By Andreas Kessaris for Curtains Up!
“I guess if there is a legacy, it is that they did support a lot of people and created a lot of careers. There was a bravery to take on things that most people wouldn’t necessarily touch.”
-Wendy Palmer
I am among the minority who list George Harrison as their favorite Beatle. I have always admired his songs from the Fab Four the most and enjoyed his solo work. (And I believe, like George Carlin, that the wrong two Beatles died first.) Not many people remember that for about a dozen years, the quiet Beatle was involved in independent film making and was responsible for classics of the modern British cinema like Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Time Bandits, The Long Good Friday, Mona Lisa, Withnail and I, and Nuns on the Run; and launching the careers of actors like Bob Hoskins and Pierce Brosnan, as well as directors like Terry Gilliam and Neil Jordan. The story of his ill-fated production company is chronicled by author Robert Sellers in the book Very Naughty Boys: The Amazing True Story of HandMade Films.
In his thoroughly-researched and expertly-written book Sellers relates the story of HandMade Films from its almost accidental beginnings to its tragic downfall with clarity and British terseness, intricately pieced together from interviews with most of the principals involved. He slowly unveils the story in chronological order, leaving the reader dying to turn the next page. There are numerous fascinating and delicious anecdotes on the production of the films, (from both the creative and business sides), where the witnesses in most cases do not pull their verbal punches, (like what Richard Griffiths calls Sean Penn).
Reading Very Naughty Boys I was quite surprised to discover two things: Indie production companies do not operate all that differently from major studios, and George Harrison was actually little more than a “figure in the background” or “sleeping partner,” (how “silent partners” are apparently referred to in the U.K.), despite the fact that I recall hearing his name dropped in just about every television ad for a HandMade movie, (but that was most likely an attempt by his business partner, the untrustworthy Denis O’Brien, to exploit Harrison’s name).
As a book Very Naughty Boys is not ideal. Occasionally Sellers falls into the redundancy trap, and more than once he inexplicably allows his interviewees to stray into needless digressions. I was also annoyed by the author’s use of British idioms that often left me scratching my head. (For Example: “But telling Bob not to get excited is like telling Ian Paisley in full flight not to mention the Troubles.” What the hell does that mean???) Another concept I had a tremendous amount of difficulty fully comprehending is why, on the front cover, is former Monty Python member Michael Palin’s name displayed as large and prominently as Sellers’ when all Palin did was write the forward to the book? And on top of that what he wrote was brief, unremarkable, unfunny, and little more than an uninspired summary of the text. (Maybe the publishers learned a lesson from O’Brien and are trying to exploit Palin’s name?)
I must say, however, that the few faults in Very Naughty Boys are ultimately superficial. I found it to be a satisfying and informative read with something to say about the industry and numerous lessons to teach, and would recommend it for anyone who appreciates brutally honest insider show business stories.
