Mark Cousins is a philanthropist of cinema, plain and simple. A decade before his incredible 15-hour documentary — which originally premiered as 15 one-hour TV episodes — “The Story Of Film: An Odyssey,” Cousins was already down the rabbit hole of film history with another TV venture, “Scene By Scene.”
“Scene By Scene” ran for 24 episodes on the BBC from 1999 to 2000, and was made of in-depth interviews with some of the finest directors and actors working at the time, from Martin Scorsese and David Lynch, to Brian de Palma and Woody Allen (to hardly scratch the surface). According to a brief statement by Cousins, the series hit some copyright issues and hasn’t seen the light of day in a decade. But the man wanted these interviews out there. So, with the help of editor Timo Lager, Cousins has put together two 90 minute mash-ups of “Scene By Scene” and the first has now hit the Internet.
READ MORE: Watch: Trailer For Mark Cousins Doc ‘Storyville’
‘Mash Up Nr. 1’ features some truly incredible interviews with the likes of Roman Polanski (discussing his Holocaust experience), Bernardo Bertolucci, Dennis Hopper, Janet Leigh, Scorsese, Jeff Bridges, Jack Lemmon, Steve Martin, Jeanne Moreau, and so so many others. The interviews have a very informal quality to them, and often, they are set up as a sort of commentary to a certain film, though it often tangents beautifully and goes much deeper than any single scene. And all of it is cut together with a elegant urgency, jumping back and forth between interviewees, and getting straight to the meat of the discussion. Pretty captivating stuff, overall.
Check out the “Scene By Scene Mash Up Nr. 1” and let us know what you think in the comments below. And here’s to hoping someday we’ll get the whole of these interviews…