Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux is a well known British-American documentarist who is a former student of Michael Moore, especially known for his series called 'Theroux's Weird Weekends' and 'When Louis Met...'. He has also done a number of deeper, more controversial documentaries. His shy, quirky personality shows how different and abnormal his chosen film subjects can be and allows him to grow a personal relationship between the people he is following.

Examples include:

• Louis Theroux: Under the Knife
• Louis Theroux: Gambling In Vegas
• The Most Hated Family In America
• A Place For Paedophiles
• The City Addicted To Crystal Meph

I watched 'The city addiced to crystal meph' and 'The most hated family in America' which are both about serious issues which affect people but have a very high interest point as well. He is filmed infront of camera and interviews/debates in a light hearted, often comical way which lightens the mood off of the deep topic. The way in which he satisfies the audience by asking blunt questions which the viewers are also wondering makes it much more interesting to watch and shows how he can relate to his audience. These documentaries are of the poetic and reflexive genre as they are about human interest and he is infrount of camera providing narrative guidance.

When Louis Met...

In this series Louis accompanies different celebrities as they go along day-to-day business, interviewing them about they're lives and experiences.

• In When Louis Met... (2000–2002), Theroux accompanied a different British celebrity in each programme as they went about their day-to-day business, interviewing them about their lives and experiences as he did so. Celebrities included Jimmy Savile, Max Clifford and Simon Cowell and he was also meant to have a similar programme with Michael Jackson but it unfortuently got cancelled.
• The documentary focuses on human interests and in that respect could be seen as part of the poetic genre. However it could also be observational as it follows a person on their journey.

This is an interesting interview with Louis which finds out a lot about his personality and how he got into film-making, interviewing and how he has made his documentaries so interesting.


The other two parts of the interview are at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyUPwc-beg&feature=related and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD6IahyNlgk&feature=related