shots Iconic Covers: Ben Gregor

shots is 25 in 2015 and we're celebrating the milestone with a host of editorial content and events to mark the special anniversary. Part of the celebration has seen us look back over the iconic portraits that have graced the cover of the magazine over the years and five weeks into our Iconic Covers series, Ben Gregor takes over to talk about his memorable rendezvous with a space louse for issue 129.

The OPC (Canada) and Knucklehead (worldwide) director employed the skill and talent of friend and artist Liam Sharp to deliver a series of images that would accompany the feature - including the main cover, below. Here he elaborates on how the concept grew following an impromptu night on the sauce.

Tell us about the concept for your shots portrait series for issue 129…

It was meant to be me as a heroic 2000AD type character flying a spaceship with an ultra-intelligent dolphin navigator sidekick. It ended up as me with a giant louse.

Who designed the space louse and tell us about the character/how you conceived him/it?

2000AD artist Liam Sharp agreed to do the project and came to stay for the weekend to talk ideas.

I’d been shooting [The Increasingly Poor Decisions of] Todd Margaret and was thrashed from directing Spike Jonze who was extremely nice but clearly was Spike Jonze. I’d forgotten Liam was coming - he was suddenly there on set - and instead of sharing ideas we ended up going drinking with Dave Gibbons.

As Liam was leaving, drastically hungover like myself, I joked that because we hadn’t talked about it, maybe he was going to draw my co-pilot as a giant pubic louse or something crazy and sadly he thought that was a great idea. My chance at being heroic evaporated but in the end it looked just right.

And why have you got a cut on your head in the series; how did you get it in the story?

Hmm. When I wrote the script I just thought I should be drinking with a head wound. It’s the kind of lame, self-defeating swashbuckling I would probably do if I was a hero.

Tell us about the day of the shoot for the actual cover shot…

There was no shoot. Which worked for me.

And how did it feel to be made into an animated comic strip?

Like the luckiest friend of a space louse in the universe.

How well do you think the images fit with the actual interview and feature piece?

Well no one has ever read the interview, I think, as they are just mesmerised by the drawings. Which works for me also.

And the issue came out during Cannes; was there any interesting feedback do you recall?

I don’t really go to Cannes, both my lawyer and my therapist advise against it. So I didn’t get any feedback.

You were at a bar with the louse in the story. But who, in the world, would you most like to have a drink with these days and why?

Well I love space stuff, and I just filmed a TV series that Sigourney Weaver guests in. She is good value and has some cool space-based anecdotes about James Cameron that I can’t get enough of. So probably her: I want more.

So it wouldn’t be one of the guys in your Puma HardChorus ad?

Ha. Well I am a Spurs fan and they were Spurs so yeah, it’s possible. Sigourney has more teeth though.