To coincide with the home entertainment release of
'American: The Bill Hicks Story', I had the opportunity to discuss the film with one of its directors,
Matt Harlock. I started by questioning the title, American. Bill was an American, through and through, and despite how some perceive him, he was very patriotic. He loved the ideas that America was founded on but hated what it had become; much of his comedy is based on him examining these aspects of American society and offering solutions to the problems. In addition to this there was also another intelligent ploy in the title. We actually discovered during production that there wasnt any other movie simply called American, which astonished us. So we decided this would be a wonderful opportunity to be the first to have a movie called American and by doing so and having this novelty, perhaps attract some people who otherwise wouldnt be attracted by Bill Hicks or The Bill Hicks Story. American is a word that raises questions. Just like Bill did.
Bill Hicks is often referred to as being the comedians comedian, yet one area of the film that left me wanting was the lack of any of Hicks contemporaries like Jay Leno or David Letterman or even his great influencer Woody Allen. While Harlock said this was the initial intention to have these people paying their tributes, during the making they become less important and actually would not have worked in the films cohesion. They would have been nice, and they certainly would have given people an idea of how respected Bill was, but we realised we were doing a very personal movie. And also if we had these people talking, it would not have fit with the style of the film, where everyone is giving first hand information of the real Bill Hicks behind the scenes. I liked and admired many areas of the film, from the development of the narrative to the empathy that was created for the character of Bill. However, it was the inventive and unique technique of using photographs and animation to make the film come alive and feel like a live action movie that really caught my eye. Harlock was pleased to receive such high praise, but was very thankful to receive it.
We wanted to find a way to draw the viewer into the world. We thought that in order to gain this film a cinema release we needed to make it cinematic, and simply having talking heads, apart from being quite stale, is not cinematic. We were inspired after watching
The Kids Stays in the Picture. They used old photographs from Robert Evans vault and had voice over playing over the photos to create the effect of watching moving images. We wanted to go a step further, and thankfully, much like Robert Evans, Bill had a huge archive of photos from everything he ever did. Little did we know that this technique of animating photos, which we started calling documation, then decided to go with simply the photo animation technique would take four years to complete. Despite the shock of that discovery still quite evident in Harlocks reaction, he certainly feels it was worth the wait, and I agree with him. The documation, which I think, has a nice ring to it, is something special and does so much for the aesthetic of the piece.
Ive been intrigued for some time about the idea of a Hicks biopic. In a time when everyone of any notoriety is getting the film treatment, Hicks, although less known than some, surely seems more worthy than most, given the events of his life. I enquired about the likelihood of a Hicks biopic.
Russell Crowe owned the rights for a number of years. He bought them from the family and was developing a script for years and he was going to play Hicks, but he couldnt quote get the script right so in the last six months he returned the movie rights to the family. And I think thats the most important thing: getting it right. Both myself and Paul and the family would be in support of a movie, or anything for that matter that draws attention to Bill and his work, but it has to be done well with the right people. Thats the challenge. When pushed to cast the part of Hicks, Harlock was hesitant, as if the decision would be too big for him, but eventually suggested There Will be Bloods
Paul Dano: it has to be someone who can play between 18 and 32, and also embrace all of Hicks traits and carry the same power and charisma that Bill did. I then steered my conversation to Matts future projects; this documentary has gained strong critical praise across America and now the UK, so surely he will be a man in demand. But Harlock still hasnt had time to focus on his next venture: I dedicated four years of my life to this one, I need some time to sit back and take it all in. I have a number of projects on my slate, but havent commit to any particular one yet. Given the unique, inventive, personal and insightful style American: The Bill Hicks Story, I have no doubt that whatever he chooses, Harlocks future is bright one.
'American: The Bill Hicks Story' is available on
DVD and
Blu-ray right now.