England’s Eddie Izzard is a true pioneer of gender fluidity and, intriguingly, an actress of range who does standup, writes and was Tony-nominated for her hit revival of ‘A Day in the Death of Joe Egg’ on Broadway. Currently, Izzard can be seen in a WWII-era thriller, ‘Six Minutes to Midnight,’ inspired by a visit to her childhood home, the seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea which she discovered had through the 1930s been the site of an all-girls school for the daughters of Germany’s high-ranking Nazis. Izzard helped fashion a scenario where as Thomas Miller, a British spy, he’s sent there literally days before Hitler would start WWII on Sept. 1, 1939, for a secret mission. At the school he encounters their lovely if Nazi-loving Head Mistress played by none other than Dame Judi Dench. Izzard spoke by phone last week. These are excerpts from that interview.
Q: I wonder, when the 3 of you [Izzard, Celyn Jones, who also plays a British policeman in the film, and Andy Goddard, who directed] were writing the screenplay, what point you wanted to have for Thomas Miller? That you personally injected into the character. And did he change at all in the writing process?
EI: He didn’t change because he’s got this being half-English, half-German problem, not being trusted by either side. When people watch the film they’ll see at the beginning he is just an English teacher coming in to teach the girls some German and English. But he’s not who he seems to be. So, the first third to a half of the film I am actually not playing who I am, which is a little tricky thing to do as an actor. Because you can’t show anything, you just basically can’t show what’s really going on. So you just have to get to that place where the whole story is put against you and then you’re the mind of sanity. And I think that’s what Thomas knows and is representing. Almost like a modern audience member in that time. Because the world is about to go to hell and the Second World War with 60 million people about to die — and he can see it coming but no one else is able to see it. He’s trying to maybe save one or two of the girls, their hearts and minds, before Hitler swallows them up.
Q: Is there supposed to be any kind of relevance today with a movie like ‘Six Minutes to Midnight’?
EI: Yes, I do think so. I mean, the 1930s was a time when certain people, right wing political people, decided that they could use lies as a tool of politics. You just lie over and over. Like Hitler said, ‘If the lie is big enough, then people will really believe it. It’s easier than the smaller lie’ — which is an interesting thing he said. And then 90 years later we have a number of politicians around the world who’ve decided to lie and lie and lie. And people are quite happy to believe these lies. So it was very scary 90 years ago and it’s scary now in the 2020s. You hope that 2030 will be way more positive than 1930. I disagree. I think a lie is a lie and a truth is a truth. Rather than this weird thing, the strange place politics has taken us to. So yes, if we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. And that is the message of the film.
Q: Do you consider yourself a trans pioneer, Eddie, with your specifically now pronouns as she/her? Even though you’re playing a male, an obviously male role, in this?
EI: Well, I actually asked that if I’m playing a male role, you use he/him. Because I’m gender fluid. I’m generally based in girl mode so I’m going to be she/her. Basically, I didn’t ask to change my pronouns, the world changed my pronouns. As for a ‘gender pioneer,’ I know I came out in 1985, so I came out 36 years ago. I’m sure people are bored with that fact. Basically [what happened was] I was in a television program where they asked me, like a coffee topic, ‘What do you like? Which pronouns would you like?’ I said, ‘Oh, if you’re asking, I’m wearing a dress. She/her would be great.’ So that’s what happened in a TV program. And that was seen and went viral around the world! And so the world changed my pronouns, and that’s interesting. I’m gonna be promoted to she — that’s a great honor. But you know, I’m not about pronouns. We’ve got to relax on the pronoun thing because that’s not what I’m about. I’m about a human being. I’m gender fluid. I’ve been ‘out’ and honest since 1985. But I do comedy, I do drama. It doesn’t matter. Your sexuality shouldn’t have anything, any matter. But nothing has changed. You know the pronouns are just an adjustment. Like a software language adjustment. That’s all.
Q: What’s next?
EI: Next is more films, more running, more standup in Spanish.
NEW DVDs:
MIGHTY MILLA Let’s face it, Milla Jovovich deservedly reigns as the great action heroine of the 21st century. ‘Monster Hunter’ (Blu-ray + Digital, Sony, PG-13) is but her latest big screen adaptation of a hit video game, once again directed by her husband and soul mate Paul W.S. Anderson. 
Their longtime professional relationship as star and muse resulted in the mighty, video-game inspired ‘Resident Evil’ (2002-2016) film series. In ‘Monster Hunter’ Jovovich’s Captain Artemis and her crew are transported to a new world, one of dangerous, powerful, ferocious monsters who just happen to be impervious to their firepower. To survive, they must bond with the aptly named Hunter (Thailand’s Tony Jaa) who is able to stay alive by staying 1 step ahead. Artemis then discovers Hunter is but part of a team headed by the Admiral (Ron Perlman). Bonus: Deleted scenes, the film’s weaponry, ‘From Game to Screen’ and a featurette on the cast and characters.
TEARS & LOSS You leave the low-key tragedy of ‘Our Friend’ (DVD, Universal, R) with a newly informed sense of appreciation for each day we’re given.
A true story about a young mother’s terminal illness and the friend who gave up work, home and comfort to come help her and her husband care and manage things, ‘Our Friend’ benefits enormously from its 3 leads. Dakota Johnson’s Nicole Teague is valiant if doomed, Casey Affleck’s Matt the helpless husband, a journalist who in writing Nicole’s epitaph insured her legacy. And Jason Segel could not be better as Dane Faucheux who goes to assist for a weekend and stays until the end. Adapted from Matt Teague’s prize-winning Esquire article ‘The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word’ and directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite whose documentary ‘Blackfish’ changed the way the world views whales in captivity and stopped SeaWorld’s orca exhibitions.
PANDEMIC SURVIVAL How appropriate! A pandemic thriller starring KJ Apa (‘Riverdale’) with, among others, Demi Moore, Paul Walter Hauser and Craig Robinson. Set in the 4th year of global lockdown, ‘Songbird’ (Blu-ray + Digital, STX-Universal, PG-13) presents a world of prison camps for the infected and a race against time for Apa, immune to the virus, to save his girlfriend in the quarantine camps. Bonus: Audio commentary by director and co-writer Adam Mason and co-writer Simon Boyes, deleted scenes with director commentary and ‘The Story of Songbird.’
MIGHTY MEDICINE A world famous neurologist, due to his writings on his case histories studying the brain, and famously played by Robin Williams in ‘Awakenings,’ Oliver Sacks in January 2015 was told he had just months to live. 
He proceeded to do 80 hours of filmed interviews in his Manhattan apartment before passing on Aug. 30. Ric Burns, the younger brother of Ken, using those tapes, interviews with family and friends and expansive archival material, has fashioned a memorable portrait of a truly unique doctor in ‘Oliver Sacks: His Own Life’ (Blu-ray, Zeitgeist, Not Rated).
3-D KUNG FU The Hong Kong/Taiwan 1977 ‘Dynasty’ in Super 3-D (Blu-ray 3-D, KL Studio Classics, R), fully restored by 3-D Film Archive, has a suitable action premise: The Emperor’s son is accused of treason and must fight all comers. A martial arts extravaganza starring Bobby Ming, ‘Dynasty’ won a Golden Horse Film Festival award. This Special Edition marks the 1st Film Archive release in Compatible 3-D which allows it to be seen on any system. There are 2 versions here, the BD3D polarized and the anaglyphic (red/cyan) versions. Included is a pair of anaglyphic 3-D glasses (!), information on how to acquire additional glasses plus a plethora of Special Features. Here is a restored 3-D comic book ‘The House of Terror,’ a 3-D music video, 2 Stereo Slide Presentations from 10-time Emmy winning writer Eric Drysdale and 3-D expert Mike Ballew’s ‘Super-Touch Lens System’ featurette.
KILL ME NOT! ‘The Man In Search of His Murderer’ (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, Not Rated) This 1931 German hit has an ingenious premise: A depressed man wants to end it all and hires a hitman, only to have a reversal of fortune and change his mind. 
But how does he stop his own execution? Directed by the great auteur Robert Siodmak who would soon leave Germany for great success with film noir in Hollywood (‘The Spiral Staircase,’ the 1946 ‘The Killers’), its screenplay is by 2 other German émigrés who found success in America as well, Billy Wilder and Curt Siodmak. Today credit for the film’s mordant humor is acknowledged as typical of Wilder. There have been several remakes — it’s a story that never ceases to work. Special Feature: Film historian Josh Nelson’s audio commentary. In German with English subtitles.
1930s SENSATIONALISM While Hollywood’s major studios presented features, shorts, travelogues and newsreels, there were also a step down – what we would call today indie filmmakers. Only these were not interested in the art of film but, like tabloid newspapers, eager to profit from scandal, innuendo and sexual matters that could never be countenanced by the major studios. ‘The Lash’ (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, Not Rated) from 1936 was a ‘ripped from the headlines’ account of a supposedly notorious murder case involving a masochistic religious cult in northern New Mexico. Las Hermanos Penitentes celebrated Lent, the 40 days of deprivation before Easter, with elaborate tableaux of flagellation, self-mutilation and crucifixion. Cinematographer Roland Price, notorious for ‘Marihuana: Weed With Roots in Hell,’ filmed the very real rituals and then fashioned a fictional but enticing murder mystery called ‘The Last of the Penitentes,’ which played around the country for years, sometimes with new footage inserted into the trailers. This Kino Classic version was restored from the shortened 35-minute version from elements preserved at the Library of Congress and represents the uncensored 48-minute cut. Special Features: Both censored and uncensored version, audio commentary by series curator Bret Wood. This is Volume 9 of the series, ‘Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture.’
SILENT, STiLL LEGENDARY ‘The Delicious Little Devil’ (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, Not Rated) From 1919 comes this slightly risqué silent comedy starring two of the era’s legendary stars Mae Murray and Rudolph Valentino in a 4K restoration. 
The story presents Murray’s Kitty Maguire as a virtuous woman who needs to pretend to be a Duke’s notorious mistress. This helps her get a job but scares off Valentino’s suitor who wants a respectable woman not a tramp for a wife. Bonus: Newsreel footage of Valentino’s 1926 funeral, a trailer for Valentino’s great 1922 hit ‘Blood and Sand,’ a film historian’s audio commentary and ‘Orson Welles Remembers Rudolph Valentino.’
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Stephen Schaefer’s Hollywood & Mine - Boston Herald
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