PopHorror Let's Get Scared
“Fame requires every kind of excess. I mean, true fame. A devouring neon. Long journeys across grey space. Danger. The edge of every void. Understand the man who must inhabit these extreme regions. Even if half mad, he’s absorbed into the public’s total madness. Even if fully rational, a bureaucrat in Hell, a secret genius of survival, he is sure to be destroyed by the public’s contempt for survivors.” — Don DiLillo
This is the opening line opening line to Roddy Bogawa’s film, Have You Got It Yet?, an honest and emotional documentary about Syd Barrett, founding member of psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd, who eventually left the band to become a quiet recluse.
After watching the film, I was so excited to get a chance to chat the the filmmaker about his films, his musical journey, and what’s next for him.
PopHorror: You’ve been making films for over 30 years now. What got you into filmmaking?
Roddy Bogawa: Probably first, it was music. I was into music first. I was in bands. And then in high school, I took an AP art class, and I started doing photography. And when I ended up in college, I started doing photography with photo text pieces. Then eventually I thought, “Well, maybe I should make a film,” because I started doing these really elaborate installations. Then I took a general studies film course with a crazy French film director named Jean Pierre Gorin, who worked with Jean Luc Godard in the ’60s. That hooked me. It was a History of Film course, and he showed Michael Powell’s film Peeping Tom [1960], and he said, “this is where the history of cinema started.” And I was like, “Okay…” (laughs) So that’s how I fell into it.
And I lived in LA, where I didn’t think you could make cheap films, but coming from punk rock, rock and roll stuff, I realized you could do low budget movies, so that’s where I started.
PopHorror: It’s much easier today to make low budget films.
Roddy Bogawa: Absolutely, yes! Your niece and your nephew are making feature films now.
PopHorror: If you have a cell phone, you can make a movie.
Roddy Bogawa: Absolutely.
PopHorror: Let’s talk about your documentary, Taken By Storm: The Art of Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis [2011]. How did you get involved in that project? And how did that lead to Have You Got It Yet?
Roddy Bogawa: I didn’t know Storm, but a friend of mine who had done the musical score for one of my features, was very good friends with his illustrator. He came through New York, and he said, “Roddy, I was just at Storm Torgerson’s studio.” And I said, “I don’t know who that is at all… (laughs) Is he some Finnish black death metal singer or what?” He said, “No, he had the company, Hipgnosis, in the ’70s.” And I said, “Oh, yeah, I remember them! I had the Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath stuff.” He said, “Oh yeah, he’s still doing record covers. And in fact, he had just done one where he dug out a beach, he steps downward, and they climbed up a ladder and took a photograph.” And I thought to myself, “Why would he do that now when he could have done that in five minutes in Photoshop?”
So I got kind of obsessed with that idea, because I was still working in 16mm movie film. I’m a big record collector. And I bought a book about Hipgnosis that was out of print that showed up a week later. As I was flipping through it, I freaked out over how many covers he had done that I had had as a teenager. So I became obsessed with who this guy was who shaped my teen psyche. So I fired off a bunch of emails. He didn’t respond to any of them.
In the 5th or 6th one, I wrote him a story of how I had seen Pink Floyd when I was 15-years-old, and he responded to that one. So I ended up flying to London with a camera. I didn’t know if I could make a film on him. Eventually, we became very close. It was about two and a half years of shooting. I kind of hit him at the right moment. I was able to document a few record covers. His health was starting to take a dive at that point. I was researching cancer treatments for him in the States. And we became very, very good friends. So I did this documentary.
He didn’t see it until it first played at SXSW, and as he watched it, he kept whacking me with his cane—I think out of love?
(both laugh)
And then literally, we screened the film in Los Angeles, and Rob Dickinson, the lead singer for Catherine Wheel, said to Storm, “Roddy should do the film about Syd. The proper film that’s never been done.” And Storm said to me the next morning over breakfast, “So, what do you know about Syd, Roddy?” So I had to tell him the story of how I used to try and learn his songs but I couldn’t figure them out, and how much I loved his lyrics. And Storm basically said, “If you want to do a film about Syd, I grew up with all of them. I can produce it; you can direct it.” And I said, “Storm, I need some time off from you right now. I love you, but give me a few months.” (laughs)
So I came back after I read all of the main biographies. I’d known a bit about Syd but not too deeply. Then I read all these books about him, and I came back and decided there was a film. That’s how it started. And then eventually, Storm’s colon cancer had returned, so he started shooting some interviews. He wanted to get it going faster to get as much as he could done in terms of that. And I realized after awhile that he was using the film to say goodbye to everybody, which was pretty intense. He would say, “Oh, Roddy can’t be here, so I’m doing this interview for our film.”
But it was pretty amazing, because I think his presence in those interviews gave them a very intimate feel, because they couldn’t lie to him. He was there. (laughs) I shot the New York ones, like Mick Rock. And Roger Waters, we did that one together. But Storm did quite a few. But that’s how it started, just interestingly following how things went.
PopHorror: You were destined.
Roddy Bogawa: Yes! Yes, strangely enough. I asked Storm once why he let me make a film on him, because he had been approached numerous times, and he said, “Oh, hippy vibe, man. I liked you.” (laughs) So it was kind of timely.
PopHorror: The interviews really do capture the emotion and passion of the people who knew Syd. It’s been 40 years—or longer—since many of them had had these experiences. To bring them back up again after so long, it could have been dry and rote. I was impressed.
Roddy Bogawa: Good, good. That was one of our goals, to do a very intimate portrait.
PopHorror: Were you interested in Pink Floyd before you’d met Storm?
Roddy Bogawa: Yes. It was the first concert I’d gone to, which was the Animals tour. I was into rock music. Back in high school, I started buying vinyl records. Music was the first place where I’d found my identity in some ways, like figuring out how to dress and my hairstyle and those kinds of things. But then when punk rock hit in the late ’70s, I was in LA. So I was in that moment, and that kind of shifted.
When I moved to New York, I had left all my rock records with a friend of mine, so when I started doing the film on Storm, I had to have them all shipped over and even buy some of them again. It was interesting because that’s when music started creeping back into my filmmaking. It was a nice circle, in terms of that. But yeah, I saw Pink Floyd on the Animals tour and I saw The Wall shows, two of them, in Los Angeles.
PopHorror: Would you say music has been a big influence on you?
Roddy Bogawa: Absolutely! In my generation, vinyl records were sorta expensive still. They were like $6.99 or so. It was still the moment where you would trade records with your friends or you would play records for each other. So I think that that is a really crystalline memory for me, being with my friends and playing each other songs, and tracking different songs on different sides. I have a really vivid memory of those friendships built around that, the object of the vinyl record.
And then when punk rock hit, I started going to shows up in Hollywood. This was when this whole other world materialized. It was the first time I’d seen Mexican American kids in Los Angeles, you know? Los Angeles is so spread out, and the different neighborhoods were so distinct. I met runaways and queer kids, and all of a sudden, I thought, “Wow! This is my tribe!” It was incredibly key. And I think a lot of filmmakers of my generation that ended up going into film school, I think a lot of us were influenced by that moment by what was known as the DIY stuff. That you could just make a movie. There was this thing about Hollywood where I grew up in LA, but then all of a sudden, you could just make a film.
And then in film school when we saw Jim Jarmusch‘s early work, all of a sudden, there’s this is a whole other thing around storytelling. And I think music was key for me for thinking about my own identity while growing up. And with these last two films, it’s interesting how it’s dovetailed back to the moment of that for me. In some ways, I loved it, because I was able to buy records as research. (laughs) And it’s been really interesting meeting my idols. In the film about Storm, I interviewed Robert Plant, Steve Miller, all these people. So it’s very strange being in the presence of these people that you never thought you’d meet. That’s been a wonderful journey for me personally.
PopHorror: You think, “If I could tell my 14-year-old self what I was doing right now…”
Roddy Bogawa: Yes! I still don’t believe it sometimes.
(both laugh)
PopHorror: What do you like to do when you’re not working in music or in film?
Roddy Bogawa: That’s an interesting question! I do art stuff, too. I come from the art world. I’ve worked as an artist’s assistant. That’s another side thing, doing artwork. And I like to read. One thing I noticed years ago—and maybe this is what you’re looking for—I found myself sad and depressed because I hadn’t made myself take a break in several years. That’s something I’ve been trying to force myself to do more of lately. To not work all the time and relax a bit more. I’m actually in Hawaii right now, visiting my father, and every day I’m going and just floating in the water a little bit. And I really enjoy reading and hanging out with friends.
PopHorror: Boredom is where creativity comes from. You can’t be creative unless your mind is bored.
Roddy Bogawa: Absolutely!
PopHorror: So, what’s next?
Roddy Bogawa: I’m not sure. That’s a good question. I have a bunch of different projects. At my level of filmmaking, you’re always developing different projects. Sometimes it depends on which one picks up funding or which one picks up steam. I’ve got about five different things. A couple of fictional scripts that I’ve been kicking around that I had shelved when I started doing the movie on Storm. There’s a couple of those that I’d like to do. A few of them are music-based, too. I think I’m going to wait and see. It seems like this film is gaining a lot of momentum still. We’re still at the begining of press, and they’re extending the theatrical runs, which is great. But I’ve never been on to be short of projects. It’s more about the time. I need more time, I’d say.
PopHorror: I have one last question before we go. Did you mean to release Have You Got It Yet? [NY – July 14, 2023] so close to the anniversary of Syd’s death [July 7, 2006]?
Roddy Bogawa: Ah, no. (laughs) Or as close to the Hipgnosis documentary by Anton Corbijn that just came out. But you might be right. It might be fate again. Things around Storm, I never, ever question. There are so many uncanny things that happen around him. He was one of these people that had this vortex of energy. So I wouldn’t doubt if that was somehow by design. Syd’s family saw the film and loved it. They enjoyed it very much. They thought it was extremely respectful. It was very important to me how the friends and people Syd knew would respond. Everybody’s loved it so far, and that was always important to me.
We want to send a great big THANK YOU to Roddy Bogawa for taking the time to talk with us! Be sure to check out Have You Got It Yet? which releases in New York theaters on July 14 and LA theaters on July 21, 2023. Additional cities TBA.
