Interview: Richard DeDomenici, Inspired Creator Behind the Mission: Impossible – Fallout City Chase Walk
Ever found yourself watching a chase-scene in a big-budget blockbuster – let’s say Mission: Impossible – Fallout – and thinking ‘I wish I could do that!’. Well, now you can – at a steady walking pace – thanks to Richard DeDomenici, the City of London Corporation and Setmaker.
We caught up with Richard to talk about filmmaking, Mission: Impossible, the role of technology in the arts, inspirations, and – of course -Things To Do in London.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout City Chase Walk | Paternoster Square | FREE
Hi Richard – thanks for chatting with us! You self-describe as ‘Artist, Filmmaker, Raconteur’ – which is your favourite?
That’s a bit of an outdated description, as I’ve not done much raconteuring lately – so let’s go with artist, as it’s an all-encompassing term!
Having said that, I’ve been doing much more filmmaking in the past few years, as part of my Redux Project – in which I make inexpensive recreations of scenes from famous movies, in the original locations where they were filmed, with local amateur participants.
I’ve made over a hundred of these Reduxes, and secretly hoped that by now the project would have given me all the requisite skills to become a proper movie director, and although we’re not quite there yet, I did assistant edit my very first feature film recently (called Dream Agency) which won several minor international awards – so small steps!
(I’m also writing a prequel to Showgirls, which recontextualises the original movie to help make the acting choices within seem far more explicable.)
Tell us a bit about the Mission: Impossible – Fallout City Chase Walk – how did this project come about?
Well, in 2018 I led a guided tour of movie locations in Croydon, which was great, but it required me to be there to lead it, and I do love Croydon but I get tired of repetition, so I started to think about ways to make self-guided movie location tours – far more acutely when the pandemic hit, and suddenly it became impossible to make participatory work such as The Redux Project.
Then a man called Rupert (who used to run Summerhall in Edinburgh, and who was at Southbank Centre when I reduxed Doctor Who) invited me to make a tour using his new platform Setmaker, and so I decided to devise a prototype self-guided walking tour of the London chase sequence from Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which I’d previously reduxed for Tate Modern, and held in particularly high esteem due to its commitment to geographical verisimilitude.
I pitched the idea to Tania Harrison from the City of London Corporation (and formerly Latitude Festival), who kindly gave me some seed funding to make it a reality. Much like the last two Mission Impossible movies, my tour took much longer than expected to complete – but it’s just come of out of soft launch!
In a frankly unbelievable twist, Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie very graciously answered lots of my annoying questions about the making of the movie, which I have incorporated into the tour.
It’s free, starts in Paternoster Square, takes about 45mins, and all you need is a smartphone and some headphones.
You can watch a trailer for it here, and take the actual tour at FalloutCityChase.com!
Please let me know what you think! If people like it then I’ll happily make some more – so far I have plans for further tours in London, Paris, New York, and maybe even Watford…
How do you see the role of technology in the arts, especially at the interface of performer and audience?
Well it’s often a bit of a double-edged sword. For instance, almost all of us now have the technology in our pockets to make something that looks like it cost a million dollars for about a dollar – the ubiquity of inexpensive technology has democratised and decentralised the making and sharing of culture, which is great!
On the other hand Artificial Intelligence (even far more benevolent AIs than are depicted in the new Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning trailer), while an excellent tool for many a tedious task, risk making the income of artists even more precarious.
All I hope is that AI replaces the dangerous and repetitive jobs, but not the fun and creative ones please, and that Universal Basic Income is in place for those impacted.
Tech-based art can be fun, right?!
Sure it can! One of my next tech-based art projects will be a creative technological solution to the rising costs of Karaoke in London (and, hopefully, the world!)
I’ve presented work (including a karaoke performance) at SXSW, an amazing conference/festival at the intersection of art, culture, tech and music in Austin.
On one visit we reduxed scenes from the locally-filmed movie Idiocracy, which did terribly at the box office when released, but has since been recognised as an extremely prescient social satire of anti-intellectualism, politics and late-stage capitalism.
I’ve seen some of the greatest (and terriblest) avant-garde tech-based art at SXSW, so I’m excited to hear that they’re launching a London edition next summer!
Who or what inspires your work?
I wish I knew! Ideas just seem to pop into my head, pretty much constantly, and I try to write as many of them down as possible, for use later, although only a small portion are ever realised.
Sometimes I even have ideas for art in my dreams! Many of these particular ideas are a bit rubbish though – with the possible exception of my radical Bucks Fizz tribute act (pictured), who debuted in the Spiegeltent at London Wonderground as part of their Alternative Eurovision night, and have since performed over ten times around the UK, despite having quite a rude set.
I also have a wide array of heroes that inspire me, far too many to include here though, so I’ve put a list of some of them here instead. I like to think that I don’t find inspiration in other art, but today my top 3 fave artists are Bryony Kimmings, Yara El-Sherbini and Rosie Gibbons – check them out!
One of the key inspirations behind The Redux Project was a revelatory moment in my teens when I was exploring an abandoned gasworks in The Royal Docks, and inadvertently stumbled upon the filming location of the climax of Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam movie Full Metal Jacket.
I would describe the resulting euphoria as being akin to a religious experience, and to this day I get great joy from witnessing similar reverie and elation amongst participants of The Redux Project.
PS. Some of the gaswork site is actually still there, safeguarded from redevelopment for decades by the route of the abandoned East London River Crossing, although I hear TfL might be reviewing this as part of the proposed DLR extension to Thamesmead, so if anyone wants to help me make Full Metal Jacket: Redux (specifically I need a bit of funding to procure some inflatable palm trees and some pyrotechnics) then we may not have much time left!
What are your favourite Things To Do in London?
I used to be very reluctant to share my favourite London places – lest they get too busy – but too many of my faves have succumbed to gentrification and closed down (Archipelago near Warren Street, Mooli’s in Frith Street..) which is personally devastating, so I’ve changed my policy and would like to urge you all to visit the following establishments:
The Kati Roll Company, 24 Poland Street, W1F 8QL: The Chicken Tikka Wrap made in this little Kolkata street food place is genuinely one of the tastiest things I’ve ever put in my mouth – and that’s saying something.
Algerian Coffee Stores, 52 Old Compton Street, W1D 4QE: An oldie but a goodie, poke your head in and have a sniff of one of the most fragrant shops in London (second only to 17 Short’s Garden, WC2H 9AW), then stick around to pick up some Algerian Special house blend beans – freshly ground up to the size of your choice – and maybe ask them to make you a takeaway cup of what is surely the cheapest and finest coffee in Soho.
You Me Bum Bum Train, 125 Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2H 8HR: Years ago I gave You Me Bum Bum Train a vending machine, and in exchange they let me do a test-run of one of their experiences, which was probably the most immersive thing I’ve ever done. I’ve been sworn to secrecy so can’t tell you anything more, except that they’re finally back, though the tickets are like gold-dust.
The Big Mixer, The Good Rice Gallery, 98 Robert Street, NW1 3QP: Far easier to get into is this group exhibition near Great Portland Street, which includes 13 of my Reduxes from around the world! December 5th-16th. FREE!
Thames Foreshore: Skint? Hate art? Go here at low tide! It’s London’s greatest temporary autonomous zone, you might find some treasure, and it’s where I sing my karaoke in peace.
I am Joint Editor at To Do List. I like: nice pubs, film marathons, not doing real marathons, bad comedy, plays/musicals with shorter second halves, and the Oxford comma.
