[faroutmagazine.co.uk]
MUSIC
Keith Richards once picked his favourite directors
Jordan Potter
WED 4TH JAN 2023 16.00 GMT

Long before the years of Studio 54 and MTV, the glamorous worlds of film and music were already intertwined. Through the rise of Hollywood, stars like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley illustrated the merge of these two art forms as both actors and singers, and over the decades since, the intrinsic bond has become ever stronger. For Keith Richards, acting has never been an attractive side career, but that doesn’t detract from his penchant for classic cinema.

In 2004, Richards was asked by a fan on his website what his favourite movies were, to which he quipped, “I’m blind”. After a brief chuckle, The Rolling Stones guitarist revealed his love for film as he pointed out one of the issues of being on the road with the band. When you’re “in New Guinea”, he offered as an example, it’s pretty difficult to keep up with Hollywood.

Richards went on to describe his love of classics played an important part in his downtime and explained how they cause him to have late nights. He revealed, “Two nights ago, I really pissed off my old lady because I stayed up all night watching Sherlock Holmes movies that were on a roll.” His love for the oldies doesn’t stop there. “Silent movies I love,” Richards said, adding, “I write music to them.”

This is not the only time he has made his love for the classics clear. While promoting the Martin Scorsese-directed Rolling Stones concert film, Shine a Light, he ran off a list of his favourite directors to Entertainment Weekly: “I love film. D.W. Griffith. Hitchcock. William Wellman. I mean, should I go on? I know my movies.”

The Rolling Stones were never far from the big screen, whether it was Mick Jagger’s performance in 1970’s Donald Cammell-directed classic, Performance, or their 1968 short film, Sympathy for the Devil. The latter was made in partnership with eminent French director Jean-Luc Godard.

“Godard…I really liked his dark, French-gangster movies,” Richards added in his conversation with Entertainment Weekly. “I think the guy went mad. He’s a Frenchman. We can’t help them.”

Additionally, Richards is ostensibly proud to have worked alongside Scorsese for The Rolling Stones’ 2008 tour documentary, Shine a Light. “I was always very aware of his films from Mean Streets on,” Richards said of the Taxi Driver filmmaker. “I think he’s one of the best moviemakers.”

Keith Richards’ favourite directors:
D.W. Griffith
Alfred Hitchcock
William Wellman
Jean-Luc Godard
Martin Scorsese

"I think the guy went mad. He’s a Frenchman"

Nope! He was Swiss and he came from a very rich family. That's probably why he endorsed that "class struggle/Maoist revolution" bs so easily after 1967.

Very strangely Keef doesn't mention one single Brit director... though the after-war gave the world plenty of really good film coming from the British Isles.

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dcba

Very strangely Keef doesn't mention one single Brit director... though the after-war gave the world plenty of really good film coming from the British Isles.

Alfred Hitchcock was British

Wasn't looking too good, but I was feeling real well.

I’m suprised he would know a relatively obscure director from the 1920s-1940s like Wellman

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Taylor1
I’m suprised he would know a relatively obscure director from the 1920s-1940s like Wellman

Could be a "war" thing? Wellman was a 14-18 true hero and he directed a gut-wrenching film about WWII and the battle of Bastogne ("Battleground").

"Alfred Hitchcock was British"
Ahem you're right but he's kinda considered American as he made all his masterpieces there. His British career was a blueprint for what would come later (imo).

he writes music to silent films?

wouldn't mind hearing him score some silent films

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dcba

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Taylor1
I’m suprised he would know a relatively obscure director from the 1920s-1940s like Wellman

Could be a "war" thing? Wellman was a 14-18 true hero and he directed a gut-wrenching film about WWII and the battle of Bastogne ("Battleground").

"Alfred Hitchcock was British"
Ahem you're right but he's kinda considered American as he made all his masterpieces there. His British career was a blueprint for what would come later (imo).

You’re correct. According to Wikipedia, he gained U.S. citizenship in 1955, so he’d of had to renounce his British citizenship; something you no longer have to do. Still, I think one can think of him as an Anglo-American. From interviews I’ve seen, he didn’t lose his English accent.

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dcba

"Alfred Hitchcock was British"
Ahem you're right but he's kinda considered American as he made all his masterpieces there. His British career was a blueprint for what would come later (imo).

You make a good poing as most of his films take place in the US.

Wasn't looking too good, but I was feeling real well.

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CindyC

You make a good poing as most of his films take place in the US.

OT but there are two names who were given by the American film industry the possibility to create masterpieces after masterpieces : Hitch and John Ford.

Had both stayed in England they would be considered as "talented filmmakers".
Thanks to America they're ranked as "geniuses".

Come to think of it : didn't America enable our Stones to move up from "talented band" (63-64) to "genius band" (65 and going)...?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-01-07 22:21 by dcba.

But John Ford was born in the US



ROCKMAN