WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:05.480 Hold you. 2 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:09.720 He is bot It should die. People say good money 3 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:10.599 to see this movie. 4 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:12.160 When they go out to a theater. 5 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:15.199 They want cold sodas from a hot popcorn and no 6 00:00:15.400 --> 00:00:17.199 monsters in the protection booth. 7 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:20.839 Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring done at all. 8 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.759 We are not turning back to never make it. That's 9 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:45.439 not try. 10 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:54.159 Ever since I was a girl, I've had a longing 11 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:55.000 for the water. 12 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:59.759 To swim for me is like nothing else in the world. 13 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:05.799 My name is Mercedes Glis. I'm a swimmer and I'm 14 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:06.879 told you might train me. 15 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:09.799 Colde, extreme fatigue. 16 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:12.840 It's best the strongest of men. 17 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:15.439 Well, thank god, I'm a woman. 18 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:20.560 I understand the water's movements. It's rhythm, and sometimes I 19 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:25.280 fancy it understands me too. What if I didn't make it, 20 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:29.719 I'll wager you can arrive at a thousand reasons why 21 00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:30.280 you won't. 22 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:32.680 All you have to do is hang on to the. 23 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:45.519 One says you can write. 24 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:48.079 We'll go down in history as the first British woman 25 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:49.959 to ever swing the English Channel. 26 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:53.079 With his ed of gay. 27 00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:55.840 Splashed onto the sand following the shock completion of an 28 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:59.040 English Channel swiping. 29 00:01:58.120 --> 00:02:01.159 Horrible guests, please put there together and drinklesome. 30 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.400 I am sure that woman's not to be trusted in 31 00:02:08.439 --> 00:02:11.960 this country. Ms Glydes, An unmarried woman at your age 32 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:13.039 raised a suspicion. 33 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:17.680 Isn't it best you step aside now and avoid further humiliation? 34 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:26.520 ID swim I know you did, but they'll never believe you. 35 00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:30.199 Show them what you know to be true, that you 36 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:44.039 can swing the English chapel Camarker, Are you sure that 37 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:46.919 you want to carry on with There's no shame in 38 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:47.520 a quitting. 39 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:49.120 No, I'm not quitting. 40 00:02:49.280 --> 00:03:01.919 You've got to make it, You've got to it away. 41 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:10.360 Hey, folks, welcome to a special episode of the Projection Booth. 42 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:12.680 I'm your host Mike White. On this episode, I'm talking 43 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:16.960 with Elliott Hassler all about his new film Vindication. Swim 44 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:20.919 And is the story of a woman who crosses the 45 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:25.199 English Channel way back in post World War One Britain. 46 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:29.080 The film stars Kristen Callahan and John Locke. It will 47 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:32.280 be hitting the US pretty durn soon. Definitely seek that 48 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:35.599 one out And I hope you enjoy this interview. Can 49 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:37.400 you kind of tell me how you got involved with 50 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:38.080 movie making. 51 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:41.319 I've always loved to AVOYE had a passionate film ever 52 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:44.039 since I was really young. And then when I was 53 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:46.599 ten years old, the school I was at at the time, 54 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:50.039 instead of doing lessons for a week, they made a film. 55 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:51.319 It was an optation of the line of the Wish 56 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.479 and the Wardrobe, and that was wife has experience of 57 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:57.039 making a film, obviously at a very amateur level, as 58 00:03:56.919 --> 00:03:59.199 it just kids in a classroom kind of fooling around, 59 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:03.240 but that, yeah, I learned on a very crude scale 60 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:05.400 of how films were made and how they were constructed, 61 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:07.479 from the script and the production of it to the 62 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:10.680 editing and the posts and all that. So I fell 63 00:04:10.680 --> 00:04:12.360 in love with it from that moment really, and then 64 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:14.360 from then on, from the age of ten, I'd just 65 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:17.399 been making little short films and with friends and family, 66 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:19.279 and that kind of got bigger and better and. 67 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:21.000 The quality just improved. 68 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:23.720 And then when I was fourteen, I decided to make 69 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:27.399 a feature about my great grandfather his experiences in the 70 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:28.040 Second World War. 71 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:30.480 So he was a prisoner of war in Italy. He 72 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:32.720 escaped and he made this incredible. 73 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:37.600 Two hundred kilometer journey across the country, basically evading the Nazis. 74 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:38.680 And living with the resistance and things. 75 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:40.959 So I turned that into a film over the course 76 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:43.279 of three years and between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, 77 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:45.600 and that for me was my film school. I'd never 78 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:47.399 studied film and never been to film school, so I 79 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:49.120 really learned a lot doing that. 80 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:50.399 And it was a very amateur project. 81 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:52.560 I was just friends and family on the weekends we 82 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:55.399 were putting it together and stuff. It did incredibly well 83 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:57.040 for what it was. I then got picked up for 84 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:00.600 a UK and a US release. Last year we signed 85 00:05:00.600 --> 00:05:03.360 to deal with Paramount for it for France, UK and Italy. 86 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:05.959 So yeah, it's come out all around the world now 87 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:08.040 and it's it's done incredibly well for what it was. 88 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.240 So that was then what led me onto the Vindication Swim. 89 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:16.839 That sounds so ambitious. I mean, how did you even decide, Okay, 90 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:19.120 I'm going to do this and then just tackle that 91 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:21.680 as a project. I mean three years to make this 92 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:23.680 and from what I understand, you also starred in it. 93 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:25.079 I did. 94 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:29.879 Yeah, you notice I'm not in Vindication Swim, but yeah, 95 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:31.959 I did act in it. It was an ambitious thing, 96 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:35.800 I think, especially trying to tackle the Second World War 97 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:39.000 and a subject matter as grand as that. On a 98 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:42.920 it was about three thousand dollars probably that we spent 99 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:45.639 on it. Okay, cost next to nothing for a film. 100 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.319 It was very ambitious at the time, but I think 101 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:50.680 that was what was so interesting about it. It was 102 00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:53.000 quite a quite a grand story, but it was also 103 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:55.160 a very family sort of oriented story. I'd grown up 104 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:58.040 hearing these stories with my great grandfather and that was 105 00:05:58.160 --> 00:05:59.600 what inspired me to make it. So there was a 106 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:01.839 real kind of family connection with it as well, which 107 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.720 I think made it slightly smaller. But then obviously the 108 00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:07.000 story is grand. So yeah, it was a really fun 109 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:09.000 one to spend three years working on. 110 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:11.279 And how much help did you have with that? Was 111 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:14.000 that like friends and family or did you actually employ people? 112 00:06:14.759 --> 00:06:16.519 Oh no, we didn't know. It was literally just friends 113 00:06:16.519 --> 00:06:19.560 and family. They just came and helped out. We we 114 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:22.519 rented a few military uniforms and then that kind of thing. 115 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:25.079 But yeah, no, there was no sort of industry backing 116 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.160 on it. It was very very grassroots. 117 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:31.120 So how did you get the idea for vindication Swim? 118 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:32.240 But that one? 119 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:35.959 I was looking for another film to do after World 120 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.399 War through the Long Road Home, and I kind of 121 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.600 stumbled across this story of Mercedes glides, and then I 122 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:43.360 learned that we were from the same hometown. She was 123 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:45.519 born in Brighton on the south coast of England, which 124 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:47.800 is where I'm from, and I'd never heard of her. 125 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:49.360 I don't know who she was. I'd never heard of 126 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:51.240 her Channel Swims or anything like that. And the more 127 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:53.399 I read about how I thought, this is shocking that 128 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:55.639 I don't know who this woman is, because she's incredible. 129 00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:58.839 But what she did back then in the nineteen twenties 130 00:06:58.839 --> 00:07:00.560 as a woman, to go out there and achieve all 131 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:02.839 of that with the whole of society against you, and 132 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:05.839 then to go battle mother nature itself in order to 133 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.879 achieve her dreams, I thought there was something very powerful 134 00:07:08.920 --> 00:07:11.279 in that, and the shocked I didn't know her really, 135 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:14.079 So the project was born out of that, this sort 136 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:17.439 of idea of celebrating s extraordin women from my hometown 137 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:19.600 and bringing her story back into. 138 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:21.000 The world and putting it out there. 139 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:24.639 The German element particularly was in Britain at the time, 140 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:27.399 because obviously it's a few years after the First World War, 141 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:30.560 so there was a lot of anti German kind of sentiment. 142 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:32.720 So yeah, she had to face a lot of racism 143 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:33.959 in that sense for sure. 144 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:37.639 Yeah, tell me about your actress. I mean she is amazing. 145 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:40.959 Yes, she was incredible. Kirsten did a fantastic job and 146 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.120 this is sort of her debut screen performance. She really 147 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.240 went the extra mile. We trained her up for three 148 00:07:47.319 --> 00:07:50.439 four months and over water swim training, intensive swimming training 149 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:53.439 really before the production because she was adamant that she 150 00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:54.720 was going to do it all herself. She didn't want 151 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.319 anybody doubles, She didn't want anyone else to step into 152 00:07:57.319 --> 00:07:59.399 missaid issue. She wanted to immerse herself in the water 153 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:03.319 to really embody the character. So yeah, over the course 154 00:08:03.319 --> 00:08:05.120 of it took three years to do this one as well. 155 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.000 It seems to be like a repairring theme there with 156 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:10.560 my movies. So over the course of three years splashing 157 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:12.759 around in the English Channel, person did everything up to 158 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:14.560 four hours at a time in the water. It was 159 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:18.120 really a feat of endurance for her bringing Mercedes to 160 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:18.959 the screen as well. 161 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.079 Also doing a period piece is a huge endeavor too. 162 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:25.240 The period element paled in comparison to the challenges we 163 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:29.160 faced dooting Our Sea, but it was nonetheless it is 164 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:32.799 difficult bringing the nineteen twenties to life on a very 165 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:35.200 tight budget. This wasn't a Hollywood film. We didn't have 166 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:37.600 much money at all to throw at it. So what 167 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:41.159 we did we relied on community support really for it. 168 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:43.360 So things like the vintage cars in the film. What 169 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:45.240 we do as we ring up car clubs and say 170 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:46.840 we're making this film. 171 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:48.919 We haven't really got money to pay you. 172 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:51.080 But we can pay your gas, we can get drides, 173 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:52.519 you lunch and all that, And I say, nine times 174 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:54.279 out of ten they came back and say, don't worry 175 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:55.919 about the gas, don't worry about the lunch. We just 176 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:57.639 want to bring our cars along and want to be 177 00:08:57.639 --> 00:08:59.159 part of a film and experience that. 178 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:00.879 And we just want to sell to break this story. 179 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:02.759 So that was how we did it. 180 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:06.440 Really, it was just relying on the very generous and 181 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:08.759 good will of the community. 182 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:11.799 Yeah, how was it even putting this project together? I 183 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:14.759 mean it's just again super ambitious. 184 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:16.799 This was very ambitious. 185 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:20.480 I'm a big fan of Jaws, and Spielberg an interview 186 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:23.279 said that he would never recommend anyone go film out 187 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:25.039 on the water and paraphrase with it there, but that 188 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:26.960 was essentially the gist of it. So that for me, 189 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:29.679 I thought it would be cool to go out there 190 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:31.600 and do the opposite of what he said and try 191 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:33.440 and film out out at sea, and I can see 192 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:34.720 in hindsight why he said it. 193 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:37.840 Because it's very difficult. But it came out of that. 194 00:09:37.879 --> 00:09:40.759 It was this sort of challenge that I wanted to 195 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:42.879 pursue of shooting a movie out on the English Channel. 196 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:44.840 I've always grown up right by the sea, so the 197 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:47.720 English Channel was integral to my life, so it was 198 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:51.440 nice to have that environment to work in. But yeah, 199 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.399 that presented its own sort of levels of challenges that 200 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:57.039 we just never foresaw it. Sometimes we go out there, 201 00:09:57.039 --> 00:09:59.159 we'd get maybe one or two shots in the can 202 00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:01.279 have to abandon the shoot because the wind would change 203 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:02.759 or the type would change and it just wouldn't be 204 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:03.639 safe to carry on. 205 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:05.679 The very first day that we. 206 00:10:05.639 --> 00:10:08.679 Went out, everyone really bad sea sickness. 207 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.080 We'd probably a little too rough to have actually gone out. 208 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:13.759 And then John Locke, who played Somecedes coach in the film, 209 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:16.000 he'd be vomiting over one side of the boat, then 210 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:18.000 he turned to the other side of the boat, deliver 211 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:19.639 his lines, and then go back to the other side 212 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:22.320 to vomit again. I think that epitomized what we were 213 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.639 up against we were out there, but also just how 214 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:27.480 dedicated everyone was to bringing it to the screen. 215 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:30.320 Well, I can't even imagine the challenges when it came 216 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:33.840 to know the conditions of the skies and making sure 217 00:10:33.879 --> 00:10:36.159 that everything matched when it came to them. I'm sure, 218 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:39.200 I'm sure the color grading must have been very difficult. 219 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:44.559 Yeah, it was quite challenging. We really paid painstaking attention 220 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:47.159 to detail to that while we were making it. It 221 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:50.039 was important that it didn't look like different days during 222 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:53.000 the same scene because some scenes in the film, we'd 223 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.279 shot parts of it on year one, picked it up 224 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.200 in year two, couldn't get it all because something happened 225 00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:01.879 like the winds change, just whatever, and then had to 226 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:04.759 finish it off in year free. They're three years apart 227 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:07.240 some scenes, like the shots of being the actors and stuff. 228 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:10.720 So yeah, doing that and making sure the clouds look 229 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:11.960 the same in the background. 230 00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:13.120 And everything that was very challenging. 231 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:14.879 I think there was only one shot where we actually 232 00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:17.399 had news visual effects to remove the clouds. 233 00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:20.320 Everything else we pretty much managed to nail. 234 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:22.840 And then, like you say, with the advancement of color grading, 235 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:25.919 it was fine tuning and tweaking with that. But we 236 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:28.200 had a great team for the post production. We worked 237 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:32.639 with Warner Brothers, Delaine Lee in London. Soo, so ASA 238 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:34.919 should did our color He did the Crown, he did 239 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:38.120 Mission Impossible. He's worked on some great, great stuff so's 240 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:40.799 he's a fantastic colorists and he really he knew what 241 00:11:40.840 --> 00:11:42.480 he was doing and then did a fantastic job on 242 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:45.639 this film. What did you actually shoot on It was 243 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:50.360 a tiny little DSLR. It was nothing particularly great. Really, 244 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:52.600 we just needed something that was small and lightweight and 245 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:54.559 that we could fit in the waterproof housing. 246 00:11:55.240 --> 00:11:56.240 It's take it out as sea. 247 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.440 Yeah, I mean, at least with Spielberg, I want to 248 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:02.440 say a lot of that was shot in a tank 249 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:06.720 rather than the actual you know, ocean. So that must 250 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.919 have just been crazy to have the waves and nothing 251 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:12.600 under your control, just at the mercy of nature completely. 252 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:14.320 Yeah, we really were. 253 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:17.799 I mean, it gave us incredible respect for the sea 254 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:19.279 and for the Engish Channel. 255 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:22.480 But yeah, we had to take safety very seriously as well. 256 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:25.720 We'd always bring a number of lifeguards out of us 257 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:28.240 and the Coast Guard new and it was a big 258 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:31.440 logistical kind of nightmare really just to arrange one shoe 259 00:12:31.480 --> 00:12:33.000 and we were out there for three years. 260 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:35.159 So this went on for a long time. 261 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.000 The scheduling must have been a nightmare too. Just to 262 00:12:38.039 --> 00:12:40.000 make sure that your people had free time, that they 263 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:42.600 were able to come out and be part of that shoot. 264 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:45.720 We rotated the crew that we were using on it 265 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:47.919 just for that reason. It was hard to get everyone together, 266 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.080 so we had a range of different safety people and 267 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:52.159 stuff who we could pull in at different times. But 268 00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:54.600 obviously the actors they've got to be the same. So 269 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:58.519 what was fortunate in that case was COVID had hit 270 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:00.919 in the middle of the shoe, so no one was 271 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:03.759 doing anything, so all the actors weren't booked on other 272 00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:05.879 roles or anything like that. They were all still around 273 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:08.120 so we were able to grab them. But I think 274 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:10.799 if we were doing it now we would really struggle 275 00:13:10.879 --> 00:13:14.000 to have everybody in that location over the course of 276 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:15.000 pre summers. 277 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:17.440 What kind of safety precautions did you have to do 278 00:13:17.559 --> 00:13:18.440 just because of COVID. 279 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:20.799 Filming out and sea was quite helpful because we didn't 280 00:13:20.799 --> 00:13:23.879 have anyone bothering us for as turing we were complying. 281 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:25.879 We complied as much as we needed to. 282 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:29.200 But obviously being out there was made a lot easier 283 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:30.279 than filming on land. 284 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:32.879 But it was quite good. In the UK, COVID is 285 00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:33.720 one of the film. 286 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:35.720 Injury was one of the things that COVID didn't really 287 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:38.960 impact that badly. They still allowed us to go out 288 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.559 to film provide we had the right paperwork and things, 289 00:13:41.559 --> 00:13:45.960 which we did. Yeah, it didn't really impact it in 290 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.960 a particularly negative way, I don't think, aside from it 291 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:51.120 pushed the production back by say about a year. Aside 292 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:53.120 from that, I think it helped the production. May people 293 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:54.799 were more generous and I think more willing to help 294 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:57.279 out because they wanted to get back out do something 295 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:01.120 isn'tink creative, of do something fun after being locked away 296 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:01.679 for so long. 297 00:14:02.399 --> 00:14:04.840 Sorry, I keep going back to Spielberg, but also thinking 298 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.200 of you know, just how young you are and how 299 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:09.279 young he was when he was starting out, and just 300 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.159 the disrespect that he got from so many people. Did 301 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:13.399 you run across that at all? 302 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:16.080 I think a lot of people didn't think the film 303 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.480 was going to do particularly well or even get finished 304 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.600 because of the challenge that were be taken on for ourselves. 305 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:25.840 There was a lot of doubters on it, for sure. 306 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:28.440 I don't really pay that much attention to it really 307 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:30.480 because I knew in my head what we were doing, 308 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:32.720 and I had a vision of what the film was 309 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:33.480 going to be and how. 310 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:34.679 We were going to do it. 311 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:38.559 I just went ahead and just nose down and carried 312 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:41.399 on with what I was doing. And I think for me, 313 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:43.879 I think that's the best way of dealing with situations 314 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:45.879 like that, is to just be confident in your own 315 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:48.759 ability and confident in yourself and just go on from there. 316 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:52.399 But the film, it really did incredibly well, and it 317 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:55.559 shut everyone up after it came out, and it had 318 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:58.320 a great release here in the UK. Release this pretty 319 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.840 indie film for a long time was way beyond what 320 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.559 we'd anticipated. We thought we would get maybe one or 321 00:15:03.600 --> 00:15:05.240 two weeks in theaters, and we ended up having this 322 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:08.600 sort of huge eighteen week run across three hundred theaters 323 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.840 in the UK, which was totally unexpected but incredible to see. 324 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:14.120 And then off the back of that, now we're coming 325 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.720 out to the US to bring the come to audiences 326 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:17.120 out there. 327 00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:20.799 I really liked your time structure that you had in 328 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:23.360 the script, and I was curious, did you always intend 329 00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:25.919 to tell it in that kind of fractured timeway. 330 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:27.519 That kind of came about in the edit. 331 00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:30.799 Actually it was always slightly fractured, but I think we 332 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.519 then changed around a little bit more because there was 333 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:36.279 a subplot in the film that we it wasn't serving 334 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:38.919 any purpose, so we cut it out and then used 335 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.559 that sequence as part of a flashback and it works 336 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:42.200 a lot better. 337 00:15:42.840 --> 00:15:44.759 Yeah, that was gone out of the edit and trimming 338 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:45.120 it down. 339 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.480 We shot so much footage for this film that I 340 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.080 think the first cut came in at about three and 341 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:51.200 a half hours, which for an income was just far 342 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:53.960 too long, so we trim it back to a cool 343 00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:57.120 ninety minutes to see. Obviously, whenever we stuff had to 344 00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:59.480 go and we had a little bit of reorganization to do. 345 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.120 Are you going to release, say, deluxe Blu ray with 346 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:04.440 all that edited footage? 347 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:06.840 I think the version we've got is nice because it's 348 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:09.480 a nice type film. I think it tells the story 349 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:11.320 and the way it ought to be cold. I think 350 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:12.679 I think you go down a rabbit hole with that. 351 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.000 I we like Francis four Coppler still tinkering away with 352 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:16.039 it while I'm in my eighties. 353 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:19.519 Have you only directed stuff that you've written or have 354 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:21.679 you directed things that other people have written as well? 355 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:25.200 So far, it's only been my own what I've written myself. 356 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.519 I'd be open to it if the right script came along, 357 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.039 but it's just worked out so far that I've only 358 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:33.399 directed in my own words. 359 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:34.440 What are you planning on next? 360 00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:36.639 As I've got a couple of films on the go. 361 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:40.039 One's a sort of a true crime thriller set on 362 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.080 the south coast of England the nineteen thirty so it's 363 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:44.600 a much darker turn than Vindication Swim, but I think 364 00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:46.639 it's always nice to do a bit of a segue 365 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:48.399 and go on and do something that's a lot different. 366 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:52.120 And then there's a First World War survival thriller sort 367 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:52.840 of film as well. 368 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:55.159 So yeah, great scripts were both of those. 369 00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:57.399 One I've co written and then one I've written myself, 370 00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:00.279 and we're just pitching them out at the moment, trying 371 00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:01.080 to raise the funds. 372 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:04.559 More challenges with period pieces, it sounds. 373 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:07.000 Like, yeah, I tend to be drawn to those. I 374 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:09.160 think there's a lot to be found in kind of 375 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:11.960 these old stories that it's something quite nice about unearthing 376 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:15.000 them and then bringing them to the screen for myself 377 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.839 as the director. When you walk onto set, particularly Invinication 378 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:19.160 Swimen is very much like this. When we did the 379 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:20.960 street scenes and stuff, you walk onto set and it 380 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:23.240 feels as though you've stepped back in time, as all 381 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:25.920 these people in old clothes, there's all these old cars 382 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:28.119 and stuff, and it's a really cool experience. So then 383 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:31.640 for me, my job is to make that translate for 384 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:33.920 the audience so they can feel what I'm feeling, as 385 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:36.519 if I've really immersed myself in this world. And I 386 00:17:36.519 --> 00:17:38.680 think there is something very interesting about doing that on 387 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:39.680 a period film. 388 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:43.799 Yeah, the costumes and Vindication swim are amazing and everything 389 00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:45.079 looks so good. 390 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:46.519 Yeah, those are all original. 391 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:49.440 We managed to source pretty much, you know, an entire 392 00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:53.160 wardrobe of original nineteen twenties pieces. We sort of went 393 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:56.440 all over the place looking for them, like thrift stores, eBay. 394 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:59.519 We went everywhere trying to find these old pieces of clothing. 395 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:02.680 That's amazing. I thought for sure you had just a 396 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:03.880 genius customer. 397 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:07.200 No, I don't think we created any new costume for 398 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:09.960 the film. Even the swimsuit that Mercedes Lights wears in 399 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:13.000 the film, that was an original nineteen twenties woolen bathing 400 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:16.200 suit that we had to stitch up in between shoots 401 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:18.480