Interviews

Silver Haze Interview: Sacha Polak – ‘Your first big love isn’t grey. It’s completely colourful’.

Dutch writer/director Sacha Polak made her English-language debut in 2019 with Dirty God, a critically acclaimed drama in which newcomer Vicky Knight played an acid-attack victim undergoing treatment for her burns. Having struck up a close friendship, the filmmaker and actor have collaborated again, this time with a story partly inspired by Knight’s own life. The plot follows Franky (Knight), a nurse who forms a close connection with her troubled patient Florence (Esmé Creed-Miles) after a suicide attempt. Silver Haze premiered at Berlin last year and is now set to be released in UK cinemas. I was fortunate to sit down with Sacha Polak to discuss the film…

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GFF24 · Interviews

Tummy Monster Interview: Ciaran Lyons & Lorn Macdonald – ‘There was a real energy to the shoot – you could feel it’.

Have you ever had a bad experience when asking a celebrity for a selfie? Glasgow-based filmmaker Ciaran Lyons explores the dark side of this idea in his debut feature Tummy Monster, a psychological black comedy set entirely in a tattoo studio. Rising star Lorn Macdonald plays Tales who gets embroiled in a twisted game when a musician turns up at his parlour to get inked in the middle of the night.

Ahead of its World Premiere at Glasgow Film Festival 2024, I jumped at the opportunity to sit down with director Ciaran Lyons and actor Lorn Macdonald to discuss their inventive new film…

I note that you’re both credited with writing the screenplay along with Orlando Norman. What was your process around collaborating? I guess that there was some improv involved…?

CL – Yeah, it’s partly the improv element. I wrote the first draft and it was always my intention that it would be a very actor led piece. I really wanted to give both Lorn and Orlando scope to flesh out their characters and contribute to the script and they did. They both brought an awful lot to it and they crafted their roles into the characters you see on screen.

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Interviews

BlackBerry Interview: Matt Johnson – ‘Unless something breaks the diegesis of the picture, just about anything is a success’.

Everybody of a certain age remembers the craze of the BlackBerry phone, marking the beginning of the smartphone obsessed era we’re still living in today. However, not everybody will know the story behind the device. Based upon Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff’s book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry, independent filmmaker Matt Johnson brings the tale to the big screen in his trademark mockumentary style as a writer, director, and as an actor. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to discuss the film with him…

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Interviews

Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance Interview: Craig Fairbrass – ‘We tried to give Pat a few redeeming qualities, which is difficult to do’.

Following on from 2021’s origins prequel, the sixth instalment in this gritty British crime saga is Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance. Directed by Nick Nevern, this chapter is set in 90s Soho and sees Craig Fairbrass reprising his role as the vicious gangster Pat Tate. Ahead of its release, I jumped at the opportunity to sit down with the actor to discuss the film…

The last time we spoke (our 2022 interview), you mentioned that you enjoyed switching into ‘Pat Tate mode’ for these films. How was that process this time around and were there any big differences to the previous times you’ve played him?

He’s much more of a thinking man in this film. He’s calculating, putting two and two together, and he’s on a mission for revenge. It’s just different, and there’s a little more depth to him in this film. He’s not just running around shouting and screaming and swearing and snorting cocaine and beating people up. You know him a little bit more, but he has the physicality and the violence that goes with it.

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EIFF23 · Interviews

Choose Irvine Welsh Interview: Irvine Welsh & Ian Jefferies – ‘For thirty years they’ve relentlessly put the boot in’.

After his seminal novel Trainspotting was published in 1993, the debut work of Irvine Welsh quickly became a cultural phenomenon, spawning theatre productions, the iconic film by Danny Boyle, sequels, and soon it’ll be turned into a stage musical. Other books of his such as The Acid House, Filth, and Crime have since been adapted for the screen and his writing has become instantly recognisable around the world due to its dark humour and Scottish dialect.

Taking a closer look at the man behind the material, documentary Choose Irvine Welsh celebrates the life and work of the author. Ahead of its premiere at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, I sat down with Irvine Welsh and the film’s director Ian Jefferies to discuss the piece…

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EIFF23 · Interviews

Dead Man’s Shoes Interview: Shane Meadows – ‘I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t the best fun I’ve ever had’.

Around twenty years ago, writer and director Shane Meadows made psychological thriller Dead Man’s Shoes and it changed his life. The film premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2004 and has gone on to become a cult classic amongst film fanatics. Paddy Considine co-wrote the screenplay and also stars as Richard, a violent soldier who comes back to his hometown after years away. While he was gone, his vulnerable brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell) was targeted by a local gang fronted by drug dealer Sonny (Gary Stretch), so Richard is out for revenge. This year, Shane Meadows returned to Edinburgh to celebrate the anniversary with a retrospective screening, and I was delighted to chat with him beforehand…

How do you feel about the cult following and legacy that Dead Man’s Shoes now has, decades after it was made?

It’s mad and comes as a real surprise when something like that keeps earning fans. When it first came out, there was another film called Saw that came out literally at the same time. That ended up with sequels and was a bit of a revenge horror thing…so we ended up not being in the cinema for very long and didn’t really make a splash! Then it became one of those films that got handed around on VHS and DVD as the years rolled by. I don’t get recognised a lot but when I do, people want to talk about Dead Man’s Shoes. It’s kind of mind blowing. 

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EIFF23 · Interviews

Passages Interview: Ira Sachs – ‘Have you met anyone in person who believes that sex should not be in cinema?’

Revisiting themes of complicated love, the latest film from Ira Sachs is romantic drama Passages. The plot sees narcissistic filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) begin an intense sexual relationship with schoolteacher Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos), much to the dismay of his husband Martin (Ben Whishaw). I was fortunate enough to sit down with the writer and director to discuss his work…

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EIFF23 · Interviews

Scrapper Interview: Charlotte Regan – ‘The child-like perspective gave us licence to go a bit mad with it’.

After crafting a string of shorts and music videos, writer and director Charlotte Regan presents her debut feature Scrapper, bringing colour, humour, and vibrancy to a street-smart working class tale. Georgie (Lola Campbell) is a 12 year old girl grieving the tragic loss of her mum to an illness. Fending for herself, she and her partner in crime Ali (Alin Uzun) steal and sell bikes to make ends meet in their East London council estate. Before long, her estranged father Jason (Harris Dickinson) turns up on the scene and the pair slowly begin to form a connection. I was fortunate enough to sit down with Charlotte Regan to discuss the film…

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EIFF22 · Features · Interviews

Heading West Interview: A Chat About a Band Called Shooglenifty

Shooglenifty originated in the 1990s and slowly built a loyal fan base within the Celtic fusion scene. They’ve now released nine albums and have played all over the world. In 2016, their frontman Angus tragically passed away at the age of 49.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Don Coutts, the documentary titled Heading West: A Story About a Band Called Shooglenifty charts their highs and lows with heart and humour and has a genuine intimacy that could only be captured by a long-time peer of the group. 

As part of last year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, fans, friends, and family filed into Edinburgh’s iconic Filmhouse for the film’s world premiere. The atmosphere was electric as everyone waited with bated breath to see the band’s journey on the big screen. The next day, I was fortunate enough to sit down with founding member and guitarist Malcolm Crosbie to chat about the film and his experience in the band…

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Interviews · LFF22

She is Love Interview: Jamie Adams – ‘The process creates an original atmosphere and an energy that doesn’t exist anywhere else’.

Since making his feature debut Benny & Jolene in 2014, Welsh writer and director Jamie Adams has racked up a whopping nine films! His process is very fluid and improvisational, crafting films on a low budget over a very short period of time and with no script in the traditional sense. His latest effort is romantic drama She is Love, which features a trio of terrific performances from Haley Bennett, Sam Riley, and Marisa Abela. I was fortunate enough to sit down with the prolific filmmaker to chat about the film…

It feels like a very long time since our last conversation, back when you had just made your festive film A Wonderful Christmas Time in 2014. How have you, your process, and your films changed in that time?

I’ve got older, more cynical, and more tired, so the process has changed. The truth of it is that every project is different. There’s different people involved; there’s different cast, crew, and their personalities, and you’re balancing all of that. You’re balancing the budget, the schedule, the scope of the vision. You’re balancing the story you want to tell versus what you’re able to tell.

You get more comfortable with the process like a sports person when they get into a routine of some kind; this is what I do when I’m preparing, this is what I do when I’m in the game, this is what I do afterwards. I can look back at something like A Wonderful Christmas Time for example, which is the second feature that we did in this way, and I could see myself mumbling on set as you’re not as confident about what you’re doing because you’re still finding it. You’re always still finding it, but at least you have more of a clue of how you’ll get to what it is you’re looking for.

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