First Comics News: Why do you enjoy making comic books?
Amazing Améziane: Because for me it’s the best job one can do! I watch movies, read books, and research subjects I love. Then write and draw all day.
I get to learn new ways to illustrate in the style of the maestros I love. I travel to many countries, and people are nice to me. What’s not to like?
1st: When you work on a comic book, are you totally focused on it, or do other thoughts intrude?
Amazing: I had my best ideas while showering or washing dishes. And let me tell you that at La Casa de Amé, my plates and I are very clean.
But besides my waterworks, I am mostly obsessed with it until half of the story. Then I start to work on something else for a few weeks. Then I can come back with a fresh mind to finish it.
I like that method I picked up from the Coen Bros. They had troubles with BARTON FINK. So, they started and finished MILLER’S CROSSING in 3 weeks. They found their way back to BARTON and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Not bad!
1st: Who is Sergio Leone?
Amazing: Tarantino said, “Leone was the man who made classic cinema enter into its modern form”.
1st: Do you do much research on the books you write and illustrate?
Amazing: Yes, yes, yes. My books are real cinema books. Part artbook, part comics. And true BIOPICS (biography & pictures).
I mainly use the YouTube video interviews of the directors. The info comes from their very own mouths. As my books are told in the first person, I need to analyse their speech patterns, lingo, repetitions, and such.
70% of my dialogues came directly from those interviews. The last 30% is a creation of mine… based on those dialogues.
1st: What makes Sergio Leone a great director?
Amazing: Because he can move the camera like no other. Because he and Morricone are a match made in heaven. Because he has a big Roman personality that transpires on screen. Because he thought the Western wasn’t dead. It just needed a good slap in the face to let the blood flow. Because he liked historical reality views through the lens of fiction.
And finally, because he created and directed THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA. Those three movies alone would have secured his place in movie heaven.
1st: How does your art illustrate Clint Eastwood’s personality?
Amazing: Always with his mouth shut. I adore Clint Eastwood. He’s done many great films and directed even a few more. But he was never as good as BLONDIE, MONGO, or THE MAN WITH NO NAME.
“Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.” Legend.
1st: What is it that most jumps out in “Sergio Leone: The Revolution of Western” that will grab readers?
Amazing: The fact that Sergio is telling his own story. It’s never loudly advertised on the books, so readers are always surprised.
There’s a lot of text, too. But nobody ever complained because they learn something new about the director. The art style changes so much that every double spread is a surprise.
1st: Why do you like writing biographies?
Amazing: Alan Moore said, “I can stop every person on the streets and he or she would have a life more interesting than Superman.”
I’m ok with that. But just to make sure, I’ll stick with movie directors… So that I can also draw all the movies I like. It’s a pleasure to share those incredible stories of incredible people.
1st: Why did you write “Quentin By Tarantino” as you were interviewing him?
Amazing: There’s a series of books where the title is, for example, “Scorsese on Scorsese,” where the director revisits his own career.
I wanted to reference that and to have two versions of Quentin Tarantino to answer the questions. Because there are two very different versions of QT (beginning and end). And like in any QT’s films, there is a twist… but no spoilers!
1st: In “Don Coppola”, how did you get inside director Francis Ford Coppola’s head to write about him?
Amazing: Scorsese was funny and very precise about cinema. Tarantino was very funny, full of repetition, and very enthusiastic about everything he likes.
Coppola was more serious. More balanced because he wanted to tackle big subjects. Marty and Quentin like to stay at ground level.
Look at The GOODFELLAS and JACKIE BROWN. And look at THE GODFATHER. One is Mount Olympus. And the other is Athens. And the last is the guy who stole goats behind the temple.
1st: Which director would you like to work on next that you have not started?
Amazing: I created a portfolio with 18 “best directors who didn’t win an Oscar for best director”.
I would like to do all of them. I got two already… Quentin and Sergio.
Marty won for THE DEPARTED, sadly. He could have won for TAXI DRIVER but lost to ROCKY. CASINO lost to BRAVEHEART… no comment. And FRANCIS and STEVEN won for their best films.
So 16 to go. In that list, I got Welles, Kurosawa, Chaplin, Pollack, Fincher… we’ll see what’s possible.
1st: Would you like to be a movie director or give it a try?
Amazing: Yes, I would like to do just one. An adaptation of my crime fiction called “BAGMEN”. I work as a producer and screenwriter on it.
Mr Netflix, if you are reading this… I know 100% of the rights, and I’m already working on BAGMEN 2. I want to publish it in English in the near future.
So… everything is possible, as they say.
1st: What would you like to say to those who pick up your comics?
Amazing: Honestly, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You picked up by chance a big book with a lot of text, many different styles, and you liked it anyway.
I have noticed many times during November signings that my books are the actual Christmas present. I’m proud of that. The SERGIO LEONE is all around the world a bona fide Dad’s gift.
Readers who come back to see me usually take the rest of the collection. So I must be doing something right, no?
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