Alexander Stuart

My friend, the film critic Ryan Gilbey , recently wrote this piece for the New Statesman in Britain about my work on the first three drafts of the script of Jonathan Glazer's upcoming film, Under The Skin , released April 4 in the US and already in release in the UK and elsewhere. Working with Jonathan was a great experience, and Under The Skin itself is an extraordinary piece of work, both in terms of Michel Faber's novel and Jonathan's film. Ryan's review of Under The Skin is here , and to experience more of Ryan's work, check out the Guardian article about my lifelong friend and collaborator (on Insignificance ), the great British filmmaker, Nicolas Roeg, at the end of this blog post from June 3 2012: Nicolas Roeg - His Own Timing, His Own Wisdom and Kindness. Here is Ryan's New Statesman article: Isserley, Penélope Cruz and the slow gestation of Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin Jon

Scarlett Johansson in Under The Skin. Ryan Gilbey has an excellent article in today's Sunday Times about British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer's movie, inspired by ("adaptation" seems too literal a word) Michel Faber's deeply unsettling novel, Under The Skin. The film stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien predator (of sorts) who picks up male hitchhikers in the seemingly unlikely landscape of Scotland. (I'm half-Scottish; somehow science-fiction isn't a topic you most immediately associate with Scotland.) I worked on the first three drafts of the script, before Jonathan - over the period of a decade - took it in a totally new direction, including the intriguing device of having Johansson pick up unsuspecting real-life hitchhikers (who were later persuaded to sign a release for the film - or not, in some cases) and see what came next, courtesy of a camera hidden in her truck. Ryan was kind enough to quote me twice in his piece. You can read

American Hustle is my film of the year because it's a magnificent, warm, funny, outrageous, quirky, affirming celebration of life – and, ultimately, love. In a year when American cinema in particular seems obsessed with lone figures surviving – Gravity (the most undeniably cinematic of the loner/end of empire canon); Captain Phillips; All Is Lost; Spike Jonze's reflections in Her on our increasingly overwhelming relationships with technology (that or his breakup with Sofia Coppola); Inside Llewyn Davis (more like a struggle to endure an overdrawn underworld myth) – it's incredibly refreshing to see David O Russell choreographing such a beautifully judged, inclusive and loving ensemble film as American Hustle. From its unforgettable opening with the World's Greatest Combover (and a sweeping Duke Ellington track, Jeep’s Blues ), to its extraordinary, thrillingly cinematic highlights – such as the coming together of opposing forces ("I know who you are