Today I was invited to attend a master-class in horror at
the University of Derby – a live interview with filmmakers Adam Marsh and Owen
Tooth. Devils Tower is a new
imaginative British horror and will be coming to a cinema soon in 2013.
Everybody has gone through the horror fan rite of passage-
watching that one horror before you should that got you addicted to the intense
feeling of watching this genre.
This film from the duo will delight horror fans this year.
Tooth states that through his experiences he realised the way to go was through
narrative and they wanted to “make something that is poetic and beautiful”.
Tom Craig (the interviewer and also the Lecturer and
programme leader for Film and Television Production at the University of Derby)
asks Marsh to describe Devils Tower
for us. He just spoke one word “nightmare”! Then he continued: The film is about a young girl played by Emmerdale’s very own Roxanne Pallett. The
girl is thrown out of her home by her horrible alcoholic mother who is played
by Frances Ruffelle (Les Miserable, 2012).
She is forced to move into a creepy tower block where strange things start to
happen. Marsh adds “ lots of blood!” A British gritty urban horror.
The duo spoke about when Woman
in Black (2012) was released they thought “oh no not another ghosts story
in a stately home! Why cant ghosts be in a city tower block?”
They were asked how they casted the actors for the film
roles.
“Pallett floored the whole room with her performance” –
originally she was auditioning for another role. After her audition they made
this particular casting decision straight away. Jay Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob
e.g Dogma, 1999) was delighted to be involved and is a great choice for his
particular role.
Devils Tower will
be shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2013. There they will be talking
and discussing with distributers and deciding who best to place the film with. It
will then be up to the distributors to set a release date – hopefully sooner
rather than later.
Craig points out “the future is clearly looking bright for
both of you. Are you a faithful team or
will there be any infidelity?” after a few laughs Tooth replied “we have an
open relationship”.
After the live interview we had a questions and answers
session. Questions asked were:
How do you get from short films into paid work?
- Progress through the ranks. The network of people very quickly help you build skills in varied fields. Don’t say no to anything. Any involvement, any experience you can get hold of – embrace it! He said it was like he was actively waiting around if that makes sense? Waiting for the right opportunity to come along to get them that one step closer.
Was making a feature film as you imagined it would be? If not
what was it like?
- No, it wasn’t – the pace things move. For example when we were shooting Devils Tower it was like we were galloping through scenes. We had all sorts of onset disasters but you just need to trust your instincts and your team. There were hundreds of mini collaborations going on through production.
Did you use a local makeup artist to Derby?
- Yes and she had only worked on one film previously, but her work was amazing. There is an elevator scene in which someone falls down the elevator shaft and she contributed her dangling eyeball into the final death scene.
Well I for one will be waiting for the release and booking a
date with the big screen. Derby’s very own double decadence for horror lovers.
