Cake or Death's Groovy News

[BY SUSAN MICHAL for Venicemag.com]

Most filmmakers know that a documentary is a long-term commitment, sometimes years in the making, but not Sarah Townsend. She had no idea what she was in for when she embarked on her film, Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story, some years back. But the fruits of her labors have paid off in spades, as well as a lot of laughter, and even a few tears.

Having known her subject for most of his adult life, Townsend has worked with Izzard to produce a number of his shows, including “Stripped” and “Eddie Izzard: Live from Wembley.” Needless to say, she seemed the perfect candidate to shoot a film about the struggles that actor/writer/comedian Izzard faced, not only finding his way as a comedian in his early years, but, after being accused of reusing old material, finding himself all over again. It turned out to be not that easy. “I started out to make a more personal film … the difficulty with him is, he will talk endlessly but he won’t tell you very much, and nobody ever calls him on it. He was always great and very funny, but that won’t work for a documentary. [Initially,] we didn’t have a film. It took us four years to get a generally revealing interview.”

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