Grant Gee – 5 February 2008

Grant and I first met back in the 1980s at a tv production company in London, in whose offices one afternoon, I interviewed the cyberpunk writer William Gibson while Grant filmed it. The resultant footage was never broadcast.

Since those early days, Grant has built up a sizeable reputation in the pop video world and, more recently, has made some standout full-length music documentaries which form the main subject of this interview: ‘Meeting People Is Easy,’ his agonising portrait of a reluctant Radiohead’s world tour; ‘Scott Walker: 30 Century Man’, a fascinating portrait of this legendary recluse in which he appears on camera for the first time; and the shortly to be launched ‘Joy Division: The Documentary’ – a standout piece of work that provides the definitive portrait of this seminal band.

His work throughout is characterised by a unique flair and style, an intensely layered form of collage filmmaking that works perfectly for the subject matter. He remains incredibly modest about his achievements, happy to give the impression that he is making it up as he goes along, and media students will learn a great deal from his account of how, with no formal training, he managed to forge a career that has led him to work with Oasis, Nick Cave, Blur, Tom Waits and many other top bands and musicians around the world.

My article about the Joy Division film, based on this interview, appears in the just-published May 2008 issue of Dazed and Confused

A full account of Grant Gee’s work can be found on Wikipedia.

My enthusiastic review of JOY DIVISION: THE DOCUMENTARY can be read on The Generalist. I saw one of the screenings in Britain in early December and was knocked for six.

Interview - Size: 51.76MB Length: 1:15:29 CND Link - Direct Link