Nighthawks Tony Vice: Hello. I heard your original idea was about a man who talks to mannequins. Gerard Johnson: Dennis Nielsen The great thing about your film is that you could almost have the killings taken out of it and it would still work as a character study. The title though, or at least the tag-line on the poster is, “Tony: London Serial Killer”. Was that a decision by [the distributor] Revolver to make it sound more salacious? Taxi Driver Fair enough. Did it bother you though? Did you try to fight it? You want as many people as possible to see it anyway, and it’s not false marketing. He does kill a few people. In the original short film you made a few years ago, Tony covers himself with talcum powder and wanks off before killing someone. The same scene’s in the feature but without the masturbation. Is that because you wanted to move it away a bit from the stereotypical sort of serial killer who gets off on murdering people? Tony I watched it with a friend who thought making his face white was some sort of vampire metaphor. How much of a social comment are you trying to make, in terms of Tony being a product of his environment? The city’s a big character in the film. It’s a great London film actually, probably my favorite since Peeping Tom. It really smells and feels like London. They’re all a bit hyper-real. Peeping Tom Withnail & I Is it true that Peter was actually living in the flat you filmed in? Was that so you could get a more authentic feel for a man in his living space? Did he stay in character? ALEX GODFREY