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An Interview with Thomas Perrett, Director of Commune

by Mike Haberfelner

January 2017

Films directed by Thomas Perrett on (re)Search my Trash

 

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Your new movie Commune - in a few words, what is it about?

 

A man takes a job as the guardian of a rundown London house. Charged with keeping the property secure, he soon realises that it’s not the building that needs protecting, but himself. A malevolent dark cult from the past, resides within the walls and they are hunting for new members. Over three terrifying nights they’ll stop at nothing to make you: Join them!

 

What were your inspirations when writing Commune, and is any of the movie based on personal experience?

 

Commune came about after I attended a halloween party held at a dilapidated 1930’s house in North London. The party was hosted by a friend, who was living at the property as a guardian for developers. The deserted, run down aesthetic of the building was a fantastic opportunity to make use of a real world location. It was a strange place, full of belongings and personal effects from a Jewish family that had long vacated. The general decor was of faded opulence, flock wallpaper and gold radiators. The more we sifted through the rooms, the stranger it felt to have our hands in someone else’s life and a creepy feeling of intruding was very strong, as if the owners could return at any point. I knew then that we had to make a film in the location.

 

With Commune being a horror movie, is that a genre all dear to you, and what can you tell us about your movie's approach to horror?

 

Horror and scary movies have always been very appealing to me, since seeing The Exorcist with my dad at the London Trocadero late night cinema, I’ve had an unhealthy love of horror movies and psychological thrillers. Unusual stories interest me, anything that mixes reality with unreality is interesting, situations become fascinating when a supernatural element is introduced. I also love stories that tie up, or repeat, stories with a cyclical theme. Commune draws on all of these themes, Tom is similar to Jack Torrance from Kubrick’s The Shining, a custodian of a strange building with a dark past. (Eagle eye viewers may spot a Kubrick easter egg; Tom wears a scarf with the pattern of the carpet from Overlook Hotel featured in The Shining.) It also has elements of Raimi’s Evil Dead films, and Hooper/Spielberg’s Poltergeist.

 

Do talk about your film's overall look and feel!

 

We let the location do most of the talking, it was such a fantastic find. Every corner of the building had a story, layers of life, left to rot. I wanted to show this strange space and our hero moving through it. Robin Green’s sound design really heightened this creepy feeling of ‘something’ in the fabric of the building, creeping, stalking our hero. This coupled with Mike Payne’s score gives the stillness of rundown location a very atmospheric feel.

 

What can you tell us about your lead Tom Weller, who pretty much carries the entiry film on his own shoulders, acting-wise, and what was your collaboration like?

 

The real world location was due to be gutted and redeveloped so we had a tight time limit and finding Tom was a very fortuitous part of producing Commune. I was connected to Tom by a mutual friend as Tom and I had coincidentally attended the same college, but we only met for the first time on the set of Commune.

Tom was a child actor and had featured in a long running TV drama, Commune marked his foray back into acting since he was young. Due to our tight turnaround, we had no time to rehearse so Tom and I just ran through the script on set with the rest of the crew. I would explain the bones of what I was looking for and we’d try the scene. Our director of photography would light and line up whilst we improvised and ironed out the beats of the take. Then we’d shoot it.

Collaboration is key, every key crew and cast member has a valid opinion on set and I seek their expertise to help create the best scene for the story.

 

You of course also have to talk about your location for a bit, and how did you find it and what was it like working there?

 

The location we shot Commune in, is a real house in North London and it was once used as a Jewish commune. The house has since been developed but can still be seen at 94 Lordship Park N16.

This is how it looked when we were filming: https://goo.gl/maps/8bwST4KNbqG2

And here it is now: http://www.nextmove.com/lordshippark

Due to insurance small print and because we couldn’t sufficiently secure the building, I had a real taste of what I was putting my character through. We shot for two days and two nights and on the last night, when we had wrapped, I had to stay at the house on my own and guard the kit.

I slept in a sleeping bag in one of the many bedrooms, the house was cold and strange noises haunted my night. With the images of our days of shooting and the story of Commune swirling about my head, I don’t think I slept for more than 20 minutes all night.

 

What can you tell us about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

 

Mobilising a cast and crew in a very short time frame was probably the hardest part of production. Commune is the first multi setup, narrative film I have made since I graduated from Bournemouth University in 2001 and I don’t have a well seasoned crew at my disposal. I do fortunately have many friends and contacts in TV & film production, so after calling in all the favours I could, I managed to assemble a small but decent cast and crew. Working in the abandoned house was fairly straightforward, although it was at times a dirty and cold experience.

We all had to muck in and make it work, everyone would share tasks such as boom operator and cable bashing. We had a good time, discussing ideas and angles, I think the cast and crew found the house quite a fascinating place although we were all happy to leave at the end of the shoot.

 

The $64-question of course, when and where will Commune be released onto the general public?

 

We have a couple of offers from Video On Demand services who would like to include Commune on their menu. I’ll release details on social media as soon as we know.

 

Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Commune?

 

Commune has had a fantastic reception on the festival circuit! I was very ready for my first film festival experience to be a difficult, cutthroat arena, and although competitive, everyone we’ve been involved with has been very positive and complimentary towards us. We have a few festivals left to attend.

Commune has also had some great reviews! As an editor I seek criticism everyday, to make sure the choices I’m making are right for a overall project, so having such positive feedback from film bloggers and critics is fantastic! It really spurs me on to try and tackle a more ambitious project.

 

Any future projects you'd like to share?

 

There was talk of taking the story further and writing it into a feature, but we’ll see. I definitely intend to continue making films, to build on this experience and produce more work. I have a myriad of ideas that I’d like to explore, I like the format of short films and I have a better understanding of the festival circuit now, so I’ll probably go again with a new more ambitious short. I’ve been researching Korean Fan Death for an idea. Also looking into hallucinations, our perception of reality and lucid dreaming for another script. I also have a collection of feature scripts that I have written with a friend and ultimately I’d like to make them the way we envisaged them.

 

What got you into filmmaking in the first place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject?

 

As an only child I’ve always had a ‘healthy’ relationship with the TV, and I remember being fascinated and drawn into the fantasy of film from a young age.

I attended BRIT school, a performing arts college, where I studied art and film. I then secured a place at Bournemouth University and completed a degree in film and television production before joining a post production facility in Soho as a runner.

 

What can you tell us about your filmwork prior to Commune?

 

I made a short film called Hindsight for my final year of university that was nominated for a Royal Television Award and was screened on TV - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN05-SFps6o

I have dabbled with short film projects since college, helping friends out with shoots and edits etc. But this is the first time I’ve produced a film that is worthy of a festival run. I sometimes feel that it has taken me longer than I envisioned to get to this point, but I guess the length of the path we take is irrelevant if you accomplish what you set out to to.

 

How would you describe yourself as a director?

 

I love real life situations that are turned on their head, the familiar but with an unearthly or supernatural twist, the unexplained. The goal is to move people, to draw them in, evolve them in a fascinating world, take them on a journey and leave them with a feeling of satisfaction inside, satisfaction that they were entertained and beguiled. It’s this feeling that I seek, in art music and film. The feeling that anything is possible and anything is viewable.

 

Filmmakers who inspire you?

 

Directors and Filmmakers that inspire me are the ones who embrace this: Spielberg, Kubrick, Mann, Hooper, Coppola, Raimi, Zemeckis, Carpenter, Scott (Ridley and Tony), Verhoeven, Hooper, Argento, the list is endless.

 

Your favourite movies?

 

This is a very difficult question to answer, I have so many favourite films. Films that stayed with me, that I would have loved to have been a part of are the ones I tend to hold closest to my heart. Coppola’s Apocalypse Now is a fantastic anti-war film, how they made that film still makes my mind boggle. I love George Lucas's THX1138 - the original tech-noir, distopian future film. From that Terminator, Alien, Blade Runner, RoboCop. I’m a big fan of comedy too, I love Ghostbusters, National Lampoon's Vacation and Saturday Night Live films of the 80’s. Also contemporary films inspire me too, Birdman, Children of Men, Under the Skin. I’ll read this back sometime and realise I’ve missed off so much. Metropolis, Playtime, Die Hard, , Citizen Kane. As for horror, there are just so many. I think breaking it down into categories would help me give a more concise answer. It Follows was amazing, The Thing, The Evil Dead, An American Werewolf in London, The Witch, Drag Me to Hell, The Fly... I could go on forever.

 

... and of course, films you really deplore?

 

I suppose there are films I don’t really like or care for. I’ve never walked out of a movie. I don’t think it’s fair to judge someone's vision without at least seeing it all the way through. Some films that I’ve perhaps not fully enjoyed, might still have one small idea or angle that I’ve never seen before, and in some way that makes the viewing worth it.

I think what upsets me is that a director or producer would throw away the opportunity to make a film the best they possibly can. The privilege of directing a feature film, with someone else's money, is a rare occurrence, so to make something that’s substandard or lacking really irks me.

 

Your/your movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?

 

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Find Thomas Perrett
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USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

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Trailer: https://vimeo.com/188138453

Thomas Perrett IMDBb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1981443/

Commune IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4796564/

Commune Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CommuneShortFilm

Director Thomas Perrett Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cosmo_For_King

Commune Twitter: https://twitter.com/Commune_Film

Lead actor Tom Weller Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThomaswellerTom

Director of photography Tim Gee Twitter: https://twitter.com/Geeagletron

Composer Mike Payne Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikepayne_music

Director Thomas Perrett Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosmoforking/

 

Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?

 

Thank you for watching!

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


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Thanks for watching !!!



 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
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love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
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