Last time producer Al Clark was in Cannes he enjoyed several unforgettable minutes soaking up the applause and standing ovation that he shared with director Stephan Elliott at the end of the midnight screening of The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. This year, he is here in his capacity as producer (with Helen Leake) of Heaven's Burning (screening tomorrow, Monday 12 May at 16.00 at Olympia 1), and his track record is eclectic and impressive.
He has worked as producer, executive producer or co-producer on projects as diverse as Nineteen Eighty Four, Absolute Beginners, Gothic and Aria. His first job in the film industry was handed to him in 1983 when he was an executive at Virgin Records and the group launched into film: Clark was made head of production. He has written two books: Making Priscilla (Penguin) and Raymond Chandler in Hollywood (Silman James Press).
Born in Huelva, Spain, to Scottish parents, Clark moved to London in his early twenties and got a job as a journalist on the then new Time Out - which even now, 25 years later, sends him a copy every month.
In 1987, Clark moved to Sydney and married Andrena Finlay, who is also a producer and is currently in postproduction on her feature film, Paws. Al Clark has been to Cannes 13 times.
When did you first come to Cannes?
In 1982, as a prelude to producing films. I had to share a
bed. Things got a bit better after that.
What is your most memorable Cannes moment?
The midnight screening of The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of
the Desert in the Salle Debussy in 1994. Forgetting reporters
check their watches during standing ovations, modesty prevailed
over self-indulgence and we left the theatre after a few minutes.
What is your greatest extravagance in Cannes?
Coming at all.
What is your greatest Cannes regret?
Staying too long.
What do you like most about Cannes?
The main currency of Cannes is prestige, not wealth. If your
self-esteem is unassailably resilient, the Byzantine layers of
the place drop away along with its obstacles. And, of course,
there's the films.
What do you dislike most about Cannes?
The malicious egomaniacs, the calculator-toting gnomes, the
no-taste hustlers. And trying to get into Palais screenings.
What's your favourite Cannes spot/location?
The terrace of the Grand Hotel in the late afternoon.
What's the Cannes spot you wouldn't like to be seen dead in?
A floating brothel - and not wearing my trousers.
If you could choose, what would you most like to come to
Cannes as?
Robert Mitchum in 1954.
What is your Cannes motto?
It comes and goes.
Which words or phrases do you overuse in Cannes?
"Are you having any fun?"
Would you like to be invited to sit on or preside over the
jury?
Of course. I'm an opinionated cinephile who loves to find the
singularity in movies.
What is your favourite Cannes film of all time and why?
The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974). A great
director at the top of his form.
Berlin or Venice?
Venice.
NATPE or Sundance?
Sundance.
Petit Carlton or Carlton Terrace?
One's judgement tends to be clouded in both: usually, after
too many drinks in the first and too much effort trying to get
one in the second.
Old Palais or New Palais?
Old, but the Salle Debussy in the New Palais is the
best-designed cinema in the world for seeing widescreen movies.
Art or commerce?
Art is commerce, if it's budgeted right.
New York or Los Angeles?
New York now runs on the emergency tank of its own mythology,
while Los Angeles frantically tries to create one.
French or Italian?
Spanish.
Fax or e-mail?
I still write with a feather.
