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Your new movie A
Curious Tale - in a few words, what is it about?
It's a film about
discovery, the wonder and yearning of finding a lost fabled crown left
by the Sussex heritage to ward off further
attacks from the Spanish Armada. Once achieved and found, the
protagonist is haunted by an evil spectre, who wants it back!
Now what inspired you to
make this movie in the first place?
I've always liked ghost
stories. The time was right to make a screenplay whilst my other
corporate filming had quietened down due to Covid. I gathered a
small team of fellow filmmakers, and together we aimed to make a creepy
story locally to where we live. I wanted to feature as much of the
natural beauty of the coast and forestry as possible to create an
epic feel, a proper 'movie' feel, opposed to making a more regular TV drama. I wanted to give it style, I wanted to also give it bleakness,
and make the surroundings cold, so as that the fear of safety is not
close to home.
Is any of A
Curious Tale based on an actual (local or national) legend, and
how much research did you do on that aspect of your movie?
The film is complete
fiction. It's loosely based on a novel from M.R. James written
last century. It's a new adaptation told in an old fashioned way. I
researched the locations, as I had in mind the script, which was written
during the spring. Once we found the locations, then it was only
the casting we had to do.
What were the major
challenges of bringing A
Curious Tale to the screen from a producer's point of view?
The main challenges were
shooting on locations where normally the public would frequent. One such
place was Rye Estuary. This is a seaside location in Rye, East Sussex,
where many people go to walk their dogs, buy a pint of ale, and eat fish'n'chips, very British. As we were filming we didn't want
anyone in the background, or any unduly noise like cars or boats, so as
to capture a certain bleakness and feeling of being alone and isolated -
pretty tricky when you've got a few hundred people milling
about! We did several takes and managed to get things just right
in the end. Other shots of a long beach were troublesome, as the
coast features very much so in the film. There were too many
people generally, and an awful looking step gantry leading to the sea, so
in post production the people and gantry were all matted out, again to
make the beach seem isolated and making it appear in the middle of
nowhere. Keeping an eye on time, and budget also, is always
a producer's responsibility. Further scenes weren't included
due to budget restraints.
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What can you tell us
about A
Curious Tale's approach to horror?
Our approach to horror
has been easy. Keep it watchable and suspenseful without being
horrific, violent or particularly disturbing. This is because we
wanted to get the film on regional TV before the watershed of 9pm in the
UK. However, it does have influences in some of the shots,
for example, slow camera tracking shots, panning shots of woodland,
whereby there are similarities to The Fog (Knocking on a door
with a swivel) and other short pieces that reflect Hammer
horror movies
in style. Creepiness, suspenseful, and feeling 'alone' and
'unsafe' were the main priorities I wanted to capture.
You just have to talk
about your wonderful locations for a bit, and what was it like filming
there? And why exactly there in the first place?
The locations were all
local to where we all live. This made filming easier to achieve both budgetary and
knowing what we were looking for. Remember, we shot during
lockdown in the UK due to Covid, so basically there weren't so many
people about anywhere! The coastline where we shot the opening
title sequence sets a precedence for being 'epic' and large
scale, along with a beautifully written 'main theme' orchestral
soundtrack. We used a drone to capture all these shots of distant
shoreline, the light house at Seven Sisters point, along with filming
the marvellous landscapes that surround Beachy Head. Again, all
these shots didn't have people or cars, so you couldn't date the film to
any one time. We moved into the local forestry to capture
all the digging sequences, this was actually only a few miles away from
where we're based. Rye Estuary I mentioned earlier, but
the exterior shot of the hotel is actually someone's house close by the
waters edge at Birling Gap. We just shot it at strange angles
to give it a certain bleakness. All the interior scenes
were shot at a country house hotel just outside Battle. This gave
us the setting for an Edwardian interior without the need of spending
money on a large 'set'. The viewer assumes that the hotel from
outside is that of the same location inside, wrong! Other locations were
local churches and graveyards. Finally we did a nice
interior shot of an antique shop. This was actually a real antique
shop in the local market town of Heathfield. For a small fee, we
had use of the shop for a whole day. Oh yes there was also a local
country farm, this was easier to control as there weren't so many people
milling around on the private land or buildings, and the background
noise I naturally required anyway. We did pretend that the
farm is close by the seashore, so a cut of the sea was made accordingly
which made it look like they were right by the coast - somehow it worked
okay.
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A few words about your
overall directorial approach to your story at hand?
I wanted to give the
film scale, make it more movie like and not like a TV drama. hence I
used a lot of slow tracking shots, taking into account the scale of
woodland, sea scape and general country side views without making it
look like a travelogue show. Adding an original music
score was important, as this adds to the depth of the tale, it captures
eeriness and uncertainty before we even start to tell the story. I
wanted to give the film a narrative at the start, this sets the scene
and makes it more movie-like also. It tells a story of intrigue
and selfishness, and eventually sadness. I wanted to give emotions to
the viewer, whereby they feel edgy and concerned and come away
'thinking' about the movie for a while - especially about who is who and
what if he didn't do that... Leave them wanting more.
Do talk about A
Curious Tale's cast, and why exactly these people?
The cast were a
collection of local actors and amateur actors from a local
theatre group. I had tried to entice some well-known actors in, as
part of short cameo pieces, such as Tom Baker (BBC's
Doctor Who in the
seventies) [Tom Baker bio -
click here], also Jenny Hanley from
Scars of Dracula (1970) and also a well known TV presenter to do a
cameo, but alas I either couldn't talk them into it, or indeed find them
when I needed them. For example Tom Baker is a family friend, so he
would have been great to read the opening narrative, but hey ho! - where's Tom when you need him. So I set out to cast the film
purely for people's natural 'looks'. Most of them appear
as a character, someone interesting, and each so different to one
another. Not all threatening, but some quite menacing through their
looks. Again budget didn't allow for big names - but I think we
did a good job given who we chose. All the actors were lovely friendly
people, and now I gotten some new friends. Wonderful bunch of
talent really.
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What can you tell us
about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
The shoot went really well generally. Many shots had tobe
captured numerous times because of the fact we were shooting live sound in
unison. I didn't want the dialogue re-done in a studio afterwards as this
would have added extra time and studio costs. Rye Estuary proved the
hardest to shoot as two scenes were shot there. There were a lot of people
gathering and watching, plus many noisy seagulls. Also on
one occasion there was a lifeboat exercise going on in the exact
place we needed for background, so we had to wait a whole two hours just
for them to finish, the noise of the speed boats was so loud!
The funny thing was filming late night in the woods. One scene sees
our two friends return the crown to its hiding place in the night. So a
team of us with shovels and props made our way through the woods to the
spot we need to shoot. It was just so funny seeing all
these weird people dressed in strange attire as if they were
about to cover up a real body (all looking odd and suspicious) at that
time of the night. Imagine if a local dog walker called the
authrorities! So funny to imagine the trouble we could have been in,
until we proved we were making a film etc. We all laughed hysterically
about that. Luckily there wasn't anyone around. Finally a scene we shot at
a church. A local passer-by lady came up to us and said, "Excuse me,
may I ask, are you a professional making a film for TV or something?"
I said, "Yes, of course" and told her what we were up to,
she then replied "Oh I thought so, as you have a really large camera
there!" Her delivery was priceless and full of innuendo. Lovely
moments. We all just cracked up.
The $64-question of
course, where can A
Curious Tale be seen?
The film can be seen on video on demand at this link -
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/acurioustale
-, or, for anyone still into buying DVDs, visit the website here and
follow Publications & Sales thread in the margin:
http://www.skoochmedia.co.uk
Anything you can tell us
about audience and critical reception of A
Curious Tale?
When the film had its
premiere, it was generally well received ,and to many a nice surprise how
professional it all was. People praised the cinematography along
with its soundtrack. Reviews on IMDb have also been positive. The
film won an award for 'Best Concept" at the Independent Horror
Movie Awards (winter 2021). The film seems to be
gathering pace, and I really hope many people eventually track
it down and are intrigued to watch it. Marketing is the key to any
success. If it's out there, then one needs to get it seen. I'd
only wished I made it longer!
Any future projects
you'd like to share?
A sequel has
been suggested. Otherwise it'll be back to my corporate
documentaries.
What got you into
filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal training
on the subject?
I trained as a video
editor of TV commercials, with a large ad agency in London. From
there I learned the art of filmmaking because lots of our client base
needed promotional films in unison with their adverts for TV and
the cinema. Other than that, I used to make music videos
when video cameras were just coming in. I suppose it gave me a feel,
along with shooting weddings. All good training.
What can you tell us
about your filmwork prior to A
Curious Tale?
Other filmwork had been quite immense and busy. I've made plenty of short
documentaries along with music films for various artist such as Paul
McCartney, Rick Wakeman and Adam Ant. I've made a few TV series for regional TV over the years also, such as
Kippo & the Bone. More
regular work is usually for the corporate sector.
How would you describe
yourself as a director?
Confident, yet always
willing to learn more.
Filmmakers who inspire
you?
David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese.
Your favourite movies?
Zulu (1964),
The
Great Escape (1963),
Where Eagles Dare (1969),
The Alamo
(1960), Goodfellas (1990), Casino
(1995), Bridge On The River Kwai (1958), The Wolf
Of Wolf Street (2013),
The Shining (1980),
Barry Lyndon (1975),
O Lucky Man! (1973),
The Italian Job (1969),
Planet Of The Apes
(1968),
The Big Country
(1958),
Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid
(1969).
... and of course, films
you really deplore?
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War Of The Worlds
(2005),
La La Land (2016), most
Marvel films, Ben Hur (2016),
Camelot (1967),
Voodoo Woman (1957), Black
Zoo (1963).
Your/your movie's website, social media,
whatever else? Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/A-Curious-Tale-101920072177426 IMDb:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6083966/ Company
website: http://www.skoochmedia.co.uk/ Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask? No, we're all there. Thanks
for having me! Thanks for the
interview!
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