Udo Kier: An Empire Podcast Interview Special

The Empire Film Podcast

Bauer Media

Tv & Film, Film Reviews

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2022

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Udo Kier is one of cinema's greatest cult heroes. The German actor has been working steadily for almost sixty years, having become an actor after being discovered by chance while living in London as a young man. Since then, he's built one of the most eclectic filmographies around, appearing in over 200 films which have seen him work with some of the greatest directors around. Virtually all those appearances, though, have been cameos, which is why it's great to see Kier finally get his leading man due, at the age of 77, in Todd Stephens' poignant and funny Swan Song (in cinemas now), in which Kier plays Pat Pitsenbarger, a gay man who rediscovers his spark towards the end of his life. Kier was nominated for Best Actor at the Independent Spirit Awards for the role, and he attacks it with brio. As he does the interview process, as Chris Hewitt found when he sat down over Zoom with Kier to discuss Swan Song and more, and couldn't get a word in. Not that we're complaining -- Udo has anecdotes to spare, and in this interview we're delighted to bring you just a few. Enjoy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello pod, I'm Chris Hewitt and welcome to another Empire Podcast interview special.
0:20.0	Udo Kier is one of those guys we call them the 27%ers at Empire there, the supporting actors,
0:27.0	who enhance any movie or show that they're in by roughly 27%. The German actor is a legend who
0:36.2	over the course of his near 50 years in the film business has racked up an astonishing.
0:42.5	Christopher Lee asked a ray of credits having made over 220 films and worked with some of the
0:49.2	best directors of all time. He's worked with Rainer Vernder Fassbinder, Gus Fan Sant, Lars von
0:55.8	Trier, Alexander Payne, Eskregg Sawler, David Lynch, Van Vendors, Michael Bay, and many, many more.
1:04.5	And when I say his career is Christopher Lee, I'm referring of course to the numerous times he's
1:09.9	played a fan par including films like Blade and Blood for Dracula, part of a duo of films he
1:16.3	made with Andy Warhol and director Paul Morrissey back in the 1970s. Those films and numerous
1:22.8	others he's made take a vantage of Kier's charisma, stillness, and legal qualities to create
1:28.5	memorable moments aplenty. This man shows up, weird is about to happen, and even if he only shows up
1:34.8	in a film for the blink of an eye chances are you're going to remember him. Thankfully,
1:40.2	in Todd Stevens's swan song, which is in cinemas now, he shows up for more than just the blink
1:46.3	of an eye. In fact, the film offers Kier his first major leading role since Blood for Dracula and
1:53.0	Flesh for Frankenstein and allows him to strut his funky stuff as Pat Pitsenberger, a gay man who
1:59.1	is essentially given up in life and is awaiting death in a care home in a small American town.
2:04.6	When Pat, a retired hairdresser, is given one last job to make sure a former client who's recently
2:10.2	passed away is looking simply splendid in her coffin, he gets a new lease of life,
2:15.2	setting off a crosstown on an odyssey during which he reconnects with his past, sets right
2:20.0	some wrongs, and rediscoveres his inner spark. Kier is fantastic in the role, which may be the
2:26.7	richest and most complex of his career. This is a guy who has done it all, seen it all,
	...

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