“We are the last rock stars of our generation. The other ones are gone.”

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Today's Document
DEAR READER
Misplaced Lens Cap

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@kiestris
“We are the last rock stars of our generation. The other ones are gone.”
Michael Sheen talks about his first meeting with Neil Gaiman
I’ve made a script from David Tennant’s podcast
David: Tell me about Neil Gaiman then.
Michael: This is what brought us together. The new love story for the 21 c. When I went to drama school there was a guy called Harry Turner in my year. Within a first few weeks we’re doing something, I mean a drink or whatever, and he said to me “do you read comic books?” And I said “no”. I mean this was 1988-89.. so it was.. now I know that it was a period of time when big change, transformation going on through comic books. Rather then it being sort of just super heroes, Batman and Superman. There was this whole new era of generation of writers like Grant Morrison. And starting to address different kind of subjects through the comic book medium so it wasn’t superheroes, it was all kind of stuff going on. Really fascinating stuff, and I was totally unaware of this.
And so this guy Harry said to me “do you read them”? And I said “no”. And he went like: ok, here’s the Watchmen by Alan Moore, here’s Swamp Thing, here’s Hell Blazer, and here’s Sandman. And Sandman was Neil Gaiman’s kind of big series, sort of point his name on the map.
And I read all those, and I was just blown away by all of them. But particularly the Sandman stories cause he was sort drawing on mythology, fairy tales, folklore, and philosophy, and Shakespeare and all kinds of stuff were being kind of mixed up in the story. And I absolutely loved that. So I became a big fan of Neil, started reading everything by him, and then fairly shortly after that within six month or a year Good Omens the book came out which Neil wrote with Terry Pratchett. And so I got the book, cause I was obviously a big fan of Neil by this point, so I read it, loved it, then started reading Terry Pratchett’s stuff as well cause I didn’t know his stuff before then. And then spent years and years and years just, you know, being a huge fan of both of them. And then eventually, you know, I’ve done films like Underworld films, and doing Twilight films... and I think it was one of the Twilight films. There was a lot of veeery snooty interviews that happened, where people who considered themselves well above talking about things like Twilight: we’re having to interview, you know, me, and weirdly coming out it from the attitude of “clearly this is below you as well”. Weirdly thinking I’m gonna go: yeah, fine, Twilight... And I just used to go: you know what? Some one the greatest writing of the last 50 to 100 years is happened in science fiction, or fantasy. I mean like Philip K. Dick is one of my favorite writers of all time. In fact the production of Hamlet I did was mainly influenced by Philip K. Dick. And you know Ursula le Guin, Asimov... All this amazing people, and I talked about Neil as well, went off a bit of a rant... the interview came out, bubble. About six month later maybe: knock on the door, open the door - delivery of a big box. Interesting... Open the box - a card on the top of the box, I opened the card, it says
From one fan to another.
Neil Gaiman
And inside the box like first editions of Neil’s stuff, and all kinds of interesting things by Neil. And he just sent this stuff to me.
David: You’ve never met him.
Michael: Never met him. He’d read the interview, or someone’d let him know about this interview where I sang his praises, stood up for him and the people who are working within sort of genre... And he just got in touch.
We met up for the first time, I was in Los Angeles when he came to LA, and he said “I take you for a meal”. I was like “alright”. He said, “you wanna go somewhere posh or somewhere interesting”, and I said, “lets go somewhere interesting” he said “right I’m gonna take you to this restaurant which is called the Hump, and it’s at Santa Monica airport”. And its a sushi restaurant. I was like alright, ok. I had a mini at that time,we drive off to the Santa Monica airport and this restaurant was right on the tarmac. There was nobody else there, we got there quite early, and you watching the planes landing on Santa Monica airport. It was like extraordinary! And the chef comes out, Neil says “just bring whatever you want, chef’s choice”. I have never eaten sushi before, and we set this incredible meal when they keep bringing these, you know, dishes, and they say “this is blah blah blah, just use a little bit of soy sauce, whatever”, you know, “this is eel”... and this was one dish they brought to us they didn’t say what it was. It was like mystery dish. And yet it delicious. Few more people started coming at the restaurant at that time, I said “Neil, I can’t eat anymore, I have to stop now, this is great but” he went “ok we’ll ask for the bill in a minute”, and then the door opens, and some very official people come in. And it was the FEDs. And the FEDs and we knew cause there were jackets on that said part of the federal bureau or whatever, and about six of them coming. One goes behind the counter, two go into the kitchen, one goes to the back. With like guns on and stuff, and me and Neil were like “what on Earth is going on??” And then eventually one guy said: ladies and gentlemen if you haven’t ordered already, please leave; if you’re still eating your meal, please finish up, pay your bill, leave. And we were like “oh my god we’re poisoned?? is this some terrible thing in them?” So we sort of finished, paid our bill, and then all the kitchen staff walked abroad it, and the head chef was there, the guy who was bringing us dishes. He’s in tears, and he says to Neil “ I’m so sorry”, apologizes to Neil, and we leave. And we have no idea what happened.
David: But you’re assuming it’s a mystery dish.
Michael: Well, we’re assuming... it cant be poisonous, that terrible terrible thing! So the next day was the Oscars which is why Neil was in town, cause Coraline had been nominated for Oscar. Best documentary that year was one by The Cove... which was by a team of people who had come across dolphins being killed, I think. And turns out what was happening in this restaurant was they were having illegal endangered species flown in to the airport, and then being brought round the back of the restaurant into the kitchen. We had eaten whale. Endangered species whale. That was the mystery dish they didn’t say what it was. And the team behind The Cove were behind this thing, and they took them down that night we were there.
David: That’s extraordinary
Michael: for month me and Neil were like “have you heard anything - no I’ve not”, and then we heard it was something to do with a coven, eventually, we found out that they were all arrested, the restaurant was shut down, and... we had eaten whale that night.
David: That was your first meeting with Neil Gaiman.
Michael: That was my first meeting. And also in a drive home that night from that restaurant he said (and we were in my mini) “have you found the secret compartment” i said “what are you talking about?” Such a Neil Gaiman thing to say! Secret compartment. “Yeah, each of man has got a secret compartments” I said “I had no idea it’s secret”, and he pressed a little button, and a thing opened up. And it was a secret compartment in my own car that Neil Gaiman showed me.
David: Was there anything inside it?
Michael: Yeah, there was a little man and he jumped out and went hello! Erm, no, there was nothing in there. There was afterwards cause I started putting...
David: Sure, That’s a very Neil Gaiman story. All of that is such a Neil Gaiman story
Michael: That’s how it began, yeah.
I was curious how you manage to keep features consistent when you draw them? Do you use models? Is there a model for Crowley? He is very handsome.
I don't use models per se, but I sometimes keep files of photos or art that resembles the subject.
Crowley is based a bit on the French actor Alain Delon who was once considered the handsomest man in the world. He doesn't look exactly like Delon, but that is in my head when I draw him. I recall reading Neil and Mr. Pratchett once considered Peter Sellers for Crowley.
There is no reference for Aziraphale because he is entirely in my head and I can't really find anyone who looks exactly the way he does. I recall reading that Neil and Mr. Pratchett thought of Brian Dennehy at one point, but my head canon Aziraphale won. I think a Brian Dennehy Aziraphale would have been amazing, though. Anyway, he is actually kind of hard for me to draw because his facial structure is a bit outside my usual style. His face is a bit long and his eyes closer together than I normally do, and if I'm not careful, he slips away. He appears younger and more classically handsome as an angel than he does in his corporeal form, but I think he's quite fetching as a bookseller.
Michael Sheen is so perfect in this role it is really hard not to leak bits of his performance into the graphic novel edition, but I have to resist the impulse. I am not allowed to use any of the show actors as models.
I adore Michael Sheen. Who doesn't?
Adam is also a head canon character. He is a perfect young Greek God, so that's kind of drawing on a day with a Y in it for me.
The inspiration for Newt I'm keeping a secret. I submitted a number of sketches for Newt. The show Newt dug in deep and I had a hard time shaking him off.
The Them are based on kids I knew. They're in my head, I don't need any photos. They don't really look like the kinds in the show. The book version of Pepper, for example, is a freckled red-head.
Anathema is an amalgam of features that don't come from one person, which I think fits the description of the character. She's also unusual for me to draw but she's easier to draw than Aziraphale. I nail her every time.
Hastur is a caricature of the stereotypical English upper class you'd see in broadsheets 200 years ago. I have a file of pictures of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury for Hastur. I considered making Hastur more handsome in a Duke of Hell sort of way, but I think Hastur likes to be scary. I keep thinking of Peter O'Toole when I draw Hastur, too.
I feel kind of bad basing Hastur on Lord Ashley because he was a wonderful person and I'm sure he didn't go to Hell.
Ligur is a broad caricature of Danny Devito. I obviously can't use a DeVito portrait. That would be wrong. But I can tweak from there and come up with a general idea of the face I want to use.
Beelzebub and Metatron are head canon, and don't look a thing like they do in the show. I postulate some demons prefer to look like their angelic selves, and at other times prefer to be fearsome. Crowley can look fearsome when he wants, for example. In the book, Beelzebub appears as a young man in red flames.
Shadwell was drawn from reference at the direct suggestion of Neil.
Madame Tracy is based on a certain person, but no one you would have heard of. The original source might not be flattered, but I love Madam Tracy. She's really easy to draw because she's a bit over the top. I'm sketching around her scenes right now because I don't have final approval on some things yet. So she might need some changes later.
War is head canon, very easy to draw. She's a knockout. No reference required.
Famine looks a lot like Famine in the show, actually, but that's what Famine always looked like, pretty much. Except he has the grey eyes he has in the book.
Pollution is initially described as being a forgettable white guy, but later described as looking like a romantic poet, which strikes me as being memorable. Because he's only on one page in his forgettable white guy phase, I chose not to make major changes in his appearance between those panels and later when he appears as his true self, because that's a bit more confusing than it needs to be in the graphic novel edition. He's rather glamorous as the essence of Pollution, though. No reference needed.
Dog is a dog.
While I do give every detail a lot of thought, I am sure other people have other opinions. I understand that, and hope you enjoy what I do anyway.
Thanks for your question.
I'm still a bit under the weather, so may be stepping away from the net for awhile so I can concentrate on work. I have a lot of sick time to make up.
But don't think I don't appreciate your interest in the Good Omens graphic novel adaptation. Your wonderful support is acting on me like a tonic, let me tell you.
Hi there Neil! This is just a quick and very silly question, but you mentioned Aziraphale likes Stephen Sondheim musicals so I was just wondering which one do you suppose is his favorite if he has one?
Sincerely,
A Very Big Stephen Sondheim Fan Who Is Very Thrilled About This
I think he really likes A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, because he liked Plautus and was a bit sad that Plautus didn’t seem to be writing any new plays anymore. He liked Anyone Can Whistle because it’s about belief and forgiveness and he liked Company and A Little Night Music because they seemed to shed some kind of light on the hardness and peculiarity of the human heart. He didn’t like Sweeney Todd, he wasn’t sure what to make of Assassins although he made a mental note to invite Crowley along to a performance, merrily we roll along he thought was upside down and back to front, he loved Pacific Overtures, was baffled by Passion, and rather enjoyed side-by-side by Sondheim because it felt a little naughty. These days his favourites alternate between Into The Woods, because it’s about stories, and Sunday In The Park With George although he’s never sure what to make of the Chromalune.
What are a couple bands or songs Aziraphel would like from the last 50 years or so? Or what would he listen to in private, like how Crowley would like Pale Blue Eyes from Velvet Underground?
The trouble with Aziraphale is he’s always going to be behind on what he hears and on technology. He doesn’t have anything in the Bookshop that plays music, apart from an ancient manual gramophone. He has LOTS of classical music, but very little that’s 20th Century, let alone “Last 50 years or so”. He’ll probably discover the Beatles somewhere towards the end of the next century.
There might be exceptions to this blog, but they’d be stories in their own right.
And obviously, he goes to the theatre. He likes Stephen Sondheim, for the most part.
And I’m pretty sure he liked Hamilton.
I think Crowley's favorite Sondheim musical would be Follies, but feel free to change my mind.
Bugger. I knew I’d forgotten one.
Good Omens || Being Two Anomalies
Being anomalies of their respective sides, thankfully, they firmly redeemed each other.
SPOILERS.
This could hurt.
Thomats: How I Met Your Father
Stephen Sondheim sings By The Sea from the backer’s audition of Sweeney Todd
What if Tony didn't get through the wormhole in time but was saved by future Stephen with his time stone and sling ring secretly.
An extremely short video.
Ironstrange - Fifty Shades of Ironstrange trailer (Fanvid)
Please read before you watch. Villain!Stephen (sort of) Tony died on Titan. After thousands of failures trying to save Tony, Stephen figured stopping Tony from becoming the Iron Man might be the only way to save him. Tony from 2008 noticed Stephen was plotting something. He confronted him and refused his solution. Stephen lost his control.