Julien Temple - Projects of The 1980s and 1990s

Projects of The 1980s and 1990s

In 1983 Temple directed a film for the BBC Arena series called It's All True, named after the 1942 unfinished Orson Welles film. Compered by Welles himself, the film comprised many short segments about the state of the video industry, both real and imagined, many featuring cameos by celebrities including Mel Brooks, Grace Jones, Ray Davies, and Koo Stark.

In 1986 he directed the film version of Colin MacInnes'' book Absolute Beginners. One of the most expensive films in British history, the fate of the studios involved (as well as several careers) were dependent on the success of the film. The film was critically panned in the UK. As it was a musical, rather than a straight adaptation of the book, it was attacked for a lack of narrative; it was also called 'a series of badly-linked music videos'. The film, like much of his music video work, reflects his ongoing interest in American musicals of the '40s and '50s, with their deeply saturated color. The film was financially unsuccessful and was partly responsible (along with The Mission and the ill-fated Revolution, which cost substantially more money) in the Goldcrest company going bankrupt. Temple found himself being blamed personally for the failure, but the film proved to have a small following in the United States (Michael and Janet Jackson were fans). This led to Temple moving to the United States, where he was offered the film Earth Girls Are Easy, as well as a series of music videos for such artists as Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Eric B & Rakim, Neil Young and Tom Petty.

Temple returned to the UK in the late 1990s, where he continued to make films and music videos. Vigo: Passion for Life (1998) recounts the passionate relationship between French film maker Jean Vigo (1905–34) and his wife Lydou, who both suffered from Tuberculosis. The film was not well received. A reviewer in Sight & Sound commented that the film "although absolutely faithful to the facts, is absolutely dreadful". Films which followed included Pandæmonium (2001), a critically acclaimed film about the friendship between Romantic poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, and The Filth and the Fury (2000), another documentary about The Sex Pistols. This time the film was made with the full cooperation of the surviving members of the band and told the story of the band from their viewpoint. This film also mixed newly shot footage and interviews as well as footage culled from The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, as well as previously unseen interviews. The film was a critical success and was seen as setting the record straight in regard to the history of The Sex Pistols.