Director of Hellmare, Bathorse, and Platinum Desire releases podcast

Legendary director Sheridan Monkhouse is best known for his 13 Interceptors films. However, it’s his versatility that consistently surprises, from the terrifying Hellmare to the steamy Platinum Desire, from the superhero thrills of Bathorse to the funky rap fantasia of The Prophesy of the Wack Runes, no genre is out of his command.

He first made a name for himself as the director of iconic British adverts of the seventies, with characters such as the sexy Spangles girl and the post-apocalyptic Grifter man that still resonate today.

He worked briefly with Stephen Spielberg on Jaws, but sadly they fell out.

“My first job was Jaws,” explains Sheridan in his biography – Sheridan Monkhouse: My Direction.

“I was just out of film school and I wanted to get some onset experience. I only spoke to Stephen once. I said he should make the film about a tiger, not a shark, so then it could terrorise people on land. He said he wanted it to be set in the sea. I said make it a tiger that can swim. He said tigers wouldn’t swim in the ocean. I said make it a genetically altered sea-going tiger. He fired me.

“Tremendous man, Steven, but no imagination.”

He broke through with the gritty action classic –The Interceptors, a film described by the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw as ‘a film.’

Since then, there’s been a stream of cinematic classics that have re-defined the way we think about the movies. The staggering vision of The Canine Dimension, which convincingly portrays a parallel dimension of intelligent dogs, is landmark sci-fi and its influence can be seen in everything from Rise of the Planet of the Apes to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

The visually spectacular Chelmsford is Sinking imagined the terrifying consequences of the county town of Essex sinking into the earth. It is one of the first pictures to convincingly depict how people from Essex would behave in the event of a major disaster.

Many people considered it a tragedy that Snowflake, his harrowing 2010 tale of a devastating bout of swimmer’s ear, was overlooked for the Best Picture Oscar in favour of The Hurt Locker. Whilst Sheridan has only ever had kind words for Kathryn Bigelow’s picture, many people find it a mediocre experience when compared to transcendental Snowflake.

Sheridan continues to direct today and is currently working on a revolutionary 4D movie about a gang of roller skating ninjas from the future who travel back through time to do battle with demonic Vikings from the past

Sheridan’s fascinating podcasts, in which he gives insight into the making of some of his best loved pictures are now available.

On Spotify here https://open.spotify.com/show/3qdzoM0Uec3f2q2hUZht4R

On Itunes here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/directors-commentary/id1224873440

Or simply search for Director’s Commentary in your favourite podcast app.