Letter From London: 'Beware the Moon, Lads'

As part of Movieline's ongoing efforts to broaden the admittedly Yankeecentric scope of our entertainment coverage, we've tracked down just the man to lob over dispatches from across the pond. Please give a warm welcome to Alex Godfrey, who joins Movieline today as our Man in London. Whether you're an unabashed anglophile, a stout anti-imperialist, or just a lonesome expat craving a proper scone, we think a few moments with Alex will invariably offer you a little piece of home. Today, Alex speaks to Paul Davis, a local DJ whose Beware The Moon -- an indie doc on the making of An American Werewolf in London -- eventually found its way onto Universal's new Blu-ray re-release of the John Landis classic.

Have you ever seen Eastenders, Britain's beloved cockney soap opera? That's what life's like for us over here. We're miserable, angry alcoholics who spend our days buying vegetables on the street, and our evenings poisoning our insides in pubs. That's really all we do. All of us. Will Smith saw Eastenders recently, if Brit tabloid The Sun is to be believed, catching "like a week's worth of episodes in one" (do you not have the word 'omnibus' in America?), and was quite taken by it. "It was so real and gritty", he reportedly gushed, hinting at a somewhat sheltered existence. Then, promising what would surely be the most bizarre transatlantic TV cameo since Boy George appeared in The A-Team, Smith reportedly "begged BBC bosses for a cameo", which worked the media here into a frenzy. Well, I say frenzy. A little foaming at the mouth perhaps.

Maybe this happened. Maybe Will Smith has never seen Eastenders in his life (a report in a British tabloid doesn't always equate with what is actually happening on Planet Earth). But we don't care, because there's nothing like a bit of Hollywood glamour to brighten up our drab, worthless British lives. Go on America, flatter us, you naughty minx. We don't care if you're exploiting us, we'll take it. You recently sent George Clooney over to dazzle the peasants, and he didn't disappoint, positively hijacking the London Film Festival by starring in three of the Gala screenings and putting in a fine performance on the red carpet every time. We lap this stuff up, embracing your celebrities even when you're sick of them. You might give famous American drunk David Hasselhoff a spot on your talent shows, but do you give him his own reality series? No? We do. (Someone here even allowed him a starring role on stage in Chicago a few years back, taking the UK's tiresomely ironic fascination with the man to a whole new level.)

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