
MK:Well, we wrote the book.
Bear in mind that it took us a year to do this bloody thing!
There were some thing that we just flatly disagreed on.
That Ricky Gervais thing does happen there.
We both wrote things that got thrown out because they either didnt work for us or for the book.
The book would have had scrawl all over it.
And I think it was decided that that might be a bit annoying.
If you saw one of the earlier drafts, it was literally like a game of Risk!
Claiming land, left right and centre!
It became a bit like a wrestling match!
But the whole thing had to tie up.
When you look at the index, you realise there are a lot of films in it.
It starts with silent cinema, and ends with 21st century 3D movies.
We did straighten that out.
Also, I need somebody to say thats not funny, or thats really boring.
I dont think theres anything in the book that either of us completely disagree with.
SM:No, no.
In comparison with writing novels, it was a breeze to be perfectly honest!
I think it has a pretty coherent voice all the way through.
Sometimes a pair of voices, sometimes one.
And it looks beautiful.
Obviously, what a great gift at this time of year!
It is a toilet book, and obviously you might dip into it.
But actually it repays careful reading and contextual analysis.
MK:I cant believe you just called it a toilet book.
I read it on a Kindle at first, but I think you lose something that way.
I think the physical production values of the book are strong.
When you were envisaging this a year ago, was it always physically this?
SM: I think it was.
One of the reasons we went for [publisher] Canongate is they make beautiful books.
I had confidence with that.
But we wanted it to look beautiful.
I think the people who listen to the show, I think thats what they want.
And thats what Canongate do, and thats why we went with them.
I think were both pleased with that.
MK:We didnt start talking about this a year ago, we writing this a year ago!
The manuscript was finally finished in July of this year, and we started writing in July last year.
Just because we knew that we wanted it to be solid.
Neither of us wanted to do something throwaway.
We actually wrote this bloody thing.
For the tone stuff, we were looking at ways to make the dialogue in it between us work.
And they said why dont you two have a conversation, and well see whether it could be transcribed.
Canongate came along to several of the live shows, and helped very much with that.
They were also very good at saying a graphic will work well here, or a chart.
But everything thats written, the physical stuff, we did write.
I wanted it to be substantial in both senses.
I have to ask.
Your live show is apparently PG-rated!
Im curious what you think the BBFCs specific guidance would be for it?
MK:Who came up with the PG rating?
That was probably just a punt, wasnt it?!
SM:On the ticket to the last show we did, it did say 8+.
There might be the odd reference inYoung Frankenstein.
Basically, dont bring your toddlers!
Its not a parent and baby show!
And Ive always though am I offensive to under 12s?!
We have had some young people coming along to [The Movie Doctors] shows.
There was a kid who looked like he was about 11 or 12.
It doesnt make sense to me.
MK:Theres no profanity or swearing!
Theres probably some mild peril and sustained threat!
Mark, Ive asked you this in the past, so can I put this to you, Simon?
Whats your favourite Jason Statham movie?
SM:Oh, thats a very good question.
Im not really the aficionado of Jason Statham movies.
Mark, what should I say?
MK:I tell you, the really, really smart move would be to sayHummingbird.
SM:I thinkHummingbird.
He wears an amazing wig in that one too!
Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode, thank you very much!
