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Talking With Patrick Meaney – Greg Baldino And The Grant Morrison Documentary Director – Part Two

Talking With Patrick Meaney – Greg Baldino And The Grant Morrison Documentary Director – Part TwoContinued from Part One:

Talking With Gods began, as you mentioned at C2E2 this past spring, as an interview for the back of Our Sentence is Up. You could easily have made this into a book-length interview with Morrison; why do it as a film?

Filmmaking is my main realm of expertise, and it seemed like, as long as I'm interviewing Grant, why not film it? Then I jumped to the idea of doing a full scale documentary. The initial impulse was the fact that there's very little video of Grant out there and I was curious to see more. I think seeing Grant speak, you get a much deeper idea of his personality and have more connection to him than you do through words.

And, I thought it would be a great challenge to try and visually represent Grant and his work, to make something that's cinematic even if it's mainly people talking.

Once you had decided to do it as a documentary, what were your considerations at the beginning of the project?

The biggest key for me was wanting to make something that had no narration, and no overt authorial hand, but instead let Grant speak and tell his story in his own words. The other goal was to make something visually exciting, and use music and visual elements in a way that would make it a real experience. I wanted to immerse people in Grant and his world.

On a logistical level, I also wanted to get as many voices as possible in the film, that's why I interviewed as many people as possible over the course of production.

The film takes a more or less chronological approach, going from his humble Scottish beginnings all the way up to his present day comics work. Why did you decide on that as a structure for the film?

It kind of happened organically. Originally I broke up the footage we had shot loosely by topic into things like "Early Years," "Dark 00s," "Comics and Cosmology," "Process" and stuff like that. As things went on, it became clear that a chronological structure made sense since all the periods clearly evolved out of each other, and it gave the film a clearer throughline. Grant has changed a lot over the course of his life and had clear evolution in personal identity, so it seemed logical to use that evolution as the film's structure.

Talking With Patrick Meaney – Greg Baldino And The Grant Morrison Documentary Director – Part TwoIn the film you talk a lot with Morrison and his friends and colleagues. Through the making of this documentary, how did your undersanding of his works changes?

I was never that aware of the process of writing comics, and how artists and writers interact, so it was pretty surprising to me to hear that Grant rarely speaks with his artists. I also was really surprised to learn that Grant draws thumbnails for all his works, and conceives things on a very visual level.

In terms of the work itself, talking to him gave context for a lot of the more outré elements in his work, and made things that were confusing in Flex Mentallo or Final Crisis much clearer. Contrary to what a lot of online fans might say, everything in the comics is there for a reason. And even as someone who loved those books, listening to him made me realize how personal every single thing he writes is.

You speak with a broad spectrum of people in Morrison's life, from mainstream comics writer Mark Waid to alt-news publisher Richard Metzger. When you were looking for people to speak with, what were you looking for?

I was looking for people who could give a unique perspective on Morrison, and particularly for people who knew him in different ways. Specifically, I sought out people that Morrison himself mentioned. So, when he talked about the DisinfoCon, I went to Richard Metzger, the guy who organized that event. Similarly, when he mentioned meeting with Dez Skinn, I went to Dez. I definitely wanted to get everyone major in the industry, but it was particularly interesting to hear from people outside of comics, and those who knew Grant before he was as famous and respected as he is now.

As experienced as Morrison is with being a public persona, you get into a lot of personal history and a lot of dark corners with this film. What was the experience like for Grant?

I couldn't say for sure, but I think he saw the entire process of making the film as putting his legacy out there. In the future, when people think of Grant, other than the work, they'll think of the person they see in this film, and I think he wanted it to be as honest and real as possible.

And I think it's notable that Grant doesn't seem to have everything to hide. He was quite open about not always being the ultra-confident ultra-successful celebrity he is now because he realizes that letting someone know he used to be a "super geek" doesn't take away from who he is now, if anything it only enhances it.

Out of everything that you cover in this film, from his career in comics to his adventures beyond time and space, what do you most want people to come away with from seeing this film?

The film ends with Grant basically saying that he just wants to tell the truth, and if you don't believe him, go out there and try the stuff he's talking about and see if it works. I'd like people to open their minds a bit and recognize that identity and even reality are fluid, and you can reinvent and change yourself into the person you want to be. If you believe it enough, just start living it and it will become real. I think that's a really positive and exciting message for the world we're living in.

Greg Baldino stepped off the comics page to live and write in Chicago. His fiction and journalism has appeared in many publications internationally. He can be contacted at greg.baldino@gmail.com.

The movie is screening at Meltdown Comics in LA, next Thursday.

Talking With Patrick Meaney – Greg Baldino And The Grant Morrison Documentary Director – Part Two


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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