upfront
Plenty More
Mr Nice Guy...
Thirteen years after his autobiography was
published, Howard Marks’ illustrious life story is
being taken to the big screen. From life behind bars
to Laugharne Literary Festival, Wales’ very own
Mr Nice talks to Rachel England
a
s far as Welsh criminals go, Bridgend-born Howard Marks is
arguably the most notable. At the peak of his drugs traffi cking
career he had 43 aliases (including the now infamous Donald
Nice), 89 phone lines and 25 businesses around the world. And yet
despite seven years spent in America’s Terre Haute Penitentiary (known
as ‘The Terror Hut’ by its inmates), there’s something likeable about
the Oxford graduate, whose lilty Bridgend accent remains thick despite
his adventures around the globe and residency now in Yorkshire.
Last time Buzz spoke to Marks it was October 1996, on the eve of his
autobiography launch. “Depending on how well my book (Mr Nice) sells,
I would like to write another,” he told us then, 13 years ago. Now I’m
calling him at a phone box because his mobile “has run out of juice”,
and over the incessant ‘blip blip blip’ inherent in phone box calls, Marks
explains that actually, his book has sold rather well. So well, in fact, that
a fi lm of his life is in production as we speak.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he says of the fi lm. “But selling the fi lm
rights was the obvious thing to do.” Indeed, for this is a man who now
makes a living marketing his renowned image. His website even sells
‘Mr Nice Seeds’ at up to £99 a pop, which, the legal blurb clarifi es,
should be regarded as a ‘collectable adult souvenir’.
“Mind you,” he continues, “I sold the rights to the BBC 12 years ago.
They’ve been sitting on them all this time because of licensing issues.”
It was just before the book was published that he met Rhys Ifans,
who is playing Marks in the fi lm, at a Super Furry Animals gig in
Pontypridd. “I met him before he became an actor, and before I’d
written the book. We actually made a pledge to each other that one day
he’d play me, but I didn’t think it would take this long.”
Still, this delay has at least afforded Ifans the opportunity to build up
a formidable reputation as a relentless party animal and thus truly
represent Marks’ spirit on screen.
“We see each other once or twice a year,” says Marks. “And we just go
out and get drunk.” Is Ifans’ lifestyle hedonistic enough to rival his in
his heyday? Indeed, the man himself recently admitted in an interview
for The Boat That Rocked (out now) that he ended up so drunk he
woke up on a fi shing boat one morning during fi lming. “I don’t think
he’s overtaken me yet,” laughs Marks. “But he’s getting close.” A good
indication, then, of the level of hell-raising the drugs baron has been
.NIGELHILLIER.COM involved in.
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Despite the basis of Mr Nice revolving around his very existence, Marks
pic:
himself hasn’t been heavily involved in the production of the fi lm, which
was written straight from the book. “Obviously [the book] is a much
abridged version of my life,” he says. “But I’ve not really been consulted
that much. They’d call me up for specifi c details but Rhys didn’t need to
study me or anything because he’s known me for so long.”
april 2009.indd 6 26/3/09 2:44:46 pm
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