Nasty Neighbours
The release of Nasty Neighbours (2000) is just around the corner. What are your hopes and fears for the film?
"I hope that plenty of people get to see it. Although we've got a good distribution company, we haven't got a massive marketing machine behind it because the film was so low budget, so I hope through word of mouth and good press that people get to see it."
So what has been the press response?
"When it went to Venice for its premiere two years ago, it had very good press. So far nothing's come out yet because the film is not out until October, but the press that I've seen via the press office has been really good, and the reviews have been really strong. I'm sure there will be people who don't like it, but on the whole they're coming out really strong and saying it's a really enjoyable film, so I'm feeling fairly calm, fairly relieved. But I'm always waiting for someone to pull the rug out from under me."
Would the success of Nasty Neighbours (2000) on stage add pressure to the film release?
"No, I don't think so. I don't think it was such a success on stage to be honest. It was alright, but I think the film is better personally. I think it was a better film than it ever was a play, but most people won't know it was a play and I don't think people will think about that. "
How does the film differ to the stage production?
"The characters are the same, that's the one thing that I took because I knew the characters inside out and back to front. For me, theatre is not a naturalistic form. I work in a very stylised way on stage so, in fact, they lived in boxes as a metaphor for suburbia. The whole argument was played out through a whole series of ballroom dancing competitions, so it was very much more surreal. There are little fragments of that in the film, but the premise and the emotional journey is the same. It's a different form. "
What was the deciding factor for choosing Nasty Neighbours over your other work?
"I had tried to do The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband for two years, and just before I started shooting, the finance collapsed on it and I was in a lot of trouble. So I thought I needed to make a film really quickly because I've spent two years working towards that film and if I don't make a film right now I'm going to die! I thought 'what's the quickest, easiest thing I can do?' The thought of writing an original screenplay would take so much longer, and I always felt that Nasty Neighbours would make a film just because it's environmental - with the Close and the suburb. I thought I could make it really quickly and I adapted it in about four weeks. "
Is that where the improvisation comes in?
"The improvisation comes in once we were shooting the film, which was a few months after I'd written it - in as much as all of the documentary interviews were improvised, and I just asked the questions and they hot-seated the characters. I knew I was going to do them, but I didn't tell the actors. During some of the scenes between Phil Daniels and Ricky Tomlinson, I'd just say where the scene finishes on the page, just carry on. So it wasn't devised in any way, it was just a looser approach to allow some creativity, spontaneity, and authenticity. We had so little money and so little time that the documentary approach was there throughout the whole thing. We were like a documentary crew really, just grabbing what we could. "
How would you describe working with accomplished actors such as Ricky Tomlinson and Phil Daniels on your film debut?
"I wouldn't have done it without them to be honest. There are certain actors that you know can do your work. I don't know if it's a class thing, but they are actors I've always admired. It was great for me. "
"People have been saying Ricky always plays the same part but I don't think he's playing the same part at all. If people have got a strong personality, I think that comes through and that's probably what they're talking about, but I think Ricky is a very subtle character actor. "
So what memories do you have of the making the film?
"I was eight months pregnant during the shoot, and I remember things like Ricky getting his belly out and measuring it against mine - and his being bigger! There were some really exciting times like the party scene where Peach comes home and finds Chapman having a party, and Phil Daniels was getting himself so pumped up, and everybody getting drunk, and just being really 'real'. People say filmmaking isn't a very creative process because it's so technical, but when you've got good actors, when you care about actors and create the right environment, things can really happen. You just have to pick the thing up and not force it. "
Looking back on the finished piece, were there any scenes you wish you could have included, or any more ideas?
"The whole time I was going, 'how did I miss that?' and 'why did I not see that before I made it?' Of course, you cut things down. It still feels long and it's one of the shortest speech films in history! There were all kinds of things I wish I'd done afterwards, but that's not to say I'm not pleased with the result because it's mine. Whatever you think of it, I did not have anyone over my shoulder going 'please do this' and 'please do that', and that's because there was no money involved, so I had real creative autonomy. "
Stylistically, Nasty Neighbours has always been compared to Mike Leigh films. How do you respond to that?
"I personally don't see that. I get what people mean by that, and certainly Mike Leigh has been an influence on my life because I grew up watching his stuff and Ken Loach's stuff. They are the only two filmmakers who have been on television throughout my peer group's life. I would certainly say that they've influenced me as a person and probably as a theatre or filmmaker, but I don't think it's come out as a Mike Leigh film to be honest. "
How does your theatre work figure in your future plans now that you've moved into film?
"Straight after finishing Nasty Neighbours I made a film theatre piece, which is a combined form of 101 Dalmations. It was so experimental as a form - but obviously it is a well-loved, well-known tale, and people came in their droves to see it. They all dragged their kids out and there was this massive controversy because the piece was so strange and dark, and I absolutely loved it. It's the most challenging, progressive work I've ever made, and now that's part of my thing. I'm doing King Kong next, and it's massive in its scale - it has to be! It takes a commercial property that people know and understand, being able to experiment with it by using all of the new technology and special effects, and bringing the things that young people particularly like about a blockbuster movie to a live theatre. "
Could you tell me about your upcoming work?
"'The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband' is still on hold at the moment, but I'm making a film in the states called 'Fag Hag', which is about a woman who loves gay men, and I'm also developing a film in the U.K. called 'Madolescence', which is about young people who are basically mad. Both of the films are about how you approach them. Nasty Neighbours was shot in sequence and that's expensive, but it comes straight from the theatre and that's really good for actors. "
You mentioned that you were going to be making "Fag Hag" in the U.S, what differences do you expect in the production?
"Not many, I hope! I really trust the people that I'm making it with. They are an independent company, and hopefully they are going to let me do my thing rather than play those studio games of ownership. They are keen for something that is dark and different not happy endings. "
