As anyone lucky enough to have seen Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s extraordinary 20,000 Days On Earth will know, the world of Nick Cave is a mesmerising place. A compelling deep dive into creativity, memory and the magic of performance, featuring not only Nick Cave but collaborators, friends and muses in the form of band-mate Warren Ellis, actor Ray Winstone and pop icon Kylie Minogue, the streets of Brighton haven’t been this compelling since Brighton Rock.

Anyway, if you haven’t had the chance to catch 20,000 Days at your local fleapit (it’s currently still in cinemas), don’t despair – the DVD is already out, as is a truly covetable limited Collector’s Edition (only 2000 available) in a monolithic black box for the true devotees. This particular artefact looks so good it surely deserves a place in the film’s intriguing digital partner project, Nick Cave’s Museum Of Important Shit, which asks you to submit pictures of all the souvenirs of your life you’ve been pointlessly hanging onto all this time for reasons best known to yourself. Gig tickets, love letters, old stamps, badges, you name it… Warren Ellis even submitted a piece of old gum once chewed by Nina Simone.

To celebrate the release of the DVD, we managed to get our hands on 10 never-seen-before exclusive behind-the-scenes pictures from the shoot. So click onwards to see the film in progress.

Here he is, the man himself – it’s Nick Cave on set, early on in the shoot. Taken 2nd May 11:43am.
The archivist in the Nick Cave archive is in fact played in the film by author and screenwriter Kirk Lake. Here he is meeting his archival subject. Taken 2nd May 4:52pm.
Viewed through the monitor, Nick Cave waits to see his psychoanalyst, played in the film by Darian Leader (who is a psychoanalyst in real life, but not Nick Cave’s psychoanalyst). Taken 3rd May 7:35am.
20,000 Days on Earth was directed by artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard – here’s Jane on set. Taken 3rd May 11:41am.
A very early morning shot here of co-director Iain Forsyth on the boat used to film the closing shot of 20,000 Days on Earth. Taken 8th May 3:58am.
Co-director Jane Pollard on Brighton Beach during the 20,000 Days shoot. Taken 8th May 5:59pm.
Shooting with DoP Erik Wilson in the very small hours as the sky begins to lighten over Brighton. Taken 9th May 4:20am.
Kylie Minogue goes for an evening spin in the back of Nick Cave’s car, reuniting the former partners in song. Taken 14th May 8:56pm.
Nick Cave settles into the driving seat for an evening’s filming. Taken 14th May 9:03pm.

 

 

The creative process wasn’t over once 20,000 Days On Earth was locked and edited. The filmmakers then collaborated with Film4 to build a digital online museum – visit Nick Cave’s Museum of Important Shit to join hundreds of other users and submit your own ordinary items of extraordinary significance…10_Museum grab

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