Andy Hazel
is a Melbourne-based writer. He is The Saturday Paper's editorial assistant.

By this author


Culture June 29, 2019

Palme d’Or winner Bong Joon-ho

Rather than worrying about the nuclear threat from his homeland’s northern neighbour, South Korean director and screenwriter Bong Joon-ho has used his latest Palme d’Or-winning film, Parasite, to home in on the country’s increasing economic divide. “Of course we do worry about North Korea and want peace to come and our relationship to improve, but it’s not something that happens right next to me. What we really feel with our skin are economic issues.”

Culture December 08, 2018

The Native Cats’ music for Tasmania

As The Native Cats, Julian Teakle and Chloe Alison Escott make poetic and unusually stripped-back music that riffs on gender and sexuality by way of a James M. Cain pulp novel. “Life after transitioning is the closest that you ever get to time travel, in a way,” Escott says. “You try to be somebody that you wish was there in the past. You see people who remind you of yourself at a certain time, so you think, ‘What’s the thing that I can say or do for this person?’”

Culture July 21, 2018

Why Spike Lee’s laughing at the Ku Klux Klan

Spike Lee’s new film BlacKkKlansman tells a true story of an African–American policeman infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan. Its themes of blaxploitation, racism and oppression, says the filmmaker, perfectly reflect the political climate we live in now. “When Kevin [Willmott, the film’s co-writer] and I came on board, our No. 1 concern, as storytellers, was to connect this period piece to present day. We had to con-nect. So, we did our research.”

Culture July 07, 2018

Gary Oldman on fame and his most famous roles

He trained for a career in British theatre, but Gary Oldman has since appeared in some of Hollywood’s top-grossing film franchises and played some of history’s most famous men. Here, the Oscar winner opens up about learning his craft and the value of insecurity. “It would be a sad day to really be able to sit there and watch yourself and go, ‘Wow, I’m fantastic in this.’ You should always be questioning and pushing yourself, and having doubt and insecurity is a good thing, but it can’t immobilise you.”

Travel April 21, 2018

Shetland Islands

The windswept Shetland Islands harbour a culture equal parts Norse and Scottish, leaving English-speaking visitors feeling always on the edge of something familiar.

Travel March 02, 2018

Portland, Maine

The tidiness and folksy veneer of Portland, Maine, lends a Truman Show feel to the seaside city they call ‘Vacationland’.

Travel June 10, 2017

Rao’s restaurant in a New York winter

To get a table at quintessential New York Italian restaurant Rao’s you need to have got your name in the book in 1977 – or know someone who did. Yet the warm welcome you’ll get once inside, will stave off the winter cold.

Culture March 18, 2017

Camp Cope talk music and mental illness

Camp Cope’s frank and confessional lyrics – and their campaign against sexual harassment at gigs – have won them dedicated fans who feel a personal relationship to the trio.

Travel December 03, 2016

Pyongyang restaurant, Shanghai

Visitors to North Korea’s state-run restaurant franchise in Shanghai might second-guess the polished smiles of the all-singing staff.

Culture November 05, 2016

Brisbane indie band The Goon Sax

Brisbane teenagers The Goon Sax are getting all the right attention, here and abroad, for their deceptively simple and heartfelt pop. Fans of The Go-Betweens might recognise a pattern.

Travel June 25, 2016

Twin Peaks location hunting in the Pacific Northwest

Visiting set locations of a favourite TV show or film can feel like entering an out-of-kilter dream – all the more so when the show is David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.

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