Interviewing one of the UK’s most original and innovative directors of the past 45 years was always going to be a challenge.

And Nicolas Roeg didn’t disappoint.

The director of classic mind-bending movies Performance, Walkabout and The Man Who Fell To Earth answered his own questions, explored his own odd tangents – including how sad it was the ancient Romans weren’t able to capture their lives on film – and insisted the interview finish when a fire alarm was tested in The Argus building.

How Brighton-based cult director Ben Wheatley will fare when the two come together on Sunday to discuss the 40th anniversary of Roeg’s most seminal work, Don’t Look Now, following its screening, will be fascinating to watch.

Roeg admits he is surprised his film – inspired by Daphne Du Maurier’s short story of the same name – has stood the test of time.

“It wasn’t received with the attention it has now,” he says. “To have lasted this long is quite an extraordinary thing. I’m flattered that it has stolen into the history of film books.”

Don’t Look Now is bookended with the shocking death of John and Laura Baxter’s daughter at their country home – which ranks among the most powerful cinematic openings in history – and one of the most unforgettable and unpredictable closing twists popular film has thrown up in its 100 years.

In between, the Baxters, played by Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, are seen getting lost in the labyrinthine streets of Venice as they try to deal with their grief, their crumbling relationship and an elderly blind psychic who claims not only to see their departed daughter but also that John is in great danger.

Roeg believes the Venice setting played its part in the film’s longevity.

“Venice can’t expand at all. It remains the same size, with the same buildings. It’s an extraordinary thing – it’s not an island but it’s still quite unique in that form.”

It was Du Maurier’s original story that attracted him to the project.

“I was moved by it,” he says. “It’s a strange thing – to feel something that is quite impossible to make a description of when reading a book or going to the movies. It’s unique to oneself. It’s not a question of one thing being better than another – it’s the subtle differences that make it unique.”

He also feels the timing was right for the film.

“Most of life is about timing. It was the right time, or maybe it was a little ahead of its time in terms of how it was expressed. It still has that quality and universality to it.”

At the time, much of the critical attention about the film was focused on an infamous scene, which saw Roeg intercut the two protagonists having sex with images of them getting ready to go out for dinner afterwards.

He was later to say the scene was important to underline the loving relationship the pair had, otherwise they would be spending most of the film shouting at each other.

For years afterwards, false rumours persisted that the sex had been for real – undoubtedly a nod to the power of Roeg’s direction.

Roeg is not one who speaks well of planning, famously never using storyboards to make his films.

“However much you plan, very often the beauty of something is seeing it from a different angle,” he says. “The smile of the Madonna – was it a smile or a moment of release? That smile could have only existed for a moment but it has been captured.

“When I edit film, certain things lead me to look at a shot again or run it a bit slower. At the time, I didn’t notice that person behind the characters looking into the camera [for example].

“It’s a rare thing that you can do with film. Storyboards are only useful for decisions made by a lot of different people, usually discussing a selling idea, such as, ‘Hold on to the Oxo cube for longer’. We are completely different from commercials. I never used to storyboard.”

There is a genuine love of film that comes out when Roeg speaks and he is clearly a historian of the form. The 85-year-old has recently published a book, The World Is Ever Changing, containing some of his reminiscences in chapters which can apparently be read in any random order.

“Film burst open when sound was added,” he says. “It stripped the script away from the theatre, where the words and sound were, but it was more important addressing the stage.

“The history of progress in film is marvellous. It’s interesting how we have become so used to it, without realising the great mystery and history of it.

“It was a step away from the book, which would go into these long descriptive passages, to try to put into words what something looks or feels like.

“You could begin to read the expression of the person being described. You could do it all in a shot in a movie.”

  • Don't Look Now screens at Duke Of York’s Picturehouse, Preston Circus, Brighton, on Sunday, September 8, followed by a Q&A with Nicolas Roeg. Starts 6.30pm, SOLD OUT. Call 0871 9025728 for returns.