Remembering Dario Argento’s bizarre interview with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour
Italian filmmaking maestro Dario Argento is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the horror genre. Over the course of his inimitable career, Argento has been associated with a lot of surreal projects, but one of the strangest things he has ever worked on has to be this obscure interview with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and Nick Mason.
Argento has cemented his position in the pantheon of great horror filmmakers, especially due to his contributions to the development of Giallo cinema. In addition to his own directorial projects, Argento has also collaborated with some of the greatest directors in history – ranging from Sergio Leone to George A. Romero.
To this day, modern audiences celebrate and revere Argento’s seminal masterpieces, such as Suspiria. Since he is in his 80s, many fans expected Argento to retire, but the director has promised to soldier on. In 2019, it was reported that he was working on a new episodic film with a female lead.
If you’re familiar with Argento’s unique vision of cinema, you might think that his interview with Pink Floyd is probably not that strange in comparison. Well, think again. The interview took place in October of 1987 and featured in a segment titled ‘Giallo’.
While the interview starts out as an innocent and interesting crossover between the domains of cinema and music, Argento’s questions gradually become more surreal with every passing minute. Just to give you a taste of the bizarre conversation, picture David Gilmour and Nick Mason suffering through an existential crisis after Argento bluntly asks them: “What is your project for the world?”
Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, Argento was a prolific filmmaker, but he also hosted the TV show The Nightmares of Dario Argento, which gave birth to this interview opportunity. Only eight minutes in length, the footage is an incredible watch for fans of the iconic band. Argento also asks them about their opinions on Gothic cinema, to which Gilmour replies, “I don’t know what that means”, before admitting his admiration of Eastern cinema.
The band members also talk about their work on film soundtracks: “It’s not as rewarding as creating your own albums, if you have to work with other people’s emotions and images.” If you still don’t believe this conversation actually happened, check out the entire clip below.
