Rik Mayall

In March 2013, we were asked by our lovely friend Craig Green to create some images of Rik for their brilliantly twisted audio series, ‘The Last Hurrah’.

A special edited version of ‘The Last Hurrah’, entitled ‘Interview with The Snowman’, was recently featured on the BBC iPlayer. Which means our photos were too! Double Hurrah!

Rik wanted the style of 1950’s movie star portraits, but with a bit of Silence of the Lambs in there, too. 😉

I didn’t recognise Rik at first. It was just a man-shaped ball of charisma stepping through our doorway.

He didn’t smash through the window or anything you’d expect. He was quiet, incredibly polite, but at the same time a huge PRESENCE in our hallway.

We discussed ideas, he told us of things we didn’t know existed. He told us our photos would be seen in Hollywood.

We did the grotesque posed shots first, representing his character in ‘The Last Hurrah’. They were more intense than any face I’ve ever seen. I was right up in his face; he was leering through my lens.

He was less confident with the impromptu headshot session that followed, which took me by surprise. We weren’t expecting to do headshots at all, but politely, persuasively, Rik made it happen. 😉 Not sure if these are the last head shots Rik ever did, but I’m glad we had a chance to capture him in our own simple way.

We wrapped up by taking some shots outside, to be used by the graphic designer in the CD artwork. We found a wall right outside my Aunt and Uncle’s old flat.

Weird to have been walking past this spot for years and all of a sudden it was a backdrop for this surreal experience.

When we were done, we strolled down Lupus Street, towards the tube station, chatting about his upcoming TV work. He was heading to a meeting at the BBC that afternoon. We all exchanged hugs. Some tradies in a white van beeped at us and shouted something, enjoying that they were randomly seeing Rik Mayall in front of them. I realised that must happen all the time when you’re a hero of British TV comedy. Our hero didn’t seem to mind.

Thanks for the opportunity, Craig. Thanks for being Rik, Rik. xx

You can get the whole disgusting series of ‘The Last Hurrah’ on iTunes, anytime you like!

The images here are the ones selected by Craig, Rik and Dom (and approved by Rik’s agent).

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