| Essexboys -
Film |
THE PRODUCTION STORY
The Inspiration:
Although not a true-life story, ESSEX BOYS was inspired by a
real-life incident. One snowy night in Essex police found three
men shot dead in a Range Rover. Co- writer and director Terry
Winsor takes up the story: "The newspaper article about
the deaths aroused both Jeff Pope's (co-writer and producer)
and my interest in what was happening in Essex at the time.
Essex seemed to have become the centre of crime. That really
got us going with regards to the history leading up to the images
of the three guys dead in the Range Rover. They were found at
the end of a lane in the snow. There only seemed to be the tracks
of one vehicle going to the spot, and that really was the kick-off
point for us writing about the sort of circumstances that might
have occurred."
Jeff Pope concurs: "The murder was the spark that started
all this off. I always follow things like that in the papers
because they are so intriguing. This one was especially interesting
- three guys dead, no one knew how they got there, or how had
they been killed. It didn't look like they had put up a struggle
- it looked like they had been executed. But it raised the question
as to who would do that? We used that as our starting point.
But those are real people with real families, so we didn't want
to make it that story. Also, inevitably, when we looked at the
real story we found it was messy and confused. You constantly
find that real life is more mundane than you would want your
story to be. So, having established what happened, we then moved
on and created a piece of fiction - but kept it in a realistic
framework. There is nothing happening in our story that hasn't
happened, or that couldn't happen somewhere."
The Working Method:
This is not the first collaboration between Jeff Pope and Terry
Winsor. Terry says: "Jeff and I have done several films
together for television, and they usually are crime films. ESSEX
BOYS marks the cross-over to full gangster movie - an area we
are both interested in. There are different stages in the process.
"When writing a script, we [Jeff & I] work together
and brain-storm, but we also write separately, and then get
together to compare what we have written. We throw around ideas
and see what we can come up with. I don't really know how, but
it seems to work." Jeff Pope agrees: "We have time
both alone with the project, and together. It tends to divide,
and (although it's not a hard and fast thing) Terry's great
strength is his plotting, and dialogue is something I'm good
at".
The Green Light:
It seemed logical, almost perhaps inevitable, that ESSEX BOYS
was produced by Granada Film. As Jeff Pope says: "I am
a Granada employee, so obviously that was my first point of
call. Thankfully Pippa Cross (Head of Production for Granada
Film) shared our enthusiasm, and gave us the go ahead for it
to be developed.
"Terry and I felt that we had made TV movies and now wanted
to work on a bigger stage. We wanted to go bigger with our thoughts
for cast and scenes. With TV you are squeezed that much more
- this is a big story, and we wanted a big canvas to paint it
on. We conceived it as a movie from the beginning for that reason.
We always had this clear idea that it was about Essex, but that
it was also about a complex relationship. Normally with a television
budget you are asked to choose between making it an emotional
drama or an action piece. What we did was to go for both. This
gave us a load of problems, but we felt it would be something
fresh if we could pull it off."
Shooting in Essex:
Nearly all of the movie was shot in Essex. However director
Terry Winsor says that this was not just in the spirit of authenticity:
"We shot most of the movie in Essex because it interested
me as a location. It seems to me to be a county that hasn't
been exploited yet - areas like Jaywick Sands, Clacton and Brightlingsea
haven't really been seen on screen. Also, I feel that the area
has a unique quality that is very different from other counties.
So we achieved a very specific look to the movie."
For the interior scenes the production took over a disused shoe
factory. Jeff Pope explains: "The location people found
the old Bata Shoe Factory - they had to scour the area really
because there are no studios in Essex. It's funny, it's only
as far away from the centre of London as Pinewood and Borehamwood,
but there are no studio complexes so we had to make our own
as it were. Their shopping list was a big shell, in a quiet
place, close to transport, with an office block attached.
"I actually really liked working in this huge space. There
were some distinct practical advantages. If you want to shoot
around what is your set - say you have a nighttime exterior
scene - it's very easy to do because it's all your place. It's
easy to spill out into the surrounding area. In a film studio,
it's more difficult. I think it also creates togetherness with
the crew, although they won't thank me for the distance they
had to travel. But that said, once they were there, I think
it increased the sense of togetherness.
"Shooting in Essex we were of course on 'home ground' the
whole time. It did cross my mind that we might get visits at
night because people perceive the film to be a true story. But
on the whole, I think people were interested rather than hostile
to it. I think that the people we came across from Essex just
felt that it was their story. The fact that we moved away from
the real-life murders calmed down a lot of potential problems.
All our extras came from Essex, and where possible the crew
came from Essex too. All the locations were places that they
would recognise - houses that we shot at etc. I think they felt
that it was their film, and when it comes on at the cinema I
hope the returns from Essex are going to be huge."
The Casting:
ESSEX BOYS was not written with particular cast members in mind.
Terry Winsor explains: "I like to write the piece first,
and then think that the actors take it on board and make it
into something else. Once you get the actors involved in saying
their lines, then the film takes on a life of its own. I think
you have to accept that. You want that something extra that
the actors can give you, and for them to use as much of their
creativity as possible.
"Saying that, when we wrote the part of Locke, I kind of
had Sean at the back of my mind as I'd worked with him before.
There was always something that seemed to come back to the qualities
that he could offer, and it then became a natural process to
offer the part to him.
"We searched about quite a bit for the person who could
play Lisa, and came to the conclusion that Alex (Kingston) was
the one who could carry that sort of range; to be a bold character,
someone who was attractive and strong, and could manipulate
people. You can see in her eyes that she is capable of doing
that. It's to do with her presence, and the strength that she
has." Producer Jeff Pope continues: "We were interested
in Alex early on, but she wasn't available because she was making
ER, so we looked at various other people. In the meantime the
whole schedule slipped back, so on a hunch we called her to
see if she was free - which she was. We then went over to meet
her and on the flight back, when we were going through the scenes
in our head, the only face I could see was her's."
He goes on "I think she probably appreciated the fact that
we didn't fuss over her because of her ER background. It's slightly
different in this country from Hollywood, in that there's a
lot of mutual trust here. We met her, and decided we wanted
her to do it. We knew what she was capable of, and trusted that
she would do it - which she did. I think she enjoyed the experience.
It was a physically demanding role for her though. She was beaten
up and God knows what.
"What I liked about Alex was that I had never quite come
across anyone who threw themselves into a role like she did.
Maybe it helped because her home is in LA, and she was on location
shooting this. Inevitably when you are stuck in a hotel room
you do become the character that you are playing so much more,
because you spend a long period of each day being that person."
"I'd seen Charlie Creed-Miles in Nil by Mouth and thought
he had a terrific screen presence" says Terry Winsor. "We
did look exhaustively through all the youngsters around at the
time, but he seemed to be the one that came out on top every
time. What's interesting about him is that he does have a 'lad'
quality, but it's something that you can take the top off. He
can portray the vulnerable side of the character as well. What
he had to embody is a fascination with criminals - I think most
blokes have this. He also has to have that quality to take you
through the journey of the film. He is there to be the everyman
of the story. He represents all of us in a way."
Jeff Pope says "Tom was the last of the main characters
to be cast. We had a lot of problems with this character because
we couldn't quite make up our minds what he was, or who he was.
Tom's agent, who knew about the project, said to us that she
would like to let Tom read it. Terry was initially slightly
confused by it -I think he had got a picture of Tom from The
Full Monty in his mind. But we knew how good an actor he was.
He was cast just before Shakespeare in Love came out. The interesting
thing was that by the time he had walked through the open-plan
office to our little office at the end, I think Terry was convinced,
just on how he looked. The first thing Tom said was that the
story reminded him of Anthony & Cleopatra. I wouldn't normally
use a Shakespeare analogy, but Terry and I both realised afterwards
that that was exactly what it was. Within minutes of meeting
him, we couldn't see the character any other way, and he was
brilliant."
The Shooting Schedule:
Because of the Easter recess and Alex Kingston's availability,
the schedule for ESSEX BOYS was not completely conventional.
Terry Winsor explains: "We did rehearsals before we started
shooting, and then again in the Easter break as well, which
were invaluable. It was interesting to shoot for a few weeks,
and then do a few more rehearsals after the characters have
taken shape. It was also important for Alex, who had to go back
to America mid-shoot to finish off the series of ER. We wouldn't
have got a lot of rehearsal time with her otherwise."
Because of the nature of the film, encompassing night clubs
and dusk drug drops, a large proportion of the shooting took
place at nights. Director Terry Winsor continues "We did
three to four weeks of night shoots, and that's a long time.
It was pretty grueling, and the weather wasn't very good - so
people got very tired at the end. However, as we shot so many
nights, it does add an extra quality to the film. I wouldn't
have had it any other way."
The Stunts:
"We did scale models of Southend to plan the stunts"
says Terry Winsor. "We had to plan where the cars would
be, the actors and the cameras. That stuff had to be worked
out in incredible detail beforehand. I storyboarded a great
deal of the film before we started. When you are doing stunts
you need to talk them through with so many people - that's why
it helps to have a drawing to show them so they can see exactly
what you are looking for. I just took it one stage further."
Jeff Pope saw the merits in "going big" with the stunts:
"I knew that we had some big set pieces in the film, and
that it was very important that we threw everything we possibly
could at them. We had a fantastic stunt team. There is a spectacular
stunt where a guy comes flying out of a nightclub window. We
were all petrified after as there was blood coming out of his
head and he had to have some stitches. But he simply turned
round to me and said 'Thanks for letting me do it'!" |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
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