central saint charli / debate odyssey

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0:48I'm just trying to get a taste. Oh baby, give a Gucci buckle in the snake and a hoodie looking bape. Bape. Bape. Bape? I thought it was bape. Big Shelly, then I'll wet it up. Big Shelly and I wet it up. What was it like when H hopped onto the scene? Oh, yeah, it is H, not H, isn't it? Okay. Sorry, I've got nothing. Welcome to the show, Bill Milner. Welcome to Straight Diva.

1:25So we're about to ask you about your time working with the Christopher Nolan from the Nolan sisters.

1:36We're talking about the Odyssey. Guys, we're talking about the Odyssey. We're going to get the Odyssey out of the way, okay? I've seen the Odyssey. Bill's seen the Odyssey. Sue hasn't seen the Odyssey. And Bill's worked with Christopher Nolan in Dunkirk. Very briefly. I mean, Blink and you'll miss me. Yeah, so obviously I have to be Very careful with what I say Because this is a former colleague Former colleague It's like me talking about Sonia from the Department of Health Yeah and Sue talking about Jamie from Mousetail Coffee Or Joanne from the Department of Health Who sexually harassed me

2:17Yeah Okay let's get this over and done with Okay so Bill Talk to me why did you see the odyssey and sue didn't who did you see it with what cinema did you see it in there's a way bigger point of contention than it needs to be um i went to the odyssey on my own because sue was in bright and new music coming soon how exciting yes working with some fun fab producers that you know and love uh and so i decided to take this opportunity to go to the cinema on my own mainly because i also thought sue wouldn't be that fast about seeing the odyssey so I can just get it out of the way. That said, because I was doing it sort of last minute, it did mean that I went to go and see it at Hackney Picturehouse.

3:00So I did not see it at IMAX, IMAX film or IMAX digital apparently. So I missed, I guess like what, 40 % of the film because it was sort of up there or down there. But the stuff that I did see, the stuff that I saw visually, I was whelmed. I liked it. Yeah. But I'd say that goes as far as my sort of love of the film. I did not dislike it, but I didn't feel particularly moved. Are you an Odyssey person? Love the Greeks. Love Cyclops. No, to be honest. The Roman Mysteries omnibus? I wouldn't know. You didn't read that as a good one? Big poems. It's a big poem, right? Yeah. Which I haven't read. By Homer.

3:49loads of people on the internet. Who's not a real guy? What? Homer's not a guy, apparently. No, he's an animation. Bart's dad. Nice. It's a big, long poem. Yeah. Which is fab, of course. And it seems like, I'd say, 60 % of the internet seem to have read this big, long poem, and I just don't believe you all. Right. But I think it's because you've done English at university, and apparently it's one of the first texts that you sort of studied. Louis is off. well they might have they might have read it like now they might have read it in anticipation of the film but i hear you but it's a really long poem so i think i'm getting a bit performatively classics right now yes it is yeah um but i think it is important to think about the text and from whence this story comes and uh it sounds like the people that read the poem feel like perhaps Nolan hasn't sort of reflected the poetry or use of nice language in his writing.

4:53I think it's fair to say Nolan, fantastic filmmaker, maybe not one of the better writers in cinema. You're just saying that because, oh, okay, well, I was going to say you're saying that because he's a mate. That being said, if there is an opportunity for Bill to come back in your next film, I think he'd love it. Yeah, I know. 2029. They've already announced the date. For a film that worked. Universal have just gone, back to work, you. come on chris we want another um well we're talking about it so we're sort of adding to the noise but i just have found it quite interesting how everyone sort of has an opinion and is sort of i don't know chris for nolan and his films do have this sort of like aura around them which i've even noticed people interviewing actors like tom holland who is literally spider man being like what did you do and you found out you got the job and he's like yeah i was dancing around the kitchen i called zendaya and we had like we were so excited and i'm like this is crazy like this man has this hold over the sort of film watching world um and because of that i think you it's clear that chris mnolan could basically get any cast he would want in the world and yet he chose those wow that's how i feel i think they're all wonderful actors like for example Mia Goth I have a group chat with some friends about basically just about how much we love Mia Goth and I thought she was one slightly misused but also two I was just a bit disappointed in her performance in general and I love Mia Goth.

6:27All two of her lines? Exactly I know that was the issue. I suppose is it harder to nail it in two lines like. Can I ask a question? Yeah of course. Who would you have put in it If you had a chance to put someone in I would have put Dwayne The Rock Johnson Yeah I think he was probably busy On the Moana live action movie I thought Batista could have played John Bernthal's character I sure John Bernthal was quite good I thought John Bernthal was good I loved Himesh Patel I thought he was great From EastEnders From EastEnders fame So Sue you'd know that Yeah One for you

7:12I've got to be careful I've got to be careful guys You don't have to name names It's Anwar from EastEnders For anyone listening You don't have to name names I Look I went with some friends I went to Leicester Square Theatre Which by the way Is a massive fucking scam I don't know if you've ever been to that Odian Sorry It's Tanwar Sorry not Anwar Thank you That's a good correction Have you guys ever been to Lodian Lydian Lydian Let the square No I haven't It's fucking It's dog shit Angus got us Tickets to that Because it was Meant to be this 70mm Bollocks Whatever that is Right Yes that's the That's not IMAX Is it But it's just like Just a step down It's like yeah It's slightly more So you saw a bit more Screen than I would have No but Bill It was the I've never been Further away from a Screen in a cinema Like it was I'll superimpose a Picture Well because that's it In it It's the biggest theatre I've ever been in.

8:06But the screen wasn't even wide. Yeah, so that's what I don't understand about like 35mm versus 70mm. Well, it depends what you're projecting it onto. Yeah. Because surely you could... That whole stuff I can't be arsed with. The IMAX, the cinema hysteria, I can't be arsed with. But I did love the film. But the reason I bring up who I saw it with is because my friends aren't massive Tom Holland fans. because I think there's a, you know, he did the Spider-Man thing and he's kind of a... Were they jealous that he got the part of Billy Elliot very young? Yeah, exactly, maybe. He's quite a sincere, cheesy guy, maybe.

8:47Yeah, I think so. I'd say he's just from West London. Yeah. Just like us. No, no, I don't think he is, is he? He's from Kingston, he's where I'm from. Oh, wow, that's amazing. Just another one. Another one. But I think he was great. I think it was really good casting because, Sue... Is he the main character? No, he plays the king's son, who's basically like trying to... He hasn't seen his dad. He's looking for his dad. He's looking for his dad. He's just looking for his dad. Who's the main character? Matt Damon. Matt Damon. Matt Damon's... You don't like Matt Damon? Born Ultimatum. Yeah. Yeah, great.

9:21Great. Good Will Hunting. Fab. Talented Mr. Ripley. Love. Never seen. Amazing. So good. Love it. Anyway, Matt Damon's gone and he's the king And Tom Holland is his sort of Uncapable son Who misses his dad, he's a bit vulnerable And he's not as manly as all the other Guys at home And Tom Holland, I thought So he's a poof, he's a fairy Well Yeah, you could say that Maybe But I thought he was good at being the slightly He's trying to prove himself, trying to be a manly man But he is slightly Yeah, I mean it's a classic cinema trope, let's be honest and he can do it well. Yeah, exactly. No, he's very well-versed.

10:01Well, I guess I can't get to who you think who was cast incorrectly because you're all mates with all the cast. No, but I will say, shout out to Mumsy, Samantha Morton. Oh, Samantha Morton, maybe... She's played my mum. ...supporting actress of the film or supporting performance of the film. Yeah, fab.

10:22Yeah, I'm struggling to say a few things. Apparently, from people on the internet and friends, There should be loads more shagging in The Odyssey. Like Odysseus was fucking. He was away for like, what, 20 years? He was fucking. But no, we didn't see any of that. So that's a shame. But I don't know about you guys. I think there's actually too much shagging in modern cinema. I think we could. Boring. I think less is more with shagging. And I think like there's this whole show's about shagging now. Yeah, absolutely. My dream is for Bill to get a film where he's just getting like raw dogged. And it should happen one day.

10:55I just can't wait for like the premiere and we're all just sat watching it. There's a way of being watching it. We're drinking. Yeah, premieres don't really happen anymore and all that. But Bill, I don't want to know what the discourse says about people saying it's not accurate. I want to know what you thought. I came away from the three hours in the cinema kind of entertained. Not angry. I came away entertained, but ultimately over the three hours, I left feeling quite unmoved. I really wasn't that bothered either way. I felt like, okay, if I get into it, take this with a pinch of salt and I don't know.

11:34I know, I know. Okay. From my very, very, very brief time on set of a Christopher Nolan film, he casts in a way, and I think a lot of directors do this, they cast actors with experience who can do it so that it's one less thing to worry about. For example, on the film on Dunkirk that I was in, my character didn't have any lines, was pretty much irrelevant. But the reason that they went for me as opposed to a supporting artist, formerly known as Extra, is because just in case there was something more asked of me, I wouldn't have been as phased as someone who was maybe like their first time on set or like hadn't worked with an actor you know of that level or whatever and it is that thing of like at the end of the day it's trying to keep things neat and fast and it's so that Christopher Nolan can be more concerned with the camera and what the world is seeing and all of this but what I got from it at least in the Odyssey is whilst I think everyone is doing a performance I'm not just saying that because I don't want to drag anyone it felt like there was some inconsistencies with like the tone and what he was aiming for and i think that's because at least with maybe certain actors he would kind of just be like great we got it like you know i've trust that you're doing the right thing and i just felt like maybe there wasn't direction to make sure that everyone was trying to aim for the right thing tonally also i think the odyssey and like greek tragedy and greek mythology is quite camp and so there are some quite fun silly moments where they're all like running away from the cyclops and they're like, and it felt like there were about three scenes where they're like back to the boat.

13:18Run back to the boat. And that's not many laughs. No, but it's like quite camp and funny. And I thought, okay, they're kind of maybe going for the slightly, like, this is a big grand fairy tale. It's silly. Like him being like strapped to the mast and like gooning because they're like playing that. They're singing that song. Like it's all quite far fetched and ridiculous. The siren song. The siren song. basically he's like oh my god everyone's like don't fucking untie him and he's like please it's wild so that's kind of fun and silly trust me this is what happens uh and then at other times like you've got anne hathaway doing a like knockout performance like sobbing and crying about her like husband being away for 20 years and it suddenly feels a bit of a whiplash like emotionally and it doesn't it doesn't land so well i just think there were too many like choices to go for and it didn't land.

14:09I think that's how I felt. And therefore, at the end of it, he like finally, spoilers, his dad comes back. I was a bit like, great. Yeah, thank God. Thank God's probably because it's Greek. They will come back. I don't know. I was so unmoved. So am I hearing that you are describing Christopher Nolan as maybe perhaps too technocratic, maybe somewhat like Keir Starmer and that he lacks the sort of appreciation for the true artists. I wouldn't dare compare him to a politician. But I think probably like the discourse around his filmmaking probably does suggest or does head a bit more towards... And it's a spectrum.

14:50Like a logistical, tactical side of filmmaking as opposed to like the heart. And with all respect, I think his writing only like compounds that feeling of like you've lost a bit of the soul and art of it all. okay um i would love the language to maybe have enjoyed that a bit more i really don't mind the whole like you know big broad american accents how long have we been talking about odyssey for no don't worry about that okay but you liked it and you had a fun time a romp isn't it it's good fun i thought it was great i thought it was an absolute spectacle uh i thought biggest winners um robert pattinson fit really good at being a pathetic uh sort of draco malfoy-esque dweeb villain well then yeah that's kind of what i was talking about like the tonal thing is like the scene with rota pattinson and tom holland it kind of feels like a classic like american high school movie like in the cafeteria like give me your lunch money dweeb um which i kind of was into if they were then going to follow it through with like the heightened level of the cyclops and then suddenly someone's doing like and then like basically zendaya's doing like really good acting and it's like oh i thought we were kind of in a bit of panto land here right i didn't mind It kind of felt like it is a fairy tale.

16:06Like it's the telling of a story. God, we haven't even got into the Travis Scott of it all. Oh my God, too. Travis Scott is it. I mean, the easiest or smallest role in a film, but he literally opens up. See, I'd argue it isn't easy. He's sort of like saying the opening stanza of Homer's big poem. Having a feast in this big room. And he's doing this like particular rhythm, banging a staff, which apparently is supposed to be like referencing the sort of iambic pentameter of however this poem was written is he reading it like nikki minaj where she's like sit down children zip it let's say i might think you picked the scene you haven't genuinely could have been a really interesting take uh and again i think that the same thing of like i think he was sort of trusted and like travis scott got to the end of the scene and they were like you got it and he's like thanks bye odyssey pinktopia yeah would have been better Gag City, The Odyssey you didn't think it was weird enough or fun enough basically I was just enjoying I was enjoying the moments where we were heading into big fairy tale moments I thought the middle of the film was the best bit they're basically going on all these mad adventures where everything keeps going wrong I thought The Cyclops was great I thought the Samantha Morton bit was great.

17:30Did you want to see the Cyclops' dick? I felt a bit disappointed by that. It was very sort of like tastefully, he was very tastefully positioned every time there was like a big wide shot of him. He just had his like knee sort of covering his crotch. And I thought, yeah, exactly. And he has cheese hanging up in his cave too. And they just have cheese everywhere. Okay, Bill, we've just got a couple more questions for you and then you can go, okay? who's your biggest winner and loser of the Odyssey biggest winner Anne Hathaway she kind of needed this everyone was like oh my god she got work done no biggest winner has got to be Himesh Patel like actually being spoken about he's done three Nolan films and finally everyone's like wow he must really like you it's like yeah and he started in EastEnders and he started in EastEnders and he seems like the most gorgeous human being so big fan that's a good one Biggest Loser Me Us Yeah Well or anyone who watched 60 % of it Because they didn't go and see it in IMAX True Okay I missed a lot of the film Okay I've got some What if in IMAX you do see the Cyclops dick?

18:42That's it You're absolutely right So the Cyclops is sick Are you going to see it Do you have any desire to see it Or are you going to see it? I'll see it when it comes out on like Hulu Yeah okay nice So you can sort of dual screen it Over the three hours Do you all screen it over the three hours? Make sure I get that big Cyclops slong and just have it. I pull my patch to it for a while. That's the thing. I thought three hours, Nolan, this is going to be too serious. And I thought I wasn't going to like it and I just loved it. I enjoyed the lack of seriousness. Maybe that's what I wanted more of.

19:11My main lessons of Odysseus are don't get lost in the source. A drugged up affair can be fun for seven years, but you'll always long for your original love. That's literally what I'm not rich enough to have shame is about. Stream it. Nepo babies can be good in the end sometimes, even if they lack the gumption of their parents. You wrote that by yourself. Yeah. Trust me, guys. And was Lotus a metaphor for GHB? The Lotus film. Oh, sure. Okay. All right, we're going to... That's me done. No, we're just going to do Top of Bottom with Sue because we need to... Okay, I'll stay here. Whilst he's finding the page, I just want everyone to know that I also make t-shirts.

19:56You can find it at I Kiss Bill. I just think if I'm going to be on this platform, I'm going to be plugging. Professional. I'm going to be plugging. They're fun little t-shirts. They take me ages to make. If you want one, come and check me out on Instagram. Also, Bill will have a film coming out next year, so I'll be back then and probably before. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This is my kitchen. It might even be on... This is Bill's house. Might even be on next week's episode or you might be episode out. Oh, yeah. Oh, maybe. Might make a sort of cameo in that. I'll probably be by the pool in the book, let's be honest.

20:29Okay, Sue. Yeah. Odysseus is the king of Ithaca or something. He basically is a great warrior and he goes fighting wars just so he doesn't have to hang out with his wife. Why do you think he's gone for 20 years girl He's in a dungeon honey He's plugged up And he has an affair with a Greek goddess And she just feeds him GHB Period Yeah yeah exactly So top or bottom Sub bottom Sub bottom Okay Sometimes it just writes itself Telemachus is the sort of incapable I don't know because they'll surprise you They're tops Okay He'll be a top Tom Holland's a top in this equation Do you know what I mean Because he's like He wants to like work hard and please Yeah Yeah, the opposite of a pillow princess.

21:18He's a real eater. Do we do? No, just do the men. Okay, this is a good one. I didn't even know that was his name. Antinous, Robert Pattinson's character. Like sort of conniving, waiting in the wings, evil, will do anything to assume his power, even if it means shagging the queen when he's secretly obsessed with her assistant. well it's probably verse because it'll be like verse and then but he he'd prefer to get fucked but he's trying to fuck other people so he's kind of like dull before but she's kind of like dull before she comes out so she's like topping everyone like i'm a man i'm holding on to a manliness and then she actually just comes out and realizes she's a girl she's got the jaw of a doll as well not girl yeah okay uh athena sort of um wise um how would you describe athena bill she just like suddenly appears in matt damon's like view and oh she's a god she's a god and i've read percy jackson honey she cries she she's a god and she advises matt damon in his times of like need and lowness and when he's like talking to his probably bottom but when you're shagging them you're just like oh god speak like stop virgin vibes do you know i mean you have to take someone's virginity.

22:38Agamemnon. Big top. Look at the photo. That's a top. Yeah, I won't mind. Menelaus. I thought that was, what's his face? Who's that horrible guy that just got arrested? Who'd he look like? Andrew Tate. Yeah. John Bernthal? He's a bottom. He's a bottom. John Bernthal? The king of Sparta is a bottom. Sorry, my darling. That's so true. Could you just talk us through that? Because like in Sparta, I can imagine like if babies cried, they'd leave them on a mountain to die when they were born. Sparta, I bet it was like manly to just take cocky. Yeah, that was the biggest sacrifice you could make to Zeus.

23:17Yeah, just take his cocky.

23:21We could probably, I mean, we could do Sinon. Yeah. Who's he playing in this? Like what's the character? uh elliott pages character play he plays sinon who i'm not sure exactly existed in the poem but has been sort of like uh put in from another sort of same world basically he plays like a kid who was kind of quite young and shouldn't have been going to war with what's his chops uh the king but then his evil brother robert or friend robert pattinson forces him anyway he has and make this like big grand sacrifice and actually he's just pure and really lovely. So he's giving like pass around party bottom.

24:05When they're all in the Trojan horse, right? Yeah. Sinon guards it from outside basically. And dies. And dies. And he feels sort of betrayed by the king, by Matt Daniels. Odysseus has to lie to him. Yeah, like pass around party bottom. Like you fucked all these people and they still don't want you. It's like it's peak, like you've given all you could. You've given your body. yeah by the way guffing in the trojan horse oh yeah can't even hold it together yeah they were pissing and shitting all over each other when it high tide came i'm sure i would just wash it all away it's fine people are drowning in there and stuff i mean probably just dilute it and then soak it into the wood i imagine i also did not like the design of no it should have been white it should have been white well it also should have just like it was all made out of like broken bits of boat and then miraculous like the body sure that looks like a boat but then miraculously like it was a perfect horse's head where'd you get all that wood from or where'd you get all that wood where'd you go to work uh okay we can probably call it there oh cyclops cyclops she got that long cocky i'd like her to top me yeah yeah cyclops kind of seems like a sort of drunk top who just kind of screams as he shags.

25:26Or sort of like piss troll kind of vibes. Yeah. Piss troll. Himesh Patel top. Gorgeous, gorgeous. Bottoms can't be gorgeous, gorgeous. Should we call it there? Yeah. You know what I mean? We did really well guys. We did really well. You did so good at pretending to be interested in the Odyssey. Thank you Bill. Yeah, thank you. And you gave us some really interesting insight from the perspective of an actor. Yeah. Who's currently unemployed and Oh, shut up. You've just been in Budapest for like months. Yeah, it was fab. Nope, can't say it. I was just going to say who you were with. Yeah, you can say that.

26:03It's on the internet. Is it? Yeah. Ray Winston? Yeah, lovely man. Who else? Chris Pine. Dreamboat him. Oh, blue eyes, it's swimming. Yeah. We need, you know what? The English accent was a big loser of Odysseus. of the Odyssey. Why weren't they speaking in English accents? It would have been right. Everyone's talking about how they should have been speaking in Greek or Greek accents. They should have been speaking in English accents. Everyone knows that a sort of classic film should always be done in an English accent. It was interesting also that I kind of thought that they were going to go for like a transatlantic kind of Anthony and Cleopatra kind of world and again keep it quite camp like that.

26:48and I kind of wouldn't have minded the American of us. But actually, like I said earlier, the American, the sound of that particular accent felt quite like American high school. Like everyone's kind of talking with this really broad sound. R. Pat and Tom Holland. Yeah. Whereas I would have liked a bit of like... Thespian. Transatlantic vibe, yeah. What Atlantic? Trans, honey. Bye, guys. Love you, Bill. Bill, thank you so much. Bill Milner, everyone. Bill Milner, everybody.

27:22so moving on from film to music from hi everyone this is naomi the latest straight diva intern interrupting this episode of straight diva to let you know that the following is a segment from louis latest vlog on the patreon and in this vlog he went to Kirk and documented his travels, spoke about Stansted Airport and how it made him feel like a classist prick and much more. Plenty of escapades, plenty of glad rags, plenty of fun. So enjoy this segment and have a great day. Thank you. House tour. It's like a song, isn't it?

28:09Kitchen. Decent. This is like sort of randomers house you went back to after a day festival once. And you K-hold in their toilet. And you stayed in the toilet for like 40 minutes and nobody noticed. That's what this house is. Garden.

28:43200 quid for three nights 200 quid each 200 pounds

28:54so it's one where you have to lift two bits in the music catalog this week where do you want to start sue spring summer wait i think it's my project out have we spoke about that um my project's out i'm not rich enough to have shame but you celebrated it with a gig celebrated it with a giggler we supported and was a mail some mail who was the best I've ever seen her oh my god voice sounded the best I've ever seen it grit was you really come under the stage thank you I really enjoyed it it turns out I love attention and the crowd was very very sweet yeah and how did you find it you absolutely smashed it there he's been multi-screen support it was absolutely great game we saw we came again yeah yeah we were drenched by the end of it.

29:42Yeah, we were drenched. Like, there were some people from, like, Universal and Sony there. Yeah, yeah. But they weren't there for your set. No, no, they were just there for yours. Yeah, no, for sure. Like, just before I came on, everyone just shouted, Sony out, and then the whole, like, crew left. Jonathan Ross was there as well? Jonathan Ross was there, yeah. Twific set, Louis. Twific, Twific. Absolutely Twific. Welcome to the show! No, it was good, thanks. It was amazing. And then the project came out, which is crazy to have project out but it streamed more than the gig happened and then the project came out at midnight it's really so um and the project's streaming amazing thanks everyone that's listened and sharing keep listening and sharing it's nice to have the project out and actually listen to it and be like oh actually this is good and now we're already working on the next one of songs yeah it boosts the value of every song yeah and similarly i don't want to segue too quickly but i would argue that's what's happened with charlie xx charlie xx charlie xx charlie The singles are all now stronger as a result of being, especially rock music.