{"id":1955,"date":"2016-11-02T11:49:44","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T11:49:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oasis-recordinginfo.co.uk\/?page_id=1955"},"modified":"2017-10-18T07:31:35","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T07:31:35","slug":"mat-whitecross-part-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.oasis-recordinginfo.co.uk\/?page_id=1955","title":{"rendered":"Up on the Silver Screen: Supersonic’s Final Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Part 3 of Tom Stroud\u2019s in-depth interview with Supersonic\u2019s director Mat Whitecross<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone on the planet as passionate as Oasis fans, and it seems to be getting stronger with each year. I think the band is missed, because they went out in a blaze of glory, or dishonour or whatever you want to call it – I think that the feeling\u2019s been getting stronger all the time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Tom: Liam and Noel are both executive producers on this film. How collaborative was the editing process and did you have to take much out? Would they watch rushes and give you input?<\/em><\/strong>
\nMat: No. They weren\u2019t remotely interested in the editing process! They were genuinely not arsed at all. The Exec title thing was something that was sorted by lawyers. Executive Producer is one of those classic movie terms that kind of means everything and nothing in the sense that – you know on a drama that might mean that you\u2019re sleeping with one of the producers, or it might mean that you put money in, or it might mean nothing; it can mean lots of things.<\/p>\n

On Supersonic<\/em> it just meant that Noel and Liam had been incredibly generous to allow us to make this film about them, and that they had opened their address books and their phone numbers to us. And allowed us to contact everyone in their lives and given us 20 hours plus of their lives just to talk about the old days. So when it came to the final bit, contractually, we didn\u2019t have any obligation to change the film. But we said we\u2019d show them the film a couple of times each. The first time was obviously massively nerve-wracking. Even though we weren\u2019t necessarily going to change something on their say-so, it was more to do with things like: what if they hate it? What if we got it completely wrong? I just didn\u2019t want them to be disappointed. Not that I thought we were pulling our punches and trying to make something safe, but what if they just went, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like that\u201d, or \u201cI can\u2019t believe we spent 20 hours talking to you and this is what you made.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Noel came in first and he\u2019d just come off tour. Simon [Halfon] rang and said \u201cNoel\u2019s really sick he\u2019s just come off tour, he\u2019s knackered, probably hung over.\u201d And I said \u201cCancel it, just fucking cancel it, don\u2019t get him to come in to watch the film for the first time when he\u2019s\u2026\u201d and Simon said, \u201cNo, he\u2019s alright, he\u2019s in the cab now\u201d, so I was like: \u201cRight, brilliant, he\u2019s going to have a clear mind and he\u2019s not always the most receptive audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon had said to me, \u201cLook, with Noel don\u2019t sit there expecting man-hugs or a round of applause at the end.\u201d He\u2019s someone who if he loves it will give you a curt nod, and that will be it. If he hates it, then you\u2019ll be hearing from his lawyers. That\u2019s the vibe – don\u2019t worry about it too much and don\u2019t take it personally. He said with Liam, if he loves it you\u2019ll know instantly; and if he hates it you\u2019re just going to hear the door slamming shut as he leaves and gets in the car. And that will be it. That was how I\u2019d been briefed, and obviously I was nervous anyway.<\/p>\n

We sat in the background and Noel sat in the front row watching it on his own. He laughed all the way through which was great, and at the end there was a pause, and he was like – \u201cYeah, great.\u201d And he gave us notes – which were not what I expected, which was great. I thought he would be picking it apart and saying, \u201cWell hang on\u2026\u201d There was a danger, I suppose, that he could\u2019ve said \u201cLiam is getting more time than me\u201d, or \u201cHe got a dig in there\u201d, or whatever it might be. We tried to make it balanced and obviously they are pretty rude about each other, as they always have been, and very funny about each other. And, depending on their frame of mind when they were watching it, they might not mind or they might hate it.<\/p>\n

Anyway, he didn\u2019t mention any of that. It was a 2 \u00bd hour cut and the things he picked up on were the that film was too long. Which it was anyway: even if we\u2019d wanted to make it 2 \u00bd hours long, we wouldn\u2019t have been allowed. He said no band\u2019s documentary should be longer than their Greatest Hits which I thought was funny, even though their Greatest Hits was two albums. But anyway, I was like, \u201cOkay, fine.\u201d Then he said, \u201cYou didn\u2019t make enough of Maine Road\u201d, and we\u2019d done that quite deliberately because we\u2019d made so much of Maine Road in the eight-hour cut that Knebworth seemed like a bit of an afterthought; so I\u2019d thought \u201cCut that down, cut that down\u2026\u201d So we put in a few more lines about Maine Road, and we saw a little bit more of it.<\/p>\n

The last session we\u2019d spent mostly talking about the legacy of Oasis, and those times, and what it might mean to a new generation\u2026 and why it\u2019s arguably unrepeatable because the music industry is so fucked and beige. He said: \u201cYou\u2019ve cut all that out\u201d, which was true because I\u2019d kind of cut it out the night before, because I thought I\u2019ve got to cut something. It was a whole ten-minute sequence and we cut it out because it made it a little bit shorter. He said, \u201cI always saw this film as a call to arms to kids now. And just saying – shake things up, things don\u2019t have to be the way they are. If we can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it: just pick up the guitar.\u201d And I said, \u201cFair enough, that makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only comment Noel had that I disagreed with (and Liam had exactly the same thought) was: \u201cI think there\u2019s too much about our childhood, and about our dad.\u201d I said \u201cFair enough, but I honestly think it\u2019s important.\u201d And both of them went, \u201cOkay, alright. It\u2019s your film.\u201d Which was great.<\/p>\n

Liam sat down and watched it\u2026 and within seconds he was laughing, and heckling, and throwing popcorn at the screen every time his brother turned up. So we knew we were on safe ground. Then we went away for a week and started tinkering, cutting it down; we had to get it to 2 hours anyway. And then they came back and again, I remember Simon giving me that same speech as we went in: \u201cLook, if Noel says anything – he might not say anything – he might just give you a nod. And don\u2019t feel cut up if he doesn\u2019t give you what you want, or embrace you at the end.\u201d Anyway he sat through the whole thing in complete silence (Laughs<\/em>) and I thought \u201cOh god, he hates it.\u201d And at the end the lights came on and he went: \u201cFucking brilliant. I love it. It\u2019s great, great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was so sweet. And then I turned to Simon, whose jaw was on the floor. \u201cFucking 20 years I\u2019ve worked with that band and he\u2019s never said anything like that!\u201d I thought, \u201cWell that\u2019s a good sign.\u201d And then we showed it to Liam the next day. Liam said, \u201cIs it alright if I bring Bonehead?\u201d, and we said, \u201cYeah, yeah of course it is.\u201d I said \u201cDo you want us to go get some drinks?\u201d, so we ordered a massive stack of beers that was sitting in ice.<\/p>\n

It was 10 in the morning and they got absolutely wasted<\/em>, steaming drunk; they watched the whole thing and they were singing and laughing and dancing, and all the rest of it. Absolutely off their heads! But it was great. I don\u2019t know if they just loved being with each other or it was the film, but they seemed to have a good time and that was it. We never talked about taking something out. There wasn\u2019t anything contentious in the sense that people might think \u2013 I guess it\u2019s the closest they would get to an authorised film \u2013 but that was never on the cards, which was amazing. And I wouldn\u2019t really be able to work that way anyway, but it wasn\u2019t anything they ever suggested or tried to impose.<\/p>\n

Tom: All the time that you were making this film, you\u2019re conscious that this has to be cinematic. There\u2019s that brilliant scene where Liam\u2019s on stage and you get inside his head for a brief moment.[1]<\/sup><\/a> And Knebworth is presented in an epic way; this isn\u2019t just a documentary, you\u2019re doing something that makes a huge impact on the big screen.<\/em><\/strong>
\nMat: Oh well definitely. You know, I think you always have to have a good argument for why anyone should take their hard-earned money and walk through the doors of a cinema. Always. Because people\u2019s home entertainment is getting better, you\u2019re competing with the Amazons and the Netflixes of the world, and why should someone spend ten quid of their hard-earned cash to go and watch your film? Well it needs to feel – not necessarily big – but it needs to be cinematic and it needs to sound great, and all these kind of things. And I think the surround sound on that Knebworth footage as you\u2019re coming in and sitting down at the beginning of the film is great. It kinda feels like something out of Apocalypse Now <\/em><\/a>(dir.\u00a0Francis Ford Coppola, 1979),[2]<\/sup><\/a> and that\u2019s something that the sound team worked so hard on. That\u2019s one of the things for me.<\/p>\n

Aside from anything else the communal experience of a film – even if it\u2019s a very sober, dry film – is still amazing, because you feel the silences in a way that you wouldn\u2019t if you were sat at home with one eye on Twitter. Whereas, with a film like Supersonic<\/em>, where hopefully it\u2019s quite emotional, and exhilarating, and tragic, and all those things – you feel it twice as much or ten times as much when you\u2019re in a crowd of like-minded people.<\/p>\n

And it definitely seems to be getting to people. A friend of mine who\u2019s in a band came along to the Manchester premiere and he just came up to me at the end and I was like, \u201cWell, what happened?\u201d because he\u2019d disappeared for a few minutes. He was like, \u201cI dunno what happened but ten minutes before the end of the film I suddenly realised it was the end of the film and that was the end of the band.\u201d And he said \u201cI just started crying.\u201d He couldn\u2019t stop. And the reason he\u2019d got into music – and music\u2019s his life – was because of Oasis. And the reason he picked up a guitar was because of Noel.<\/p>\n

Tom: Wow.<\/em><\/strong>
\nMat: And the reason he writes is because of them. So it\u2019s like, \u201cOh god – it\u2019s all over, and it\u2019s twenty years old.\u201d All those things came rushing out, and I don\u2019t think you\u2019d have the same effect if you were watching it on your iPhone on the Tube or something.<\/p>\n

Tom: No, and you do engage with that younger version of yourself that was buying those records. And it\u2019s also very funny as well. It\u2019s emotional on all sorts of levels, isn\u2019t it?<\/em><\/strong>
\nMat: Right, right, no for sure! I mean\u2026 they are hilarious<\/em>. And I think we were talking before about the tabloid caricature that portrayed them as oafs, as hooligans, as idiots, as boorish and all these kind of things. But anyone who knows anything about the band knows that\u2019s not true. And yet that\u2019s the image that a lot of people retain in their minds. Everyone says to never meet your heroes but it was so nice to sit down with the two of them in that first session and go, \u201cOh yeah of course, you guys are amazing. You\u2019re hilarious, you\u2019re passionate about music, and you\u2019re very smart.\u201d I don\u2019t know why, but it\u2019s so insidious the way that things you\u2019ve read in papers somehow bleed into your consciousness and you assume there must be some kind of reality to it. I mean, I\u2019m sure that – like any rock band on the planet – they behaved terribly at times, but actually their essential character\u2026 I think they\u2019re really decent people.<\/p>\n

Tom: Is there a reason that Noel hasn\u2019t done any promo for Supersonic? Do they want to let Liam do it? It\u2019s weird not hearing his voice in connection with it.<\/em><\/strong>
\nMat: Well he\u2019s done so much anyway. It was his film that he brought to us. It\u2019s only weird in the sense that he was so enthusiastic about it but then he went off on-tour, and he\u2019s come back and I guess maybe (and I haven\u2019t spoken to him about it so I don\u2019t know)\u2026 but I saw him at Glastonbury recently and he was really enthusiastic. He was there with his family and we had a good chat, and it was all great. I imagine that if I was in his position and you think \u201cLook there\u2019s going to be a ton of press about this, and there\u2019s going to be another Twitter spat, and if I turn up at the premiere at the same time as my brother I\u2019m likely to get a beer can lobbed at my head\u2026 maybe it\u2019s better to lie low.\u201d I don\u2019t know. I mean I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll mention it in the future, but I can completely understand if he just felt like \u201cI\u2019ll let this film speak for itself.\u201d He couldn\u2019t really have done more for us, and I have to say he\u2019s been amazing.<\/p>\n

Tom: This is their story isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s the story of the band, but it\u2019s also the story of the brothers and the breakdown of their relationship. There\u2019s a real warmth and affection in the early footage, but by the end that had all changed. That montage of Wonderwall is a killer moment and you can see where all of that came from as the film plays out. That\u2019s the subtext to the whole film isn\u2019t it?<\/em><\/strong>
\nMat: Yeah, well exactly. One of the obvious things that people have been saying is: \u201cWhy wasn\u2019t that in? And how come you didn\u2019t go into the third album? Why wasn\u2019t the seventh album in there\u2026?\u201d, [that] kind of thing. And – for all the reasons that we were talking about before – it didn\u2019t seem possible to try and squeeze everything in. But I felt that we\u2019d done as much groundwork as we possibly could, in the sense that you see the seeds being sown of all those future disagreements, and you see where it comes from. Ultimately the issues are between the two brothers, but also the nature of becoming a big band: it becomes \u20189 to 5\u2019 in a sense. All those early songs were about freedom, hope, and the possibilities of what\u2019s on the horizon, and wanting to escape from the grind of working-class life. And then you escape from the grind of working-class life and you end up in another, much more luxurious prison, but ultimately it can become a bind. People get bored by it – it\u2019s not what you expected. So I felt we talked about all of that, but we don\u2019t make it to the gist of the whole film.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s my answer to all of those things, and the reason we stop when we do. It\u2019s the same about the two brothers and people asking how we didn\u2019t deal with the final break up in Paris and things like that. But I say: \u201cDo you honestly think that would have added anything to all the things we talked about along the way?\u201d Particularly the relationship between the two brothers. It\u2019s a mystery that\u2019s part of the attraction of the band, isn\u2019t it? Even if they were just two friends, like the Libertines or something, there\u2019s still another level when it becomes brothers and you shared your lives together and you\u2019ve lived in the same room. And all that kind of thing – you shared your childhood together.<\/p>\n

What I liked about the way that we did it was that we offer various different alternatives. We started off with Noel arguing that \u201cIt\u2019s just sibling rivalry, isn\u2019t it? That\u2019s what brothers are like.\u201d And then Liam weighs in with, \u201cNo, it\u2019s because I pissed on his stereo\u201d, and then Christine Biller says, \u201cActually no, it\u2019s because Noel has a lot of buttons and Liam\u2019s got a lot of fingers.\u201d That\u2019s a great line. People offer their own versions, and it\u2019s actually musical differences. It\u2019s the problems Liam had with his voice, and the fact that they have to be together but they can\u2019t be together. They resent the fact that they thought they\u2019d escaped each other after childhood and suddenly they\u2019re locked together in something that is stronger than a marriage for the rest of their lives\u2026 and nobody wants to see them apart; they want them together. All these kind of things.<\/p>\n

Adding another ten years of that doesn\u2019t necessarily explain it any more. What I loved is when we found that piece of archive where Noel was saying \u201cLook, ultimately only me and him will ever know what goes on between us.\u201d I felt that\u2019s great because we talked about all these sorts of possibilities but ultimately they are a mystery to us, and they always will be. And that\u2019s kind of amazing. One thing can\u2019t ever explain anyone. Not to compare us to Citizen Kane<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(dir. Orson Welles, 1941) but I guess it\u2019s the same kind of gimmick in that, \u201cLook, it could be all these things – but actually what it is at the end of the day is a sledge, and that doesn\u2019t explain anything!\u201d It\u2019s more mysterious at the end than it was at the beginning.<\/p>\n