Interview with director Paul Andrew Williams about "London to Brighton"
March 12th 2008 02:16
Paul Andrew Williams is a UK director, who made a giant splash with his impressive debut feature, "London to Brighton", a gritty look at the crime underbelly of London, coated with vicious humanity and perceptive emotions.
I spoke with Williams over the phone, talking to him about "London to Brighton", which is being released in Australia through Siren Visual.
Warning - this interview contains spoilers about the film. It's suggested that you watch it first, then soak in the tangy wisdom of P. Williams.
Phone Interview - 11/04/08
Cibbuano: I watched London to Brighton and it was absolutely fantastic.
Paul Andrew Williams: Oh, Thank you...what's happened with that film has been quite incredible. It's gone around the world now...
C: Did the initial success of the film take you by surprise?
PAW: Yeah, definitely. We made the film purely because we wanted to make it. It's hard sometimes to get a film made in this country - I had one that was kept back - so I thought I'd just make my own film, got 60 000 UK pounds and we shot it five months later.
C: I was curious about that - what was the initial momentum that got you into the film?
PAW: Just because I was desperate to make something. I'm always quite tenacious. People were interested, some backing us really well.
C: I read that "London to Brighton" is related to a short that you made, called "Royalty"?
PAW: Yeah, it was filmed in about 2002, and it was about the two main characters in "London to Brighton", Kelly and Derek. It was a day in the life, at Kings Cross where they supposedly lived - but I always wanted to work with those actors again. Then when I came up with the idea, I thought it would be good to use those characters again, though I had the plot before I had the characters.
C: The first question I had about the movie is why did you want to make a crime film?
PAW: The way I saw it, it was never about what sort of genre the film was going to be, or anything like that. This was a film about these characters and their story, as they lived in a crime world. For me, it's more a story with criminals in it, rather than a crime film, you know what I mean?
C: I know exactly what you mean, and I think it's related to the success of the film...
PAW: Right, I don't think genre is so important... it's just one-word description of a film, which is so far away from encompassing what the film is really about.
C: That's an interesting point, one that I think a lot of filmmakers take to heart. For example, someone that likes crime films may not like ALL crime films.
PAW: Yeah, sure -oh, my baby's going crazy, mate...my partner's in the shower, you'll have to excuse me for one sec.
[PAW takes care of the baby]
PAW: I'm going in just to show him that I'm alive.
C: [laughs]
PAW: ...he's only about 5 months of age.
C: Sounds like a lot of fun.
PAW: Yeah, he's gorgeous. Um, so with the idea of it being a crime film or a gangster film, I actually wanted to make it a sort of thriller, a chase, where we're following these people. Again, what I'm interested in, is the story between these characters, the interplay and the morals of various people.
C: The Guardian review called it "the best British film of the year"-
PAW: Very complimentary...
C: - and I think one reason that they liked it was that the dialogue comes across as being very authentic, separating it from other gangster films, which try to be very 'Cockney'.
PAW: Yeah, I think movies like "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch", in a Guy Ritchie-sort of world, I think they're really good, but I think even he'd say that they're not strictly a true depiction of life.
C: Exactly.
PAW: They're very entertaining way of looking at that, whereas I was out to make a film about real people, that look like pimps at Kings Cross - who look nothing like what we'd like to belive they look like. They're usually pretty shady and scummy, and the way the talk is not necessarily the way that films like to portray them.
I was trying very hard to try and get a lot of 'real' dialogue in it, without being [unknown].
C: What was the writing process like? Did you have people to base the dialogue on, or inspiration for dialogue?
PAW: I wrote it in a weekend, back at my parent's house. Started with it on Friday on a laptop and finished it by Monday.
C: That's productive...
PAW: Basically, I drank coffee and ate crisps.
C: There's a Danish movie that shares a lot of similarities in style with "London to Brighton" called "Pusher" - I'm not sure if you've seen it.
PAW: I'm afraid I haven't, no. But I know that the company that released the film over here released that film as well. There have been a few reviews which have made comparisons.
C: Right, well, when I saw "London to Brighton", that's the first thing I thought about. "Pusher" is another movie is labelled as crime, but the real brilliance is the main character, who is very similar to Johnny Harris, both in looks and his character, has this look of real humanity and guilt, almost. I was wondering if your character, Derek, played by Johnny Harris, is based on any other characters?
PAW: No, not really. He's just based on the fact that people are never one dimensional. They're multilayered, they've got morals, and, like all of us, they're all different, depending on what situation we're in.
It's never as simple as some films make out, so the idea was to get Harris to play someone that was, realistically, very weak. The only people that he's tough in front of are people that are weaker than him. Like a bully, basically.
C: You're obviously very comfortable going into closeup with Harris. It must have taken quite a bit of reliablity on his part to handle all those closeups.
PAW: I think the closeup is important... when you see a film, you want to SEE the film, see the faces, pay attention to them. [Harris] carries information in the scene via his eyes, his lips - so you want to be in there with him. Then, at other moments, you want to be a bit further away, innit? What happens, happens.
C: One of the strong aspects of the film, which I found particularly interesting, was the dominant theme of guilt and moral conscience. Every character, on some level, feels guilty or morally reprehensible for what they've done - which, perhaps, elevates the movie from a simple thriller to something more artistic.
PAW: Basically what I think is that people have - everyone has guilt. The idea of someone being completely being, like, a movie badguy is exactly that: a movie bad guy. I'm always about, each decision leads to various emotions. It IS a guilt film, there is a lot of morality, about what is the correct morality to have and how things change.
For example, with Kelly, at one point, she lets the girl go upstairs. So she sat downstairs, after allowing it to happen, and only when it goes really bad does she intervene, you know what I mean? It's all about how a certain person would act in a certain situation.
C: Do you have any personal experinces that you drew on?
PAW: [laughs] Not at all. I'd been around Kings Cross and worked there, and observed people, getting a good idea of what they might be like.
C: The film goes into some difficult subject matter; I found it difficult to watch, sometimes, since it was so intense. Georgia Groome, who plays Joanna, is fantastic in the role of the young girl - but did it ever get tough, directing her in this very sensitive topic?
PAW: No, not really. The way I look at trying to run a film is to be serious when we need to and the rest of the time, make sure everyone else is having a good time.
For example, when [Groome] was up in the bedroom - we were just all in there, talking about stuff, hitting each other with pillows, having a laugh at the makeup she was wearing, not taking it seriously. She's very intelligent, understanding that this is not real. Since then, she's gone way up, right now she's got the lead in a big movie with Paramount... she's fantastic.
C: What was involved in your decision to cast her?
PAW: In the audition, she was giving a speech, and it wasn't very good, so I stopped her. She said 'Yeah, it's not working at all, is it?', and I said 'No, it's not.'
She took a minute, then she came back and did it again and it was absolutely amazing. From there, I think you can take action.
C: Back to "London to Brighton": most of the film is shot in shadows, made to look dark and gritty. But there's an obvious separation between the lower-class criminals and the upper class ones, who are all dressed in white, with white used to mark the separation. In some scenes, the colour white, after the darkness and grim of the streets, seemed more frightening.
PAW: I wanted to show the difference between the dark and the light, using the fact that the light would usually be meant to be hopeful - but they weren't in the film and how that kind of appearance can be deceiving. For example, going into the house of the millionaire [decorated in white] and how [Joanna] says thank you for the drink, very respectfully - even though you know that he's going to rape her. It was a deliberate juxtaposition of what we expect, walking into a place that's plush, clean and pristine. There was a definite decision to make, in particular, that house contrast the rest of the movie.
C: Well, Mr. Williams, that's all the questions I have about the movie...
PAW: What's happening with the film over there? It's going out on DVD, right?
C: It played here in the Sydney Festival last year, but it's coming out on DVD through Siren Visual.
PAW: Wicked... thanks a lot, mate.
C: Thank you for your time.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
very revealing interview and you posed some brilliant questions....hats off to you and PAW
Comment by Cibbuano
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Comment by Maryam DiMauro
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Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Even though you know something about the movie, it's still worth checking out for the sheer intensity and the terrific acting. Watch the trailer on my review!
Comment by Maryam DiMauro
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ThirtyInMotion
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