Steve McQueen

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2014

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kirsty Young's castaway is the artist and director Steve McQueen. These days his talents are well recognized - his art has won The Turner Prize and his most recent movie, "12 Years A Slave" scooped an Academy Award, a Bafta and a Golden Globe. He wasn't always as lauded: at school in West London he was "shoved to one side" in the belief that the best he could hope for was to earn a living as a manual labourer. Instead he portrays the extremes of what human beings put themselves and others through. Expression is where his heart lies - he describes it as "dancing with ghosts". Along with reaching the top of two professions he has also managed to please the diverging demands of his parents - his father wanted him to get a trade, his mother urged him to do what he wanted. He says, "I want to make films that are essential. We're all going to die and we haven't got a lot of time on this planet. Life goes very quickly, so we might as well make films people will go to see because they need it or want it." Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Kirstie Young.
0:02.0	Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4.
0:06.6	For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the Radio Broadcast.
0:11.0	For more information about the program, please visit bbc.co.uk-radio4.
0:31.0	My cast away this week is the artist and director Steve McQueen.
0:38.0	These days, his talents are well recognised.
0:41.0	His artist won the Turner Prize and his most recent movie, 12 Years A Slave,
0:45.0	scooped an Academy Award, a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for Best Picture.
0:49.0	He wasn't always as lauded.
0:51.0	At school in West London, he was at one point shoved to one side
0:55.0	in the belief that the best he could hope for was to earn his living as a manual labourer.
0:59.0	Instead, he chose art.
1:01.0	Portraying the extremes of what human beings put themselves and others through
1:05.0	what he is called dancing with ghosts.
1:08.0	Along with reaching the top of two professions,
1:10.0	he's also managed to meet the divergent demands of his parents.
1:13.0	His father wanted him to get a trade.
1:15.0	His mother, on the other hand, urged him to do what you want to do.
1:19.0	He says, I want to make films that are essential.
1:22.0	We're all going to die and we haven't got a lot of time on this planet.
1:25.0	Life goes very quickly.
1:27.0	So we might as well make films that people will go to sea
	...

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