Bob Geldof opens up at ‘Pink Floyd the Wall’ screening: ‘I was just embarrassed every day about how holy I was’
Torun, Poland, is a quiet hamlet nearly three hours from Warsaw, and one of the hallmarks of the annual Camerimage Film Festival, which celebrates the best and brightest in the world of cinematography, is its calm and undramatic nature.
Until this year, that is.
After a “Ferrari” star Adam Driver who has nothing at all insidiously profane rejection of a stupid audience question The internet was hot and excited, Bob Geldof, frontman of the Boomtown Rats and mastermind of Live Aid, basically said, “I can top that!” with a much more profane, much more accusatory and all-around hilarious denigration of not only himself, but also the Film he supported there: Alan Parker’s visually innovative 1982 rock opera “Pink Floyd the Wall,” one of several retrospective screenings celebrating the career of Lifetime Achievement Award-winning Peter Biziou, an Academy Award-winning cinematographer.
Geldof didn’t say a word about his appearance as Pink in the fever dream film based on Pink Floyd’s legendary 1979 album. “David Bowie is not a good actor. Sting is not a good actor. Bob Geldof is definitely “I’m not a good actor,” adding that it was the first time he had been able to see the film in many years after a few failed attempts.
“I was just embarrassed every day at how shitty I was,” Geldof added, despite holding a special prize created especially for him by the festival. “I don’t like looking at myself, I don’t like listening to myself, I don’t like listening to myself. The last thing I want is to see myself on the side of a building.”
He went on to state his reason for accepting the gig (to take a cue from a popular Pink Floyd song: “Money”) and that he was a big fan of the rock band, but admitted that “Comfortably Numb” was “brilliant.” ” and “Another Brick in the Wall” is also ace. However, he wasn’t a fan of the filming process, which involved him in the scene where Pink demolishes a hotel room (the shot can still be seen in the last film). sustained a cut on his hand and spent hours grappling with a “tiny man c-ck” as a result of time spent in a cold swimming pool for a key scene in the picture.
His fondest memories of the film were working with the late director Parker, who passed away in 2020, and the mild-mannered Biziou, who became a lifelong friend and even joked that the latter was “very old and deaf,” as Geldof became his de facto question-and-answer interpreter at the post-screening session.
Geldof expressed his respect for Pink Floyd band members David Gilmour and the controversial Roger Waters (“I don’t agree with him politically at all, but I can be friends with people I don’t agree with,” he added added), but admitted that he never really knew the film’s modus operandi and was basically looking for a break from the musician’s life.
Geldof also mentioned the upcoming London play based on Live Aid, his 1985 global sensation fundraiser, and that an Imax version is in the works. He emphasized the importance of activism and vigilance on issues of homelessness and humanitarian efforts.
Bizious’ works – including demonstrations of his impressive cinematography on films such as “In the Name of the Father,” “The Truman Show” and his Oscar win for “Mississippi Burning” – will continue to be on view through the end of the Camerimage Festival on November 18th