Since his international breakthrough as the nerdy George McFly in Back To The Future, Crispin Glover has established a name for himself as a true cinematic original.

In between quirky roles in commercial films The Doors, Charlie’s Angels, Nurse Betty, and Hot Tub Time Machine, Glover has built a defiantly idiosyncratic parallel career path encompassing books, music and directing two self-funded movies, What Is It? in 2005 and It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE in 2007.

This rare visit to Brighton sees Glover screen the latter movie – a semi-autobiographical tale by disabled writer Steven C Stewart – and introduce his slide show concept to unsuspecting audiences.

Crispin Hellion Glover’s Big Slide Show is a dramatic narration of eight different books he made in the 1980s and 1990s.

“I started making my own books in 1983 for my own enjoyment without the concept of publishing them,” he says, having got the idea from a discovery he made in a book store while on a break from a 1982 acting class.

“There was a book for sale that was an old binding taken from the 1800s. Someone had put their art work inside the binding.”

Inspired, Glover created his own version using India ink on the original pages, leaving some words on the page as part of his artwork. He found a story began to emerge naturally.

“When I was finished with the book I was pleased with the results and kept making more of them,” he says. “Some of the books utilise text from the binding it was taken from and some of them are basically completely original text.”

Bringing them to life

When he started self-publishing his books in 1988, someone suggested he should accompany them with readings.

“The books are so heavily illustrated,” he says. “The only way for the books to make sense was to have visual representations of the images – this is why I knew a slide show was necessary.”

The first part of the slide show was created in 1992, and he has since developed a second part, which he performs alongside a screening of one of his two directed films – the first two parts of his “IT trilogy”.

“The books and films are all narrative,” he says. “Sometimes people see thematic correlations between the content of the books and the content of the films.

“I consider what I am doing to be following in the footsteps of vaudeville performers. Vaudeville has only relatively recently stopped being the main source of entertainment, but that does not mean this live element mixed with other media is no longer viable. In fact it is apparent it is sorely missed.”

He self-produces both his films and books, after realising he got a far greater profit margin that way, having released a CD with the corporation Restless Records.

“In this economy it seems like touring with the live show and showing the films with a book signing is a very good basic safety net for recouping the monies I have invested in the films,” he says. “It is enjoyable to travel and visit places, meet people, perform the shows and have interaction with the audiences and discussions about the films afterwards.”

It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE was a labour of love dating back to 1987 when he was first shown Stewart’s script by co-director David Brothers.

Loosely following a detective thriller structure, the piece stars Stewart as a wheelchairbound man with a fetish for girls with long hair. Along the way it takes in graphic violence, sexuality and Stewart’s own story told from his point of view.

“Steven C Stewart’s own true story was fascinating,” says Glover. “There was a specific marriage proposal scene I remember reading that made me say: ‘I have to produce this film’.”

Stewart was born with a severe case of cerebral palsy which made him difficult to understand. After his mother died he had been locked in a nursing home for ten years.

“People that were caring for him in the nursing home would derisively call him an MR – short for mental retard,” says Glover. “This is not a nice thing to say to anyone, but Steve was of normal intelligence. When he did get out he wrote his screenplay. Although it is written in the genre of a murder detective thriller, truths of his own existence come through much more clearly than if he had written it as a standard autobiography.”

Using the money he received from Charlie’s Angels, Glover shot the film over three small shoots, taking a total of six months.

“I am most proud of my work as a film-maker, but I am well aware of the important steps it has taken acting in front of the camera leading to my ability to make my own films,” says Glover.

“After Charlie’s Angels I started getting better roles that also paid better. I could continue using the money to finance my films which I am so truly passionate about.

“I look at acting as a craft, that I am helping other film-makers to accomplish what it is they want to do.”

Stewart, who stars in the movie, was 62 when the film was shot. He died a month after filming ended following a collapsed lung and a bout of pneumonia.

“I personally financed the film and had taken out no insurance if Steve were to die,” says Glover. “I knew he would stay alive no matter what to get the film completed.”

Indeed, in Stewart’s last days Glover received a heartbreaking telephone call with the news Stewart was in hospital with a collapsed lung.

“He was basically asking permission to take himself off life support,” says Glover. “He wanted to know if we had enough footage to finish the film. I know that if I had said: ‘No Steve. We do not have enough footage. You need to get better and we have to finish the film’ he would have gotten whatever operation needed to get better and been happy to come back to the set and shoot.

“It was a sad day and a heavy responsibility to let him know that we would be able to complete the film.

“Steve has had a great, positive influence on my life. He was definitely gracious and had a genuinely rebellious sense of humour. As much as I did like and enjoy Steve when he was alive, I realise even more now how much he was important to me.

“I would not have felt right about myself if I had not gotten Steve’s film made. I feel It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE will probably be the best film I will have anything to do with in my entire career.”

Aside from his Slide Show tour, Glover has more projects on the go – the first of which will see him star alongside his actor father Bruce, of Diamonds Are Forever and Chinatown fame, for the first time. An edited ten minutes from the film will be previewed on the night.

And there are two more films to come using footage set on his property in the Czech Republic.

“It seems to me that a discerning cinephile has to search for their interests by understanding good film-makers and seeking out their films on their own, as opposed to only seeing what is corporately financed, distributed and marketed,” says Glover.

“The way I distribute my films is certainly not traditional, but perhaps it is very traditional when looking further back at vaudeville-era film distribution. If there are any film-makers that are able to utilise aspects of what I am doing then that is good.”

  • For more information visit crispinglover.com
  • Crispin Hellion Glover's Big Slide Show and It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE, Duke Of York’s Picturehouse, Preston Circus, Brighton, Sunday, April 27
     
  • Starts 6.30pm, tickets £18. Call 0871 9025728 or visit www.picturehouses.co.uk