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Do you consider yourself a religious man? Yes. All my films are religious films. They all have morals.
But what gives you the right to preach? I'm not preaching. I mean did Jesus preach? I suppose he did, didn't he? Well, Oliver Reed always called me Jesus.
Did you like that? Like it or not, it was thrust upon me.
What was the hardest film to make? [Twiggy-starring musical] The Boyfriend. I thought after The Devils, which was a bit harrowing, I'd have a change of pace. I didn't reckon that putting six lady starlets in the same dressing room would be such a bad idea. Because on the touring company they would be in the same dressing room. So I thought if they were to be their characters, I'd put them in the same room. It was a disaster. Huge agony, misery.
You also once said it was difficult working with Rudolf Nureyev in your 1977 biopic Valentino. Oh yes. One of the most magnificent mime dancers in the world and all he wanted to do was speak dialogue. And the problem was he wasn't very good at it. He wanted to speak words. 'Words,' he was saying. 'Words. Words.' And if I cut one word from the script, he refused to do it. And, y'know, the accent. Rudolph Valentino had an accent, but it was apparently not Russian.
You've been making film for almost 50 years now. Is cinema getting better or worse? It's getting much better. I think Hollywood's getting better. I hardly ever go to the movies anymore, but I think they're very professional, well-acted, good music, beautifully shot. Usually crap dialogue.
So what's the most important element of a film? Anything that grips you. You've got to recognize a part of yourself or something that you believe in or whatever it is. You've got to relate. And there a lots of different ways to do that.
What about the difference between American film and European film? I was brought up on American film. And the first European film I saw I thought was awful. I was four and it was Don Quixote. I thought it was badly lit, over-exposed. I was born the year The Jazz Singer came out, so my mother always said my first words were [sings] "Mammy, mammy I would walk a million miles just for one of your smiles!" Whether that's true or not
You teach film at the Southampton Institute, don't you? I make the occasional appearance.
And how are the next generation of filmmakers shaping up? They're all mostly in love with violence. Because it's easy, to make a stab at it, to splatter the screen with blood.
But what's the difference between that and the violence you used in your films? For me it was always a question of the subject, it's the expression that the subject allows. If the subject's about violence, then you use violence. A composer creating to his work ... now that's about poetry.
And what is Revenge of the Elephant Man about? It's inspired by The Island of Dr. Moreau with Marlon Brando in the performance of his career. Revenge is about a doctor who's inspired by Brando's character to try some genetic engineering and he crosses an elephant with a woman. The result is the elephant man, which has its trunk in a rather interesting place. It has two functions. I'll leave it to your imagination. I have a well-endowed neighbor playing the part.
Do you plan to retire any time soon? I can't afford to retire. I have four wives and nine children.
Nine? You've had another? I read it was eight. Well, eight or nine. [Laughs] Now that's controversial.