What would you do as a true movie buff during the waiver period if you also lost your job? For Phil Watts of Somerset in the UK, last year it was simple: Watch as many movies as you can. He just ate 1028 within a year.
Phil Watts is the son of a former film operator, the man who used to be in charge of showing the movie. Born with a love of cinema. His father, Roger Watts, remembers converting a garage into a small eight-seat cinema in the 1970s. Phil Watts is also known in his own network as “Not George Lucas”, in reference to the famous Star Wars director who looks a bit like him. Watts considers himself “too obsessed” when it comes to cinema.
He worked in a lumber company until he was kicked out during the Corona pandemic in November 2020. Since the beginning of 2021, he has been working on a number of side projects at home, but he has also watched a lot of movies. In the spring of last year, he came to the conclusion that he already had a lot of work to do. He took notes so that he would not forget what he saw. “In March, I had already hit at least three to four hundred films and thought I might be able to make a thousand films a year.”
Watts went for it, in his movie marathon. Watch all the James Bond, Star Trek, and Fast and Furious movies. On December 28, 2021, he’s ready for his ‘Gone With the Wind’ flick, which he’s never seen before.
Up to seven a day
Some days he had to work or had other things to do and he didn’t see a single movie, he told the BBC. But on other days, watch up to seven movies a day, usually shorter than about 70 minutes from the Universal Monsters series in the past. “In the end, I tried to fit in a lot of movies. It became a bit more difficult, but for me watching movies is a way to relax.”
According to Watts, his wife had no problem with him spending countless hours in the darkened living room. “She was happy in the garden when I was inside,” he claims. “We have very different tastes when it comes to movies. We found a few things that she wanted to watch with me, but she was happy to let me get my way.”
Of course, the movie buff also has an absolute favourite. This is Giuseppe Tornatore Cinema Paradiso from 1988, because this film shows a connection with Watts’ personal life. After all, in the movie, an Italian boy learns the art of cinema from a local film operator. “I cried so hard at the end, but in a good way,” Watts concluded.
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