Your new movie Fixer
- in a few words, what is it about?
Fixer is essentially about a local M.P. who will seemingly stop at nothing to
gain re-election. The action takes place over one day and we see how he
and his “Fixer” attempt to engineer his success through dealing with
any opposition – the rival candidates and various other influential
factions in the city. The M.P. has a wayward son and he enlists Fixer to
take him under his wing to try and bring him into line.
With Fixer
being a political satire, were there any concrete event that prompted you
to write the screenplay, or does the movie rather reflect your general
views on politics? The
idea of a local UK election being the setting appealed as a challenge
because it must be the most boring and dry topic imaginable! I felt
however we could do what Shakespeare often did with power plays – focus
on the dark hearts and deeds. I steered clear of using traditional
political party names deliberately. Instead we have Pro Patriot,
Progressive Democrat and Social Equality Parties. It’s a bit of an
alternate universe idea, the intention was not to wave a political flag.
The setting just provided an arena, characters and motivations. (Other) sources of inspiration when
writing Fixer?
Fixer evolved after I had acted in a short film
The Beast in 2015 with Trash
Arts. One afternoon Sam Mason-Bell [Sam
Mason-Bell interview - click here], Jackson Batchelor [Jackson
Batchelor interview - click here] and I got together to basically discuss
an acting vehicle for me and we came up with the basic concept. The idea
resurfaced and was used for a competition short but due to the fact all
entries had to have an artificial intelligence theme the Fixer himself
became a robot! (In the feature I include a line from Adam accusing Fixer
of being like a robot as he is relentless…)
My
writing the feature screenplay came about after some drinks with Patrick
Olliver who plays Thomas Chalk. I have acted with Pat on stage and screen
over many years and as we had recently sadly lost our friend and
film-maker Michael J Murphy I felt it would be great to create a vehicle
not only for myself but for some of the familiar Murlyn
faces. (Murlyn
being the production company Michael and I shared combining our names MURphy and
LYNdon.)
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Inspiration-wise I started with my own character of Fixer. I had a pretty immediate
idea of how he would look and behave. I liked the kind of Dirty Harry type
of character who seemed to plough his own path, not suffer fools gladly
and for whom aggression and violence come easily. Writing for Patrick
knowing he has handled roles such as Richard the Third meant I could
flower his dialogue and create a real counter point to the more base
Fixer. Adam Chalk is a bit like the classic Dickensian juvenile lead
navigating his journey amongst eccentric often vile characters.
How
would you describe Fixer's brand of satire?
The
whole piece is unashamedly bleak! But there’s a bleak humour weaved into
the bleakness! The whole scenario is puffed up in order to entertain and
my intention was to bounce around with some variety and keep things from
lagging.
What were the challenges of bringing Fixer
to the screen from a producer's point of view?
The
challenges of production are often boring realities: Costs, availability
of actors and locations, time, the inevitable compromises that have to be
made. Having written two novels where you write anything you want and the
sky is the limit it’s a crash to the earth dealing with a low budget
feature film, but I wrote it knowing the challenges and tried to focus on
dialogue and action, character and mood. I knew I would have to hand the
script over and then focus on my acting and accepted that.
A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
Being
a feature the shoot had to be staggered over some time due to
availability, not ideal but little by little we got it in the can and
completed and that is no mean feat for a feature!
Do talk about Fixer's
cast, and as writer/producer/star, how much of a say did you have or
demand when it came to casting?
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Fixer sees some Murlyn
Films faces appear. Patrick Olliver as Thomas Chalk,
Steve Longhurst as Rupert Flood, Kate Kneafsey as Fiona Raven, and June
Bunday as the local news interviewer. Alongside these we see some
recognizable faces from Trash
Arts. Parts were mostly written for
individuals, but some replacements came about through circumstance.
What got you into
acting in the first place, and did you receive any formal training on the
subject? Acting
wise I started at school. Performing Arts at college. I joined Am Dram in
Portsmouth, then semi pro theatre and worked for a murder mystery company.
Met Michael J Murphy in 1987 and acted in eight of his movies and
eventually became co-producer. As an actor I’d say I was a character
actor primarily and I try not to replicate what I do project to project.
That way you discover more about yourself, maybe escape yourself more too,
perhaps that’s the attraction! You've eventually
also gotten into writing and producing - so what can you tell us about
that aspect of your career? I’ve written and self published two
novels, The Soul Feaster and Dr Chameleon. Currently I have teamed up with
a friend I have known since school days to form Bitter Lemon Films, and we
have a short film in edit stage currently. I think it will be passion
projects primarily looking ahead with enjoyment at the fore!
Your
favourite movies? I love Call Me By Your Name, no movie felt so real and
personal. I don’t often revisit movies these days though, I enjoy all
sorts of entertainment for all sorts of reasons. Growing up the Bond
films, the original Planet of the Apes, Dirty Harry hit the mark. TV might
have had more impact. I still love the 70s Columbo shows and original
Mission: Impossible. Thanks for the
interview!
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