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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published:29 November 2007

Pick of the Indies

ROBERT DE Niro’s brilliant 1983 film The King of Comedy gets an airing on Sunday at Screen on the Hill as the cinema replays actors’ favourite movies of the past 30 years.
This week Michael Palin presents his choice, and he has plumped for the De Niro and Martin Scorsese vehicle that tells of an obsessive fan who kidnaps his favourite comedian in an attempt to get a stand-up gig on his show.
Michael, who lives in Gospel Oak, said: “It is an exceptionally good black comedy. Very few have been made on the subject of fan worship. De Niro and Scorsese roped their mates in, so there are some terrific cameos.”
And Michael says he chose the film partly out of respect to one of his friends, the writer behind the film, Paul Zimmerman, who died in his fifties.
Michael revealed Paul had written a screen treatment for a film that was never made which sticks in Michael’s mind as one of the best ideas he has heard for horrible comedy. The premise is the cyanide pill taken by Adolf Hitler did not work – in fact, it made him stronger. He escapes to South America – until a Jewish agent discovers him.
“He is at first appalled, and then realises there may the potential for an interesting guest on a chat show,” says Michael.
Such a disgusting concept is challenging, agrees Michael. “People were understandably rather frightened of the idea,” he says.
Dan Carrier

* Screen on the Hill, 1pm, December 2

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