Still life... Isabella Rossellini at the Bfi Southbank. Photograph: Linda Nylind
Hello again. Since I interviewed her down at the Bfi Southbank, people have kept asking me if Isabella Rossellini is beautiful. Of course she is, but that isn't what's so attractive about her. It's her air of calm that's so impressive, a sort of self-contained stillness, a refusal to become flustered or rushed. She floated in to our interview (having just done more than an hour on stage) and was perfectly composed to go straight into more questions, even humouring me while I fumbled around her feet trying to plug in my equipment.
Her new role is as keeper of her father's flame - she's made a very weird short film with very weird director Guy Maddin called My Father Is A Hundred Years Old and was here to introduce the BFI Southbank season of her father Roberto's films, from Rome Open City and Stromboli to many of his lesser-known films, including the fascist propaganda ones he made for Mussolini. Of course, Isabella was the product of one of the most controversial romances in film gossip history, as Roberto seduced Ingrid Bergman on the volcanic isle of Stromboli - Isabella was rather touched than I'm actually going there on honeymoon next month.
Not quite so attractive were Mitchell and Webb, whose new film Magicians is a bit of a test for them. Can they really justify escaping Peep Show and Mac ads to make a big screen film? I thought the movie was OK, nothing great, but there are a few decent gags and a gentle humour throughout.
Talking to them about the debut, they seem very matter-of-fact. "It's not our money," they counter. Someone asks you to be the lead in a film and you say yes. They're right - it may not happen again. They even seemed a little nervous to be interviewed, which was rather endearing.
I spoke to the film's director too, As soon as he walked in, I recognised him from his days as a quiz show presenter - he's Andrew O'Connor, who's now made a fortune from producing magic shows like Derren Brown. He talks a very good game.
I'm delighted to have got Stevan Riley on the show - he's the director of Blue Blood, a documentary about the Varsity boxing match. It doesn't sound inspiring, I know, but it's a terrific doc which follows the Oxford team as they train for the annual Blues bout against Cambridge. It's full of interesting characters, from grammar school kids to golden bollocks posh boys, a complete jerk American (who'll probably be President in 20 years or so) and even a local butcher. Unexpectedly, there are lots of funny moments and surprises and it's all rather exciting in the end. The music's good too, including The Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Moby, Metallica, Ghetto Boys and some witty original scoring.
Enjoy the show - I'm off to Cannes next week and will be reporting for you from the Croisette. I'll also have Julien Temple, director of a new film about Joe Strummer, talking about the Clash frontman, the Sex Pistols, ABC, The Kinks and how hard it is to research documentaries these days.
A bientôt...
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