Nothing but Shame

Glasgow’s biggest cinema complex was one of the venues nationwide treated to a live Satellite Q&A from rising British director Steve McQueen and screen-writer Abi Morgan last week. 

Filmed out of London’s Curzen Mayfair, the two took centre stage in front of an audience at Cineworld Renfrew Street to be quizzed on their collaboration on ‘Shame’, a new drama that has received a horde of critical praise. 

The film, directed by McQueen and written together with Morgan, features Micheal Fassbender in the lead role of Brandon, a thirty-something sex addict battling his demons in the bustling metropolis of Manhattan. 

Morgan, who also wrote the screenplay for this year’s long-awaited release ‘The Iron Lady’ starring Meryl Streep, said: “I was a big fan of Steve’s work obviously having seen Hunger and also a number of his art pieces as well. From my point of view it was a chance to meet a filmmaker I admired.” 

McQueen, who is also a Turner Prize winning artist, served up a brief introduction before the film was screened simultaneously across the 68 participating cinemas throughout the UK and Ireland. 

The London screening was attended by many well-known faces including actor Mark Strong, Vanessa Phelps and the stars of E4s ‘Misfits’. 

The Q&A commenced after the film’s screening. Conducted by Time Out magazine film critic Dave Galhoun, the pair also spoke of the film’s hard hitting sexual content, which required them to interview experts on sex addiction and addicts themselves in the US. 

McQueen said: “We’ve moved a long way from having a situation where alcohol addiction is a stigma, or having a
situation where drug addiction is a stigma; but sexual addiction is a stigma. No one wants to come out and have a conversation about it.” 

Morgan added: “What was fascinating was looking at the complexity and diversity of the men we met and so Brandon is a kind of everyman. 

“He’s the vessel that carries the overwhelming emotion I felt so much from these men.” 

Irish actor Fassbender’s outstanding performance has already earned him the ‘Coppa volpi’ for Best Actor award at the 2011 Venice Film Festival. 

Fassbender stars alongside British actress Carey Mulligan, who has also received a string of nominations for the role of Sissy, Brandon’s sister, including a Best Actress nomination from the British Independent Film Awards. 

In what may prove to be one of the film’s most enduring scenes, Mulligan sings ‘New York, New York’ in unflinching close-up. 

On the scene Morgan commented: “We were sitting up in the Boom-Boom Bar which is where that scene is shot and it was Steve’s idea. 

“When you broke down the lyrics of New York, New York it’s absolutely the most perfect song because in a way it’s about the story of Brandon. About coming somewhere and trying to reinvent yourself.” 

The content of the film has led to an 18 certificate in the UK and an NC-17 in the US, causing McQueen to joke: “When I heard about NC-17 I thought it was a rap band, I had no idea what it was.” 

The film was released in the UK on January 13th and is McQueen’s second feature film since 2008’s Hunger, a powerful drama about Bobby Sands and the IRA Hunger strike of 1981. Hunger also starred Fassbender in the role of Sands and the two are set to collaborate again on ‘12 years a Slave’ – set for a 2013 release date and rumoured to also be starring Brad Pitt.