A Short Film About John Bolton

It's difficult to describe this film without spoiling it, so I'll be brief. John Bolton is an artist, known for his paintings of vampiric female nudes. The film follows a reporter's attempts to get Bolton to explain his artistic process; to find out the answer to the eternal question, "Where do you get your ideas?"

This is writer Neil Gaiman's directorial debut. It had its world premiere at the 2003 San Diego Comic-con, and will be released on DVD in December 2004. I've been a fan of Gaiman's since the late 80's, when I read my first issue of his horror/fantasy epic comic book series "The Sandman", and I was glad to see that his writing style carries over to his directing style. It will be interesting to see what he can do with a bigger budget when he makes his feature- film directorial debut, but, in the meantime, this is a nice taste of what's to come.

Neil Gaiman presents us with a yet another great story, this time in the form of a mock-documentary. The 'art-documentary' style with its presentation of 'real' interviews and a real subject lulls the viewer into complacency before he slowly starts to unsettle and unnerve you. It is at once entirely obvious where the story is going (if you are familiar with Gaiman's work) and possibly unexpected (if you are not).

Regardless, this is a wonderful look inside the creative process and where ideas come from that inspire the writers/artists etc we love and respect.

Oddly, the first time I saw this was in black and white (due to a DVD related problem) and I found it a lot more chilling than when I saw it in colour. Despite this I think it is a throughly entrancing short that couples realism and reality with a dark fantasy horror element and makes it all seem totally normal and reasonable. The DVD features some great extras such as interviews, an excellent commentary and some examples of Bolton's work. A must see for Gaiman and Bolton fans alike.

Neil Gaiman is one of the finest writers out there not only today, but ever. He is also one of the nicest people I have ever met.

This is Neil's first foray into the medium of film as a director, ask him to tell you about the first screenplay he wrote if you want to hear another good scary story. This is a great little short film about one of his favorite Artists and how Mr. Bolton 'finds' his inspiration. I can't tell you much more without making the fun of the film less fun. If you like good stories and creative low budget film that only makes the story that much better, this one is for you.

This film premiered at Comic Con International 2003 to absolutely one the best audience responses I have ever experienced and I have experienced many films over the years with excited audiences, but only one, or two with this much energy and enthusiasm. I can't wait for his Death film.