The Hot 100 2011 - No. 1: Peter Mullan

Tyrannosaur, Neds, BAFTAS and the upcoming War Horse - 2011 has been Mullan's year

‘I’m confused but delighted,’ says Peter Mullan when I inform him he’s number one on The List’s Hot 100 for 2011. Speaking over the phone from Glasgow in the midst of tucking into ‘a roll and sausage’, Mullan lets out a sort of gravelly, staccato-like…

Interview - Jeff Bridges on his role in the Coen brothers’ True Grit

From Oscar-winning Crazy Heart, via digital makeover in Tron, to classic western

After his Oscar for Crazy Heart and his digital makeover in Tron: Legacy, Jeff Bridges is now stepping into John Wayne’s old role for the Coen brothers’ True Grit. Alistair Harkness meets the most relaxed man in Hollywood

Peter Mullan's Neds revisits 1970s Glasgow gang life - interview

The director gives a straight-talking tour of his old city haunts

It’s the first Wednesday of the New Year and I’m driving with Peter Mullan across the Clyde into the Southside of Glasgow. We’re on our way to Cardonald, the predominantly working-class area of Mullan’s home city that serves as the backdrop and…

Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky interview

A dark, mind-bending thriller that puts a trippy twist on Swan Lake

The first time Darren Aronofsky watched his new film Black Swan with an audience, at last year’s Venice Film Festival, it was not a particularly comfortable experience. He wasn’t suffering from first night nerves. He was simply worried about the…

M Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender plumbs new depths

Director spouts nonsense about children’s cartoon adaptation

It was sometime around July of 2010, a time when lowly journalists were still shuffled into London hotel rooms to politely listen to film-makers modestly tell of their own creative genius. On this particular occasion, the assembled throng – a…

How Shutter Island invokes the spirit of Sam Fuller and Shock Corridor - Martin Scorsese interview

‘Sam Fuller and Shock Corridor can only be conjured as a mantra!’ barks Martin Scorsese, pointing his finger purposefully at yours truly. ‘Shock Corridor is a classic work of art! It’s unique; it comes from the unique experience of being Sam Fuller.…

John Hughes - Some kind of wonderful

John Hughes never meant much to me as a kid. Put it down to timing. I was ten when The Breakfast Club came out, the perfect age for Back to the Future, not for a bunch of high school stereotypes hanging out in detention. Sure, I liked Weird Science…

Larry Charles: Beyond Belief

‘The controversy of people standing in front of a theatre with placards means nothing to me,’ announces Larry Charles. The Borat director and US comedy colossus, famed for his creative input into genre-redefining TV shows Seinfeld and Curb Your…

Visionless Express - Fernando Meirelles director of Blindness

‘What’s the most challenging thing about making a film about blindness?’ asks Fernando Meirelles, the relentlessly upbeat director of relentlessly downbeat mood-blackeners City of God and The Constant Gardner. ‘Trying to establish relationships between…