The director says his film was sympathetic to Mark Brandon Read and ‘on his side’. It had to be – to understand his violence
![Andrew Dominik on 20 years of Chopper: ‘Ethics have nothing to do with it’](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/513b53fb65b5bad42ddd889ed9cca360d8e38916/0_55_3320_1992/master/3320.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=021ef4b0b2a1c65370c6503ee7fce84e)
Few would be unfamiliar with Chopper – both the criminal, and the movie. The former is Mark Brandon Read, the notorious
Australian gangster, bestselling author and serial shit-spinner, who committed many crimes and claimed he committed many more. The latter is the New Zealand-born writer-director Andrew Dominik’s terrific 2000 drama, supercharged by an astonishing performance from Eric Bana. The film returns to Australian cinemas on 26 August in a pandemic-delayed celebration of its 20th birthday.
Making a good biopic is never easy but making one about Read posed all sorts of challenges – including how to accurately represent the life of a compulsive liar. Dominik, speaking to me over the phone from the
UK, says Read “sold the myth of himself as being a kind of Robin Hood character who robbed drug dealers and gave to himself, and was protective of
Women, animals and small children – which was patent bullshit”.