So I went to a showing of Four Lions followed by a Q&A with Chris Morris, Sam Bain and two of the film’s stars. Very funny film that’s also full of pathos – you should go see it if you haven’t already.
However, Chris Morris did discuss some of the research he’d done, which involved talking to some very odd people, as you’d expect from a film about suicide bombers. And there was one story he told that shows you just how hard it is to tell if he’s making things up or not.
The story was that he’d been to see a guy who, as a teenager, had put a fake bomb in WH Smith’s to protest about The Satanic Verses. Now he’s working as a security guard for the Crown Prosecution Service – to be precise, as a nightwatchman. Even though he’s afraid of the dark.
So one night a moth sets off an alarm on the eighth floor of the building he’s supposed to be guarding, and he calls the police, not just because he’s afraid of the dark, but because he thinks the moth is possessed by the spirit of his cousin who wants to get back at him for something.
What do you think? BS or not?
PS There was another story about how he persuaded some guy that it was possible to train crows to talk. Again…
