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For over three decades, British journalist Alan Jones has been one of the most tireless reporters on the horror, science fiction, and fantasy genres with countless articles for numerous publications, however it is his association with a horror legend that he is most known for. Since 1981, Jones has been the go to guy for anything Dario Argento and has visited and reported from every set of Argento's films since. He has taken his love for Argento's films into a best selling book in 2005. PROFONDO ARGENTO is what many fans consider to be the definitive book on the career of the legend. Also the organizer of FRIGHT FEST, known the world over as the premier British horror film festival, Jones took the time to talk to the Crypt to talk extensively about his special relationship with Dario as well as his other endeavors in this Crypt exclusive.
COLONEL’S CRYPT: What was it that made you decide to create a book on the career of Dario Argento? ALAN JONES: My good friend Maitland McDonagh did her book on Dario (BROKEN MIRRORS/BROKEN MINDS) and I felt it was fine but too academic. It’s not what I want to read about those sort of films. I’m a nuts and bolts person, I want to know where it was filmed, who was in it, why they did it, what Dario did and what inspired him. I didn’t want to read about the different subtexts and layers of psychology. I told Maitland that it was not interesting to me. A couple of other books came out, including another one by FAB Press and I felt they pretty much did the same thing. Chris Gallant (author of ART OF DARKNESS: THE CINEMA OF DARIO ARGENTO) looked at his work from the same side of it. I’ve known Dario since 1981 and I always just went out and reported on his films. When I went back to them all, the set reports, I felt there was a lot there that people didn’t know so I felt it was about time that I did this. Then I got a job for Channel Four in Britain doing an Argento documentary, AN EYE FOR HORROR. I said “Well here’s my chance now to catch up with all the people I never got around or had a chance to talk to.” I have to say that I did try to interview everybody that I could. I did try to talk to Suzy Kendall for THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE. I found out that she did live near me but she really had no interest at all. I just said to her “I just want to talk to you about the film. I don’t want to talk about any scandals.” She wouldn’t do it. Anyone who asked me “Why didn’t you do this or talk to this person,” and I did, but they just refused to speak. That was the long way round of that. I just decided to put everything into the book that I had, and not rewrite it radically. I wanted people to know what it was actually like to be on set of his films. I’m still thrilled to death to go on his films to be honest with you, even though I’ve found the last few of his films to be boring. Have you seen MOTHER OF TEARS? CC: No I haven’t yet. It comes out here in June. AJ: I’m looking forward to going on the set of GIALLO. I’m due to do that in April, and it’s always exciting. I love Turin and I try and put that across. I’ve said that quite a number of times but the very first time I ever met Dario, he said to me “You really like my work, I can tell. I’m going to ask you to keep all my fans informed.” I made him a promise then and I’ve always done it. That’s why I do it to be honest with you. When I go on set for what I do, whether representing FANGORIA Magazine or CINEMAFANTASTIQUE, I try and put people there to share my excitement. As much as his work has slightly tumbled, I think it’s hard to see past OPERA for me. I quite like some of the movies past OPERA but that was the last masterpiece for me. So when people say to me “His work isn’t as good as it used to be,” I go “Well there are some excellent films and some not so excellent,” and that’s what keeps me going. CC: My personal favorite from him is OPERA with SUSPIRIA a close second. I think the last movie I really loved from him was THE STENDHAL SYNDROME, there’s something about that movie I loved. AJ: That’s my least favorite. I felt it was two movies thrown together. I had a great time on that movie I have to say. It was great covering that. I like Thomas Kretchmann, he’s become a really close friend, and of course Asia who I’ve known forever. I don’t think that film works but that’s what is so great about this to me, the fact that you like something I don’t, and you may not like something that I love. I think that’s what it’s all about. CC: Oh definitely, and someone may think we’re both nuts. AJ: You’re not right and I’m not right, it’s just a matter of opinion. CC: Going back to your work. You said you met Dario in 1981, so TENEBRE was the first film you covered? AJ: TENEBRE was my first. It was a very odd situation because I was working for a video company here. A friend of mine set up a company called VIDEO MEDIA and I used to work for her. Completely out of the blue, she picked up TENBRE for theatrical distribution in England. I couldn’t believe it and she didn’t know that I was such a big fan. That’s exactly how I got to meet Dario Argento for the very first time. He came over to discuss the campaign. He was aware of my work. He had read some of the stuff that I had written on him and he literally said to me to carry on. From that moment on, I was going to Italy. I had never been asked before and I wasn’t going to go completely off my back, but when he said “Next time I make a movie,” which turned out to be DEMONS in this case, I went over to do DEMONS and I’ve been on every single film set from then on. CC: Were you always a fan of horror? AJ: Oh yes, ever since I was a child. We used to go all the time. It is different here. I don’t know how old you are Scott, but over here you had to be a certain age to see horror films, you had to be over 16 years old in my day. That’s not the case in your country but here it was quite difficult to do that but once I was able I tried to see everything I could. CC: I like how you dissect everything into the films and the main people into Dario’s life. What would you say was the most fun you had in terms of putting together a section, whether an interview or reflecting back on a movie? AJ: Michael Brandon completely flummoxed me because I didn’t expect him to be so knowledgeable on FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET. I’m sure you’ve done your share of interviews Scott with actors and probably have found some of them after a few questions to be quite boring. A friend of mine always says “Actors need lines to speak because they have no personality,” and I find that to be true. Mostly you don’t get much out of actors other than what attracted them to a certain role, but Michael Brandon shocked me. He had completely total recall on FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET and literally could remember every single thing about the film. I was quite staggered by that, and yet I interviewed John Saxon who did TENEBRE, and he couldn’t remember a thing. He didn’t even remember being in it. I had to tell him who he played. Michael Brandon really impressed me and we talked for a long time. I couldn’t use most of it in the book because it would’ve been too top heavy in his department but he was the one I really liked the most I have to say. He’s still doing some great stuff. Dardano Sacchetti I thought was actually the most honest with me which was one of the reasons why I put his interview literally as the very first interview you read. After going through a lot pages on me going “Dario’s fabulous, I love his work,” and whatnot, I wanted somebody who would chronologically say “Yeah he’s great but to be honest with you he’s a total asshole and I had a really difficult time with him. He’s not the God that everyone thinks he is,” so I thought that was the balance that was needed. That’s why I structured it that way so people would see this wouldn’t be so psycho-phatic thing, that there would be some criticism. That’s why Dario likes the book actually because he knows I gave him ssort of a bit of a rocky ride through it. If I don’t like the films, I’ll tell him. I’m always honest with him. Sometimes it’s difficult but I always tell him how I feel about his movies. I think if anything that’s why I’ve lasted this long in his universe because I will actually say what I mean. CC: One of my favorite sections is the one on Asia. AJ: Everyone loves Asia. (Laughs) I’ve known Asia since she was six. What can I tell you? It’s really strange for me to see her now. Seeing her recently, she is really looking great. She always looked fantastic but she was really thin and beautiful but now she has really rounded out into that real Italian prima donna. She looks absolutely amazing. I was staggered to see her at THE MOTHER OF TEARS premiere in Rome. I just said “My god, you’ve turned into a real woman.” I love Asia to death and again she’s another one who I’ve told that I thought that some of her career moves have been terrible, but you’ve got to admire her. She sticks to her guns and she does approach each film as an art piece. They’re pretty substandard stuff for her really but she attacks every part and she gives it a lot of go. I can’t help but admire that. I adore her and I wish I would see more of her. I will see her on GIALLO so I’m looking forward to that. CC: You’ve done a lot of writing for many magazines, FANGORIA being one of them. AJ: I do a lot over here that nobody has seen overseas. I do have my own film festival here called FRIGHT FEST and it’s a made a major deal. That’s one of the reasons why I do quite a lot of what I do here. I travel between film festivals. I’ve done a lot of DVD commentaries of course and being a journalist, I’ll do anything that I’m asked as long as I like you. I’m not doing anything for the sake of it. Being a journalist yourself I’m sure you know what I mean. I’m very much a jobbing journalist. FANGORIA is where most people know me from America but over here I cover a lot of other magazines not just in the United Kingdom but in Italy and Spain. CC: With your work with Dario, who are the other filmmakers that you feel are some of the best in the genre? AJ: Are you talking in Italy or in general? CC: In general. AJ: The thing I’m doing at the moment is I’m writing Guillermo del Toro’s biography. He’s my new Dario, I hate saying that but it’s true. I met him in 1991 at a film festival when CRONOS was coming out and we’ve been best friends ever since. His career has been amazing. Once I saw PAN’S LABRYNTH in Cannes a couple of years ago, I did the deal with him then to do the book and I told him “You’re going to go places now,” and he has. So yet again I’ve hitched my wagon for another star. I’m sorry but I really like Eli Roth. I know it’s not trendy to say that and everyone hates HOSTEL PART II but I love it. I think it’s really good and I think the best is yet to come from Eli. I also like Neil Marshall, who’s another good friend. I haven’t seen DOOMSDAY yet but I hope it’s as good as THE DESCENT and DOG SOLDIERS. I think he has a lot of talent. I do my best to follow his career. There’s a new guy here named Paul Andrew Williams. He’s done what I think is the best film of the year so far called THE COTTAGE. It’s the best British horror movie I’ve seen in quite some time. That’s going to do very well. I think the Weinstein Company picked it up for America. I’ve actually done a lot on that film here as we speak. It’s an exciting time. Look at the Spanish film industry. You saw THE ORPHANAGE, I read your review. Juan Antonio Bayona, what a great talent. Have you seen (REC), the Juame Balaguero movie? CC: I have not seen that yet. AJ: Fascinating. There’s some great stuff. It’s tragic to me that Italy used to be the one country where you can always rely on some great stuff coming out. Now it’s the least of it. It’s only Dario who’s literally working, there’s nobody else. Michele Soavi is about to do something new but that’s a way off yet. There used to be so many people doing movies there, but it’s all in Spain now, and even France. Look at the stuff coming out of France now. FRONTIERS, INSIDE, some great stuff, it’s getting more violent by the minute. They’re putting every other horror film to shame. To me INSIDE was the best horror film I saw last year. I thought it was a brilliant piece of work. CC: They’re remaking HELLRAISER? AJ: Yes. I think they’ll do a great job. I did help Clive with the very first HELLRAISER but to be honest I have no love of the film or for him for that matter. Not anymore. Good luck to them. CC: There’s a Dario influence in every single of the filmmakers you’ve mentioned. AJ: Oh yes, that is obvious. CC: Saying that these current films are getting more violent, have there been any that have affected you in a way that you are turned off by the violence? AJ: I can count the fingers on one hand the films that really did upset me in that way. Seeing PSYCHO for the first time, THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE for the first time, and THE EXORCIST, those three I think and SUSPIRIA, and as much as SUSPIRIA I think pales to OPERA and INFERNO, which is still my favorite Argento film, they did do something that most horror films these days don’t do. They don’t upset you. They don’t dare to do anything different. They’re just by the numbers. Those are the films that broke new ground in a spectacular way and I wish more films would come along to do that. CC: What’s your take on the new digital age coming about with films being made with video cameras and have you spoken to Dario about the digital age as well? AJ: That seems to be all there is now. The last two films I covered here were on video, so there wasn’t any film involved at all. It is interesting. Italy being the industry it is will be one of the last to embrace anything new because it takes them forever. It takes them ages just to get lunch out of the way. You’ve just got to look at their CGI. When you see THE MOTHER OF TEARS, it’s just shockingly bad and you know that the CGI industry has come further than this, even Italy has to catch up. They’re very slow on the uptake there I think. Yes, Dario likes it and he’ll approach it but I think he won’t bother too much with it until it’s an inevitability where it’ll be like the outdated Technicolor stock he used on SUSPIRIA. How much longer does he have to go, he’s almost 70. I hope he drops dead on a film set, as long as he keeps going. CC: What’s your take on it? AJ: I think it’s great, anything that makes it simpler. Anything that makes films stick around. How many times have I tried to organize retrospectives of some great movies and they’re disastrous? Nobody bothered restoring them, the film stock’s terrible. Whatever the new digital system is, I’m sure they’ll be able to let film stick around. CC: You mentioned your first set visit was on TENEBRE, yet in your book you have so many amazing photographs and memoirs of his previous films. Was organizing material for those films the most difficult challenge for PROFONDO ARGENTO? AJ: Not really because I always had the stills. That was the least of it. I’ve had everything, from the moment I saw THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE I’ve collected everything on Dario. I have it all. I have even more than he does. I would go to his apartment in Rome and I would take a look around to see what he had, he had nothing. All the stills you see in the book are all mine. Dario had nothing. The Italians don’t think it’s important. That’s one of the reasons why I go to the premieres in Rome for all his movies. The week of release is the only time you could actually get the posters and what they call the photo busters with all the pictures. I just realized THE MOTHER OF TEARS photo busters existed because I couldn’t see any around and I got the very last set. There are also the personal pictures I took. I just put them in the book anyway because I was so excited being on the sets. I like the photographs because they tell a different story. I try to put in more information on the photos that weren’t in the main body on the text so that people had an extra different texture there. CC: Have you thought about writing and directing a film yourself? AJ: No, I’m not interested. The only thing I’ve always wanted to happen and although I’ve appeared in quite a few movies, I’ve always said to Dario “Please kill me off in a pre-credit sequence. I want to walk down the street and I want to be stabbed horribly or have my head cut off and have it thrown down a sewer.” He’s never done it. The closest I came to it was in OPERA, the Urbano Barberini character had my first name Alan. Although he swears it’s just a coincidence, I know he gave the character the name because of me. I’ve always wanted to be killed in one of his movies but I think I’m getting a little too old now. CC: It’s never too late I always say. AJ: It’s true because I think it’s one of those things that has gone on so long that if he actually did it, it would be quite disappointing (laughs). I’ve love everybody out there to look at a film he was doing and to see me come out there and go “He finally did it. He killed Alan.” CC: In America, I’ve seen the lengths people have gone to be a zombie in a George A. Romero film. Did you see DIARY OF THE DEAD? AJ: I quite enjoyed DIARY. CC: I know that there is someone out there who would have hydrochloric acid poured on their head for that scene to be in a Romero film. Some people are die hards, there’s no doubt about that. AJ: Would you? CC: Fuck no. AJ: (Laughs) The longest I’ve been around on one of Dario’s sets was on THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA in Budapest. I was on the set for a week and to be honest it was too long. I was just hanging around watching that stuff, I wish I had something to do. To have Sergio Stivaletti to make me a face mask would’ve been a relief. CC: Dario works with the same people from film to film. Have you found his process to be much easier with the crew as time goes on? AJ: Every film I’ve ever done with him has been great. They always move like clockwork. Claudio Argento’s son Milo is now one of the people who looks after Dario. He has the core technicians. Lynn Swanson is always the dialogue coach, Claudio is the main producer. It works. It’s like a family going back, it really is. I find it so effortless. Dario makes it easy for me, I don’t have to go through any press. I just tell him I’m coming tomorrow and he goes “Sure.” Part of me wishes he would shoot in Rome because I love that city but he’s shooting in Turin more. I’ve grown to love the city so I like going there too. I hope he doesn’t do anything in America. I didn’t go to Vancouver to the two TV programs. I felt that Vancouver was too MTV. I also didn’t really care for the two MASTERS OF HORROR episodes. CC: I liked JENIFER a lot, PELTS was OK. AJ: It’s what it is. They helped get THE MOTHER OF TEARS done. If that’s what it needed, fair enough. CC: How long has FRIGHT FEST been about and what made you decide to launch your own festival? AJ: I’ve been writing since 1977 and the first film I covered on location was STAR WARS, which I didn’t realize at the time but was an amazing thing to have done. I was literally one of the few people allowed on the set and I made sure I let everybody know I was there (laughs). I still write about my experiences on that set thirty years later. I’m quite well known in England and in the mid 1980s I started doing a film festival called SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK which was a 24 hour film festival. We remember starting in mid day on a Saturday and would show films over a 24 hour period, we would only show new movies. It was there where I played TWO EVIL EYES and that was the very first time I brought Dario over to meet the fans. That changed to a festival called FANTASM and again I brought Dario over because I showed a retrospect of his films. The fans loved that. That transformed into what is now FRIGHT FEST which is the European version of FANTASIA. FRIGHT FEST is in its tenth year and it’s gotten bigger and bigger. I have to be honest, I rely on Guillermo because the last three years we’ve had PAN’S LABRYNTH, THE ORPHANAGE, and HELLBOY. We’re having HELLBOY 2 here this year. It’s all pretty good. It’s a five day major festival here, it’s a big deal. It attracts a lot of attention and we have a great deal of press covering it. Again, it just bolstered my profile in a way I didn’t need because people know who I am anyway but FRIGHT FEST and Alan Jones has become a brand, so that’s quite interesting. CC: What’s next for Alan Jones? AJ: I am going to be updating PROFONDO ARGENTO with GIALLO and THE MOTHER OF TEARS. I probably won’t get around to it for another year but I will be updating it to include DO YOU LIKE HITCHCOCK properly, as well as the MASTERS OF HORROR episode. I’ll make sure all that’s in there. I’m impartial to everything Dario says off the cusp where he has an idea. I file these ideas away and get back to him going “What happened to this project,” and he goes “That lasted about four weeks,” but I think it’s important to do that because the fans want to know in between THE MOTHER OF TEARS and GIALLO this is what he was thinking of doing. It’s my forensic detail of packing it with things I know fans like you would want to know about, it’s very important. The other thing about the book is that all the films I didn’t cover, it was very difficult for even Dario to remember these films. I did endless research, you have no idea. There was hardly anything existing and I’m talking pre-internet days. You couldn’t just Google this or that. I had to find interviews from that time, like with Karl Malden at the time of CAT O’ NINE TAILS. That was very difficult. CC: What would you say from your experiences on all of Dario’s sets was the most intense you’ve seen him on set? AJ: Christina Marsillach on OPERA was terrible, I was actually there for that. I think that is still the most intense but there was a moment on THE MOTHER OF TEARS where he and Asia had a bit of a major falling out. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife when that happened. Everyone just walked away and made sure they weren’t around until that blew over. That was a family thing more than anything else. Other than that, I don’t think of anything. OPERA really was the one with Christina when they shouted at each other in the middle of the street with a lot of onlookers. On every set of Dario’s, there’s always a group of onlookers watching from the sidelines. There were a lot of people on the street while he was making OPERA and they were just very shocked. I remember that Dario just really went for it and she just shouted back. Yet as I’ve always said, strangely enough I think she gives a great performance. It is one of my favorites in his films. I guess if that’s what it took, who could blame him for trying to wind her up so much. There was nothing on TRAUMA, definitely nothing on TWO EVIL EYES although Harvey Keitel was difficult for me. He didn’t want to speak to me, I had to force an interview with him. This is another thing I’ve found is that actors think they’re going to Italy to make these films in a foreign country that nobody’s going to see, and then I show up and they see that I can speak English, so they get quite embarrassed about talking to me because they don’t think anybody outside of Italy is going to see the film. Ray Liotta’s got GIALLO coming up so that will be interesting. Kelly Curtis was another one, Jamie Lee’s sister on THE SECT, she thought “I thought I was doing this in complete secret and now you’re going to completely blow my cover.” I find it very interesting, that side of it, that even in this day and age they think nobody else in the world will see these films. CC: What else is coming up other than updating the book and FRIGHT FEST? AJ: I’ve got a hell of a lot of projects at the moment. I’m doing a lot of stuff on a film called EDEN LAKE which is a horror film. The director is the guy who wrote MY LITTLE EYE. It’s going to be very strong. I’m also working on HELLBOY 2, I’m seeing Guillermo del Toro every week to talk about the book so I have that. I am also doing an all Spanish horror film festival here with THE ORPHANAGE and some other films. Then of course the Cannes Film Festival, which is the main film festival that I have to go. The end of the year is always my big festival roundup such as Sturgis and Turin. My year is maxed out, it’s quite tragic really. CC: Do you come to America often? AJ: The last time I was there was in 2001. I used to go all the time. Tony Timpone from FANGORIA is always saying “Come on over.” Unless there’s a reason to go, a junket or whatnot, there’s no need for me. FANGORIA has plenty of staff, what do they need me for in New York? I have the European side to myself so I’m staying here, thank you very much. That’s how I feel about it. Tony is a good man to work for I have to say. If people ask me to do stuff, I’ll do it. CC: I leave the last word to you. AJ: Thank you so much Scott and thank you for loving the book. I love Dario, I always will. He’s been so good to me. I could never have done anything without his help. The fact that he has allowed me for the past 25 years to be a part of his career is just unbelievable to me. I’m just staggered. He always says to me, “Here you are, my faithful.” I know nobody else will ever be in that position again, I am very lucky. Click HERE to order PROFONDO ARGENTO! (Special thanks to Michael Gingold)
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