After working for years as an editor and a screenwriter, filmmaker Will Gilbey has sat in the director chair for his feature debut Jericho Ridge. An intense survival thriller, the film stars Nikki Amuka-Bird as police deputy Tabby Temple who comes under attack at a remote Sheriff’s office.
Ahead of its UK premiere at Glasgow Film Festival 2024, I sat down with Will Gilbey and supporting actor Chris Reilly to chat about their experience… (Mild spoiler alert towards the end for Slow Horses S3)
You’ve got huge experience in the industry as an editor and a writer. What was it about this script that made you think it was time to direct a feature?
WG – You’re always sort of trying to think when you’re trying to do a film. Your first one out the gate is going to be pretty low budget and you’re just looking for something which you can control. When you’re going to be in one place for as much as possible, you can spend time concentrating on shooting it as well as you can.
As an editor, I’ve cut so many films by first time filmmakers where they have like 20 different locations on an 18 day shoot and they’re jumping into a bus, they’ll bounce out, they’ll get the camera on the shoulder, they’ll shoot like early nineties TV coverage, and then that’s it.
Being sort of stuck in one place for a while, I was always looking for that idea, then tried to simplify the whole thing to create a pressure cooker and see how intense you can make it.
Chris, you’ve been working on the TV series Slow Horses for the past few years so was it a real change of pace to work on a low-budget indie like this?
CR – What’s great about independent film is that it really develops the muscle that keeps you working fast because the budgetary constraints that Will just alluded to mean that you really need to hit the ground running if you’re going to support the cast in the way that you’re meant to as a supporting actor. That means knowing your words and knowing where you are and being flexible and easy to work with so that Will can work with the technical stuff and we can offer up something good. The work was wonderfully intense.
Is there anything you learned from being in the bigger budget stuff like Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man or Slow Horses that you can bring to a piece like this or is it too difficult to compare with that?
CR – Oh, not at all. No, it’s actually quite similar once you get running but the amount of takes you get and the amount of setups is really different. What it does tell you to do is to kind of stay in the trenches and that’s in the most complimentary way possible, because the best way to keep your acting muscles strong is to be in the trenches and have those situations where you’re helping a budget maximise.
I’d never worked on an independent film that’s got so much bang for its buck so you’re helping the budget maximise by making sure that that you’re on your game and that really benefits you in these other places as well because directors just love working with you, especially when you’re working with stars who can live in that rarefied air sometimes. I’m not saying Gary Oldman is one of these people – he definitely is not, but there are other stars I’ve worked with who expect to have take after take after take after set up after set up, and I can flex and move and mould so that helps my journey as well.
The location and the layout of the building is quite integral in terms of how Tabby moves around to take cover etc. How did you figure this out between the script and the shoot?
WG – I’m the worst in the world at drawing but the first thing I did when I started writing was I just I drew a floor plan. I had all the locations already and then we essentially built the set to that sort of specification. The geography of it is completely baked into the premise from the outset. You’ve got to know how it all works. We were supposed to shoot in sequence but didn’t, so when we’re trashing the Sheriff’s office and you’re like blowing the windows out, you take the door off, you smash it to pieces. There’s dust everywhere but because of schedules we ended up putting it back together. Every night we’re putting the windows back in taking them out so it was hard to keep track of exactly where you are. ‘Where’s the gun? Where’s the knife?’
What was the biggest challenge you faced in making the film?
WG – We were initially going to shoot this film in Winnipeg, in Canada. We scouted that in November 2019 with the idea to go into pre-production in March 2020 so I guess the biggest obstacle for us was COVID and then trying to get out that and figure out where we’re going to go. Everyone was in a rush to get into production. You’ve got all the big names and all the studios hurling money around so it took a long time and we ended up shooting the film in Kosovo.
We were shooting nights for most of it, obviously and I don’t mind nights actually but it’s a bit harder on the crew. It was very, very cold. It was minus 16. Also, in terms of challenges, doing action piece by piece, keeping everything safe, redressing stuff for each take was tricky. We shot this in 25 days and I wouldn’t have wanted to do one less day than that. The snow adds a really cool touch actually. It reflects light and just looks cool.
CR – Usually you have to pay for snow! *laughs*
Speaking of the film’s cool look – I loved the colour palette and that steely blue colour that’s in a lot of scenes. Can you talk me through how you achieved that style?
WG – Our director of photography Ruairí O’Brien is absolutely superb and managed to do a hell of lot with quite a rudimentary lighting package. The other thing about shooting at one location is that it could get visually boring unless you keep trying to make changes. We start off with daylight then, you know, sunset, and then the lights are on then the lights get turned off, and then we start swinging around with the lights and explosions. We were just trying to change the feel of the location as the film progresses…but Ruairí was fantastic. He’s a very, very creative guy – really incredible.
Without getting into spoilers, you have a ‘Chekhov’s gun’ thing in there whereby its mentioned having the wrong bullets for a gun and then this clue has a payoff later on and Michael Socha is great in that moment. Can you tell me about how this idea came about?
WG – You’re constantly trying to plant setups and payoffs. It’s sort of such a simple trick but if you if it’s done well in a film, it can look really impressive and really cool. The one that always gets me is at the end of Toy Story 3 when they’re all circling and about to go down into the trash compactor thing. I was watching that in the cinema going ‘they’re going to kill Woody and Buzz!’…I’m a writer so I’m always trying to write my way out of it and couldn’t do it and then the claw comes and it was just amazing! But yeah, it was a way to try and save her [Tabby] out of that moment. I do all together way too much research on guns and bombs. I’m probably on every watch list!
Being a Glasgow man, Chris, what does it mean to you to have the UK premiere in your home city? It must feel quite special…
CR – It means a huge amount and not just because it’s in Glasgow. I really enjoy supporting these guys and doing what I can. It’s such a nice feeling to see the film do so well and claim your own small part of that as a supporting cast member. Seeing it succeed is great because the first time I saw this film, I was in genuine rapture. I think it’s a brilliant film.
What’s next for you both?
WG – I’ve written a horror film called No Great Beauty that I’m trying to get made so there’s a script for that and I’ve written a TV pilot and another action film would be good. That’s the plan!
CR – I’ve got a couple of series coming out – one on Channel Four that I made with Ben Wheatley. I’m a kind of not too nice detective character in a three episode Channel 5 thing that I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about yet! I also have my own independent film company that is trying its best to get its own projects off the ground.
If you were to work together again and had your pick of a dream actor from the past or present to direct/star alongside, who would it be?
WG – It’s got to be Chris Reilly.
CR – *laughs* No, come on. Tell the truth!
WG – Gary Oldman, actually.
CR – That’s my answer too! Stunning human being, stunning actor. I’d admired him for so long and we worked so well together that I’d love to do something really slow paced and deep with him. I think it’d be the making of me as an actor working opposite that man. He’s fantastic.
Going back to Slow Horses, it must’ve been a great way to end your run on the show being a big part of that finale of series 3. One of the most intense episodes of telly I’ve seen in a while!
CR – Will Smith is a phenomenal writer and the people that make that show are outstanding at what they do. The cast is brilliant and the budget is there, and the will is there from Apple to let them have it and let that creativity come through. What they gave me in season 3 was a real gift and I’m very grateful for it.
Jericho Ridge will be coming to UK cinemas on 25th April before being released on Digital Download from 29th April
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