By Brian Landa
@BrianLandaLawyer
Lord Summerisle. Scaramanga. Count Dooku. Saruman. Count Dracula. The roles Sir Christopher Lee is best known for. Pagan leader. Bond villain. Star Wars villain. Lord of the Rings villain. Count Dracula. He appeared in hundreds of films in several languages, which he spoke fluently. But by his own admission, at least half of them should never be seen by anyone. Prolific was an understatement. Actor. Operatic vocalist. WWII Allied spy. Knighted. Descended from Italian nobility. A man of honor. He took those wartime secrets to the grave. In fact, he was often going “to the grave” in his roles.
There is a great new documentary called The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee, which uses animation, marionette puppetry and other unique storytelling methods to present the life story of this amazing human. In fact, an elaborate marionette of the man narrates the entire thing from beyond.
Directed by Jon Spira, the documentary just had its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024, Tim League’s Alamo Drafthouse-based annual genre festival for the fans. The late September takeover of the Austin South Lamar location is absolute. Every screen for an entire week filled with horror, fantasy, sci-fi and related material. What an amazing experience Fantastic Fest is, and the A-listers show up for this one! They truly understand that they don’t exist without people like us, and it is glorious.
Lee was a Tolkien obsessive for nearly his entire life. For a number of years, he was fond of saying he read the entire LOTR trilogy every year. And it was true. So it was his destiny to be Saruman. Although he was trying to play against type and lobbied Peter Jackson like a madman to be Gandalf, things fell into place as they should. Lee really didn’t like to talk about Dracula in later years, and when an interviewer refers to him as a “king of horror” in archival footage near the end of his life, he does not take it well. Because, as this film demonstrates, he was so much more than just The Prince of Darkness.
Also, in connection to Lee and his self-declared favorite role as Lord Summerisle, Children of The Wicker Man is a new documentary from director Justin Hardy that had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2024. Two of The Wicker Man director Robin Hardy’s sons, half-brothers from other mothers, Justin and Dominic, come to terms with the legendary classic that also happened to do great economic and emotional damage to their family. A philandering father and money problems are just part of the story.
So this incredible 1973 pagan folk-horror film that has enthralled many of us for decades has been an albatross around the family’s neck until now. This documentary touches on the inter-relationship between the family dynamic and the fandom. A treasure trove of papers had been recently discovered and given to the Hardy family. Tens of thousands of pages, many going into intricate details of the making of The Wicker Man. Things that even the deep dive obsessives don’t know.
So, in pursuit of understanding, the Hardy half-brothers literally go to Scotland to retrace the steps of the filming locations. They even re-create the “Will you send a dinghy, please!” scene at the dock, which became somewhat of an inside joke/term of endearment with an ex that I introduced to the film about twenty years ago. Separating Dad’s indiscretions from great art is a challenge, but they see the impact globally now. The Hardy men were fully immersed in festing the entire weekend, and it was a pleasure to observe.
Late Saturday night, the creative leaders of the fest debated on a film topic and then got into the ring at a boxing training facility many miles from Lamar and literally punched each other. The main event was Quentin Tarantino’s key stuntwoman Zoe Bell debating League about practical effects versus CGI, and then boxing each other in a controlled environment. Bell was victorious, of course.
Pretty sure I spotted at least one of the Hardy men at the boxing thing, so they’ve definitely come to a modicum of peace with the masterpiece. Or at the very least, they accept the rabid fandom. I was happy to tell them about the “dinghy” thing with the ex. And that was a nice moment in a somewhat heavy timeline overall for the Hardy family story.
It did not go unnoticed that some undeniably trans-related films are being emphasized at Fantastic Fest. This is a very open-minded community. Even here in Texas. Will Ferrell world premiered his new Netflix road trip documentary Will & Harper, directed by Josh Greenbaum, about traveling cross-country with his writing partner, who recently transitioned as a woman. Both were there in person for Q&A. And Chaz Bono, present for another Q&A, is in a splatter horror film produced by none other than Cher for Shudder, no less. Little Bites, directed by Spider One.
This type of festival involves a lot of standby lines. But that’s ideal for networking and just getting to know fellow genre fanatics. Sometimes you also stumble into greatness. Several films were filling up, so I decided on a whim to see director Benjamin Ree’s The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, another Netflix produced documentary – this one about a Norwegian young man named Mats with a debilitating deadly form of muscular dystrophy – Duchenne.
His family let him game a lot with specialized equipment, but assumed he was trapped alone and lonely in his dying body. It turned out that he had a nearly decade-long alternate life happening in the World of Warcraft as detective/warrior Ibelin. Complete with real humans all across Europe behind the avatars, true love and loss, and even some real-life meetups. Mats was always reluctant to participate in any of the live chat or video because of his twisted body, but he was fully immersed in other ways.
World of Warcraft authorized and animated some of the more than forty thousand pages of Mats’ actual game transcripts and it’s stunning. What an amazing story that gives me hope for humanity. It’s hitting Netflix soon, so I won’t say much more, but it is worth every minute, even though some of it is quite challenging to watch.
I really don’t know of any other festival where you can see Patton Oswalt talk about how The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) affected his life in a new documentary from director Alexander O. Phillipe called Chain Reactions (also featuring Stephen King, Karyn Kusama, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Takashi Miike), and then within about 24 hours, watch a funny, touching and serious documentary about Will Ferrell traveling with his trans friend cross-country. Recent Oscar winner (and predicted future EGOT) Ariana DeBose was also physically
in the house premiering her restaurant-related witch movie House of Spoils, directed by Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy. So this is the real deal. Fantastic Fest is truly fantastic, and I will be back.
