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Pink Floyd – The Wall is a 1982 British live-action/animated psychological horror musical film directed by Alan Parker, based on Pink Floyd’s 1979 album of the same name.
The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. The Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof plays rock star Pink, who, driven insane by the death of his father, constructs a physical and emotional wall to protect himself.
Like the album, the film is highly metaphorical, and symbolic imagery and sound are present most commonly.
The film is mostly driven by music and features little dialogue from the characters. Despite its turbulent production and the creators voicing their discontent about the final product, the film received generally positive reviews and has an established cult following.
Even before the original Pink Floyd album was recorded, the intention was to make a film from it.[7] The original plan was for the film to be live footage from the album’s tour, together with Scarfe’s animation and extra scenes, and for Waters himself to star.
EMI did not intend to make the film, as they did not understand the concept.
Director Alan Parker, a Pink Floyd fan, asked EMI whether The Wall could be adapted to film. EMI suggested that Parker talk to Waters, who had asked Parker to direct the film. Parker instead suggested that he produce it and give the directing task to Gerald Scarfe and Michael Seresin, a cinematographer.
Waters began work on the film’s screenplay after studying scriptwriting books. He and Scarfe produced a special-edition book containing the screenplay and art to pitch the project to investors. While the book depicted Waters in the role of Pink, after screen tests, he was removed from the starring role and replaced with new wave musician and frontman of the Boomtown Rats, Bob Geldof.
Waters and Geldof later admitted to a story during casting where Geldof and his manager took a taxi to an airport, and Geldof’s manager pitched the role to the singer, who continued to reject the offer and express his contempt for the project throughout the fare, unaware that the taxi driver was Waters’ brother, who told Waters about Geldof’s opinion.
Since Waters was no longer in the starring role, it no longer made sense for the feature to include Pink Floyd footage, so the live film aspect was dropped.
The footage culled from the five Wall concerts at Earl’s Court from 13–17 June 1981 that were held specifically for filming was deemed unusable also for technical reasons as the fast Panavision lenses needed for the low light levels turned out to have insufficient resolution for the movie screen. Complex parts such as “Hey You” still had not been properly shot by the end of the live shows.
Parker convinced Waters and Scarfe that the concert footage was too theatrical and that it would jar with the animation and stage live action. After the concert footage was dropped, Seresin left the project and Parker became sole director.
