Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film
Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film is a book by John Walsh published on November 27, 2020. This is a behind the scenes look at the making of the film Flash Gordon from 1980. Walsh had previously written Harryhausen: The Lost Movies.
Overview
The book features new interviews with cast and creative, including stars Sam J. Jones and Brian Blessed and director Mike Hodges, who wrote the foreword, as well as behind-the-scenes photography.[1][2]
John Walsh, film-maker and author, retrieved about 40 designs for director Nicolas Roeg's unmade version of the film from the British Film Institute archives. In an interview with Dalya Alberge of The Observer, Walsh describes the unseen materials from who attempted the make the film in the late 1970s: "It's public knowledge that Roeg worked on the film’s development. What hasn't been seen is its artwork".[3]
In an interview with The Book of Man, Walsh explained the difficulty of getting this book agreed for publication: "My plan to write a book about the making of the film was a long process. After writing
Josh Weiss at Syfy Wire wrote about the task of getting an accurate picture of a film that was over 40 years old. Walsh said: "I had to go around to each and every person who took part in the film, find out what they thought was the truth, then go back to them, and actually verify. A lot of what happened in 40 years was that people had created their own mythology. I started with Post-It notes, then got a massive whiteboard in my office, and got loads of cards and had to do strings and everything. [I noted] where the evidence was confirmed, where it was contradictory, and who I could go back to, and how I could try and get people to admit they were wrong or maybe find out that they were wrong".[6]
BBC Online’s Nicholas Barber discussed with Walsh the appeal of the film and how it was portrayed in the book: "In 1980, if you'd just seen Superman and The Empire Strikes Back, you would have been underwhelmed by the flying and the other special effects. But time has been kind to Flash Gordon. Once you stop obsessing over the technical aspects, you can see that it was meant to be quite stylised, and the energy very much comes through".[7]
Den of Geek's Kirsten Howard asked Walsh what the most surprising revelation he discovered writing the book: "There were two big moments. The first was when I discovered there had been an entirely different film planned – and we got the artwork, it's in the book. Then, I found out that the film was supposed to have an entirely different ending".[8]
In 2021 the book was nominated as Book for the Year for the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards.[citation needed]
Publication
Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film was published in November 2020 by Titan Books.[9]
Further reading
- John Walsh (2020-11-09). "The Incredible Story Behind 'Flash Gordon'". The Book of Man. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
- Weiss, Josh (2020-11-24). "Exclusive: New 'Flash Gordon' book provides unprecedented historical account of the 1980 film". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
External links
- Official website Archived 2021-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
References
- ^ "Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film". December 12, 2020.
- ^ "Flash Gordon: The Official Story Of The Film set for November release". SciFiNow. September 4, 2020.
- ^ Alberge, Dalya (October 18, 2020). "Flesh Gordon? Artwork reveals erotic version that was never made". The Observer – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "FPTV: "Gordon's Alive!" John Walsh Reveals The Secret History Of Flash Gordon". Forbidden Planet. 8 August 2023.
- ^ "The Incredible Story Behind 'Flash Gordon'". November 9, 2020.
- ^ Weiss, Josh (November 24, 2020). "Exclusive: New 'Flash Gordon' book provides unprecedented historical account of the 1980 film". SYFY WIRE.
- ^ Barber, Nicholas. "Flash Gordon: An erotic sci-fi extravaganza". www.bbc.com.
- ^ "Flash Gordon's Original Ending Revealed". Den of Geek. January 21, 2021.
- ^ "Flash Gordon: The Official Story of the Film". Titan Books.