Malcolm McDowell is one of those actors with such a vast resume, that a 10 minute interview seems almost unfair. But I would kick myself to not ask about Stanley Kubrick. I wanted to compare the styles of working with Kubrick and Rob Zombie. It was a fun one on one talk in a living room style tent at Sacramento’s Witchaplooza event on October 11th that we also caught on camera, and will be sharing soon.

The poor dude who interviewed Malcolm before me crashed and burned big time. I heard the press coordinator interrupting him and saying, “No…he’s MALCOLM McDowell, from A Clockwork Orange.” I talked to the bozo later, and he actually thought he was going to be interviewing RODDY McDowell. Ha ha! How lame is that? “I’m sorry, I thought I was interviewing someone who died over TEN YEARS AGO. How’s that for good pre-interview preparation.

Of course, I complicated matters further by confusing him with Malcolm Jamal-Warner. He was extremely nice and charming and was nice and gave quality time to every fan that approached him. If you ever get a chance to see him at a fan convention, don’t miss the opportunity.

We are here with one of the world’s greatest legendary actors Malcolm McDowell. How are you doing today, Malcolm?

Great, thank you! I’ve got my coffee!

You used to sell coffee before you started your acting career.

That’s right, I did, indeed.

What was it like being a coffee salesman?

It was tough. Because, you know, The English…they love their tea! So I was breaking into new territory, because I was trying to persuade The English, who are very fond of their tea, to try coffee instead. But they were like, “I don’t think so!” (laughs) But it was fun. I always like to think of it as my drama school.

It helped prepare you for the future.

Sort of. You had to do a lot of acting.

Now you were fortunate early on to work with some of the world’s greatest filmmakers. Obviously Stanley Kubrick in A Clockwork Orange. Looking back, did that spoil you for future films? How would you compare that experience to other films you worked in?

Well you can’t really compare Kubrick. He was one of the greats. I got very lucky and did a great movie with him. The movie is still very pertinent today, you know? People still love it. It’s amazing how that film has become a sort of legendary film. I worked with a lot of great ones…Lindsay Anderson, people like that.

In later years I worked with Robert Altman, who I loved, who was a great American director, a really authentic American voice. Even the so called “bad” film of Altman, to me, are really terrific to watch. I love him. And sadly he’s gone now. So I’ve been very very lucky. I’ve worked with some great people. That’s what really counts at the end of the day when you look back…the marvelous people I’ve been fortunate enough to work with.

Yes, you’ve had a very diverse career. I bet you’d be hard pressed to come up with your five favorite films that you’ve made, even…

There’s the obvious ones that were hits, but I’m always fond of the ones that nobody’s ever seen, for one reason or another. I’ve made a very interesting movie in The Soviet Union, or what was The Soviet Union at the time, in 1990, just as it was all breaking apart.

Which film was this?

It was called The Assassin of the Tsar. It was a Russian movie made by a Russian director with a Russian cast. It was one hell of an experience to be there playing a Russian. I think I was the first foreign actor to be asked to play a Russian character in a Russian movie. So it was quite an honor, really an amazing experience.

So you were on location in Moscow during the filming?

I was in Moscow, and Vladimir, which is an old capital. We shot all over the place. It was really amazing.

I read an interview with you recently where you were commenting about how almost senselessly violent so many horror films are as of late. Do you find it looking at a film like A Clockwork Orange, which at the time was brought out as the poster child of violent movies…it was even banned in the UK for some time as well.

It wasn’t banned, Kubrick withdrew it.

Was it because of censorship requests?

No, it was it was because he got some death threats to him and his family. He was advised by Scotland Yard to withdraw the film, so he did. But you know, A Clockwork Orange is really not that violent of a movie.

That was my point…

The movies I’ve done with Rob Zombie are really violent. He doesn’t hold back. He doesn’t stab once, it’s repeated. But Rob is an artist. He’s not just a slasher director, you know. There’s more to him than that. But those films are pretty violent. There’s no question about it. Horror films these days always have to one up everybody else, so what do you do, how do you scare people?

Yeah it’s interesting how those evolve.

Things that really scare me are things like Rosemary’s Baby, something of that ilk. The Exorcist, which I thought was an amazing horror film. It was scary in a sort of psychological way. That’s more scary to me than just seeing some stunt man (laughs) chop away.

We’re doing a feature on the 100 Greatest Movie Music Moments and our readers very popularly suggested your “Singing in the Rain” bit from A Clockwork Orange.

Wow! Well, I am very honored about that. But you know I didn’t originate “Singing In The Rain”, a gentleman called Gene Kelly did.

I’ve heard of him.

You’ve heard of him (laughs). Well as you know, when Singing In The Rain came out, for generations of people, him swinging around that lamp post and slapping in that water, and singing…it’s one of the most euphoric moments we’ve ever seen on film. So when I had to come up with something for this sequence, which involved my character in a very brutal situation, that’s when he’s happiest. So “Singing In The Rain” just popped out. I just started singing it, and Kubrick bought the rights and we redid the whole thing and incorporated it.

A footnote to that is that a year afterward, when the film had been out and it was a big hit, I was invited to come to Hollywood by Warner Brothers. I came out and it was very nice to meet everybody. I had never been to Hollywood before. And some guy who was my minder said, “Hey, there’s a party in Beverley Hills tonight, Malcolm. Do you want to go, there’s going to be lots of stars there?” And I went, “Yeah!” I would love to!” I was like a kid in a candy store. And we go and he said, “Hey, you won’t believe this. Gene Kelly’s here. Would you like to meet him?” And I went, “Oh yeah!” (laughs) So had his back to me and he tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Gene, I’d like to introduce you to Malcolm McDowell” and he looked at me…then turned around and walked off.

But you know, I totally got it. I totally understood. I took his glorious moment and put a different spin on it. I guess I kind of ruined his moment in a way. But of course, it was an homage to him, because it was so amazing. And so indelible in me as a person, that I blurted it out and started singing it.

It’s clearly done out of love. There’s no way you pick a song you hate and do something like that to it. Well, it was a pleasure meeting and talking to you and good luck in all you do.

Well thank you. All the best!

-Robert Berry
rberry@retrocrush.com