How we made
In a weekly series, two collaborators on a seminal art work talk us through their original creative process
‘We went bankrupt and had to set up the explosives ourselves’: Ian McKellen and Richard Loncraine on making Richard III
‘The movie changed my life,’ says McKellen of the 1995 film. ‘If Bryan Singer hadn't seen it, he would never have asked me to be in X-Men’
‘I thought the chorus was wicked’: Aswad on how they made Don’t Turn Around
‘Top of the Pops showed our video at the end of one show – just as millions of people were tuning in for EastEnders. Soon after, we went to No 1’
‘We were smoking a lot of weed’: how we made People Just Do Nothing
‘It took us two years to do five episodes. When we posted them on YouTube, a few students watched it. Then we got an email from the producer who had made The Office’
‘We knew a banjo house record would annoy the techno bores’: how the Grid made Swamp Thing
‘It was a smash in loads of countries. When we played it at London’s Ministry of Sound club, there was a girl staring at Roger’s banjo like she’d never seen one before’
‘I was attacked by a bloody rabbit’: how we made Xena: Warrior Princess
‘The studio was hesitant about suggesting Xena and Gabrielle were in a romantic relationship. But as time went on, they decided to look the other way and just let us get on with it’
‘I’m not calling God a slob’: how Joan Osborne made One of Us
‘Conservative religious groups took great exception. I was getting death threats and people were picketing my concerts’
‘Steffi Graf went to see it 12 times!’ How we made rollerskating sensation Starlight Express
‘The German production has had a standing ovation every night for 36 years. Graf went before big tennis competitions to gee herself up. And the German football team would go before an international’
‘Nobody believed I sang it’: how Move Your Body blew dancefloors away
It became a Chicago house anthem classic – and it was cooked up in just 30 minutes by four postal workers after a tough shift on the letter-sorting machine
‘We had to cut Rik Mayall’s ejaculation scene’: Adrian Edmondson and Ed Bye on Bottom
‘We had wanted to call it My Bottom, so that people at work the next day would say, “Did you see My Bottom on television last night?”’
‘I woke up face down on a Hollywood lawn’: Bran Van 3000 on Drinking in LA
‘After a night of drinking, I came to in the hot sun with the words and melody in my head. The irony of the song later being used for a beer ad was hilarious’
‘I really deserved that Bafta’: Paul Abbott on the liberation of making Clocking Off
‘In practical terms, we were asking very big actors to suddenly slide into the background. All the biggest names – Christopher Eccleston, Sarah Lancashire, Ricky Tomlinson – absolutely got it’
‘I don’t think it’s going to do well’: the Zutons on Valerie – and Mark Ronson on covering it with Amy Winehouse
‘It’s about a makeup artist I met in Florida called Valerie Star, who had legal bills. When I played it to the band, they all went, “Oh, that’s good.” And I thought, “It is, isn’t it”’
‘I thought it was a speech by Kurt Vonnegut’: Baz Luhrmann on making Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
‘Some kid had credited a column of life advice in the Chicago Tribune to the writer of Slaughterhouse-Five. It then spread on a new invention called the world wide web. I thought it would make a great spoken word song’
‘We used pig squeals to create their shriek’ … how we made Invasion of the Body Snatchers
‘We filmed it in a rough area of San Francisco. One day, a totally naked guy who was watching us said, “Are you remaking Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The first one was better”’
‘We have to have graffiti!’ How we made the Breakin’ Convention hip-hop dance festival
‘At the first one, we had DJs in the foyer and people were jumping in to battle with the dancers. We took out seats to make more standing room and the noise was crazy’
‘It’s really saying you’re not gorgeous at all’: how Babybird made You’re Gorgeous
‘In the 70s and 80s, you’d regularly see images of women in bikinis draped over car bonnets. I wanted to flip that – and see how a male photographer would feel if he had to lie over a car in a thong’
‘I wrote it in a bedsit on Nick Drake’s guitar’: how the Dream Academy made Life in a Northern Town
‘When I played it to Paul Simon, he suggested changing the title – saying, “No one’s going to know how to ask for A Hey Ah Ma Ma Ma in a record store”’
‘We shot it in the murder capital of the world’ … how we made The Lost Boys
‘I had no interest in teen vampire films and turned it down five times. But Joel Schumacher promised I wouldn’t have to wear the makeup and teeth, or have to fly around. Of course, he lied’
John Carpenter on horror classic The Thing: ‘It was an enormous failure and I got fired’
‘Audiences hated the ending. They wanted to know who the Thing was. But I don’t care. That’s how I wanted it’
‘I had the Beatles’ Indian period in mind’: how Natasha Bedingfield made Unwritten
‘It’s a very positive song. It’s been used to motivate sports teams and now it’s a TikTok phenomenon’
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