Desert Island Films – Will Gregory

Thu Feb 2024

Desert Island Films Ed. 1

Imagine being trapped on an island with nothing to do; no phones, no laptops, no wifi and the boring old commodities like food and water. But have no fear! Your island does, for some reason, come complete with a state of the art cinema with a lovely big screen and eight of your most beloved, favourite films of all time!

We have interviewed a number of people of note that are connected to the historical city of Bath. First up is Music Producer Will Gregory.

Will Gregory

About Will:
Early professional life as a session sax player and teacher. Credits include Tears For Fears, Bill Nelson, John Adams, Michael Nymann, The Cure,  and Portishead.
Writing credits:  7 Albums with Alison Goldfrapp as Goldfrapp. 
Feature Film: I.D., Nowhere Boy, Arcadia.
Silent Film: The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, People On Sunday, He Who Gets Slapped.
TV: BBC1 Chloe, Serengeti 3 series, The Spy In The Wild, Disney+ Extraordinary.
Theatre: NT Medea, RSC King John and As You Like It.

Will grew up in London but moved to the West Country aged 18 and lived in Bristol and Bath ever since.

Will’s love of film

“Purely as a story telling medium….we all like stories and the way they transport us out of our humdrum lives. As a physical sensory experience….being bombarded with vision and sound in a dark room.
The experience of the combination of text, theatre, cinematography, sound design and music that forms a unique collaboration of emotional triggers. As a vehicle for experiencing music….and smuggling in varieties of music that we would not necessarily encounter through our own choice.”

1. Night at the Opera
Marx Bros… gleeful anarchy that appeals to the pure child in me. Got a Buster Keaton designed scene in it too… and he’s another of my favourite film makers.
 
2. The Odd Couple
Neil Simon, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon. We’ve all shared a flat so we all know how this goes. Lemon / Matthau chemistry off the scale.
 
3. Dr. Strangelove
Blackest Comedy out there. Played very straight for maximum gallows humour…Sellers best role(s) in film…(apart from Being There…) Looks incredible…and still utterly relevant.
 
4. All Quiet on the Western Front
The original anti war film….made so close to the end of WW1 that it brings you closer to the horror and insanity of it than anything else I’ve seen or read.
5. L’Enfant Sauvage
Truffaut almost unbearably poignant docudrama … his own experience as an abandoned youngster gives this such authenticity…and the use of Vivaldi in the score is genius.
 
6. Once Upon a Time in America
Leone was explaining American society as built on corruption and cruelty before anyone in American had the courage to do it. And he has Morricone to help him.
 7. The Devils
Ken Russell at his height…..very OTT but it works because the hysteria of the medieval period allows for the psychedelic styalisation… and has score by Peter Maxwell Davies. Brave!
8. The Long Goodbye
Los Angeles in the 70s….and we are hosed down by it in a way that even Tarantino can’t reproduce. Intoxicating and beautifully in-consequential. Altman with his lightest touch.
 
Thanks to Will for his Desert Island Films! Look out for our next in the series coming out in March!