By Nicole Powers
“I think if you were ever to meet a character like Captain Jack, I think the most monogamous woman in the world would probably go for him – it’d be hard not to.”
– Eve Myles
Gwen Cooper traded her ho-hum career as a policewoman to work as a professional alien catcher at Torchwood, an organization which legend has it is “separate from the government, outside the police, and beyond the United Nations.” Eve Myles, the Welsh actress who plays Gwen, in turn, has traded her life in very legitimate theater for one in the warped and sexy science fiction universe.
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by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I’m a little too hip.”
– Stan Lee
Stan Lee was recently named the 26th most influential American by Atlantic Monthly, but if it was up to me I would have put him quite a bit higher. Lee is, of course, best known as the co-creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four and dozens more, though controversy has always swirled around how big his real contributions might have been. But first and foremost Lee has always been the consummate salesman, whether it was selling the latest weird Spider-Man villain to the readers or hosting the television show Who Wants To Be A Superhero?
Lee’s latest projects are totally without connection to Marvel Comics. His company, Purveyors of Wonders, has been producing original characters for straight to DVD movies. One of the best is Mosaic, an animated film starring the voice of Anna Paquin as Maggie Nelson a high school student whose father is an Interpol agent investigating a mysterious race that can change appearance at will. After Maggie is bathed in the power of one of her fathers discoveries, an ancient runestone, she gets all the powers of a chameleon. Maggie teams up with a member of that ancient race, codenamed Mosaic, to defeat the evil Mannequin who wants to take over the world.
Read our exclusive interview with Stan Lee on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I’ve never thought about economics before.”
– David Mamet
David Mamet is one of the greatest writers who ever lived. He’s had success in every medium he’s worked in from theater to film and in the past year in television with The Unit, which he co-created with Shawn Ryan.
The show has become a ratings success for CBS. But what people love the most about Mamet is his wit, his hilarious cynicism and his ability to teach. That teaching gene has been put on display with Mamets acting classes, his book On Directing Film and now his new book, Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business.
Due to the nature of making studio films and mainstream television Mamet has been steeped in the business end of Hollywood for many years now. With Bambi vs. Godzilla he uses the classic 1960s cartoon short as a metaphor for how Hollywood treats its denizens.
Read our exclusive interview with David Mamet on SuicideGirls.com.
by A.J. Focht
Following a grueling six-year legal battle, the video game industry has kicked the ass of California lawmakers who wanted to ban the sale of violent games to minors. The successfully appealed California Assembly Bills 1792 & 1793 would have made it illegal to sell excessively violent games to anyone underage. However, there is no similar legal penalty applied for including similar content in other forms of comparable media, such as books, music, movies, etc. While the legal battle is officially over, critics of the Supreme Court ruling are just beginning to raise their voices. Everyone from The Daily Show to the Washington Times has attacked the court’s position, without ever noting it would have separated video games into a unique category, while opening the door to further censorship and restrictions on all other forms of art, creativity, and media.
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by Alex Deuben
“My ambition at the moment is to stay home and draw.”
– Dave McKean
Dave McKean’s first love was comics, but the artist, designer and writer has branched into other fields, creating book and album covers, publishing multiple books of his photographs and paintings, and has even drawn stamps for the Royal Mail. He’s the illustrator of Arkham Asylum, the landmark 1989 graphic novel written by Grant Morrison. He worked with John Cale on multiple books and collaborated with Heston Blumenthal on the memoir and cookbook, The Big Fat Duck Cookbook.
McKean is probably best known for his many collaborations with writer Neil Gaiman. McKean was the cover artist on The Sandman, illustrated Coraline and The Graveyard Book and the pair have created a series of graphic novels and picture books including Violent Cases, Signal to Noise and Mr. Punch. One of their collaborations was the film Mirrormask, which McKean co-wrote, designed and directed. It’s led to another career as a filmmaker, with two films currently in progress.
Working on his own, McKean has crafted dozens of short comics, many of which were collected in the book Pictures That Tick. He also authored Cages which is widely considered one of the most acclaimed and ambitious graphic novels ever created. McKean’s new book is Celluloid which was published by Delcourt in France and was just released by Fantagraphics in the United States.
Read our exclusive interview with Dave McKean on SuicideGirls.com.
by Keith Daniels
“This is the power of my Twitter account, motherfuckers…”
– Wayne Coyne
After 30 years together the Flaming Lips are still among the best and most interesting bands in the world. Blessed with a rabidly loyal fanbase and the pockets of indulgent major label patrons, the Lips have been able to pursue just about every project that struck their interests: recently including covering Pink Floyd’s entire Dark Side of the Moon album, releasing an EP every month for a year in forms as diverse as Youtube videos and USB drives embedded in gummy fetuses. This summer their always unforgettable live shows will even mix Dark Side of the Moon with The Wizard of the Oz in a way that seems almost inevitable.
SuicideGirls recently spoke with frontman Wayne Coyne about his new art gallery, The Wizard of Oz, and the power of Twitter.
Read our exclusive interview with Wayne Coyne on SuicideGirls.com.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
“I was going through a transition in my life.”
– Money Mark
Money Mark was money before money was a popular expression. Money’s work as the keyboardist for the Beastie Boys has made him a highly regarded figure in the hip-hop world. Its always a shock when he puts out a solo album and it is so radically different from the live and album work he has done with the Beasties. That shock was even more apparent when his new album, Brand New By Tomorrow, was released through Jack Johnsons label Brushfire Records.
Read our exclusive interview with Money Mark on SuicideGirls.com.
