WENN, 21 March 2000
McDowell Makes A Second Clockwork Orange

British star Malcolm McDowell has made an ultra-violent gangster film which will kick up greater public outcry than Clockwork Orange, A (1971). The veteran actor says upcoming Gangster No. 1 (2000) is so violent it makes the controversial 1971 movie look like a children's movie. McDowell says, "Talk about violence - Clockwork Orange, A (1971) is like a Disney film next to Gangster No. 1 (2000), it's going to cause quite a stir... It's a very profane and very violent film about the rise and fall of a pyschotic but charismatic gangster from the East End of London. It's on the scale of a Greek tragedy... It's an extraordinary piece of work like Trainspotting (1996) or Pulp Fiction (1994). People will be stunned but whether they actually like it is another matter." And McDowell says the film has received the ultimate rave review - from his 16-year-old son, Charlie. McDowell adds, "Charlie's a surfer in Los Angeles and he's never really watched anything of mine, but he jumped up at the end of the screening and said, 'Dad, that film rocks'... I was given a seal of approval that means more to me that any critic's words - the most glowing review would mean nothing compared to that one line from my son."