Matthew Hope
The Veteran see British filmmaker Matthew Hope step behind the camera to make only his second feature film.
He has brought together an impressive cast for the project - including Toby Kebbell, Brian Cox and Tony Curran. I caught up with him to talk about The Veteran and what lies ahead.
* The Veteran is about to be released in cinemas so can you tell me a bit about the movie?
It's a story of a solider who has returned from Afghanistan and he finds it difficult to fit back into society. He gets a job in covert surveillance and becomes obsessed with saving this young Muslim woman who is working undercover for the intelligence services.
He fails to stop a terrorist attack and ends up going a bit crazy and having a massive shoot out with drug dealers on the rough estate where he lives.
* You have also penned the screenplay for the movie so where did the idea and the inspiration for the movie come from?
I spent two years making it and developed the idea with Robert Henry Craft, who was in the military for twenty four years, and the idea came about through conversations he and I were having about soldier returning from the war and how difficult it is for them to fit back into society and a lot of them have post traumatic stress disorder as well.
So we were interested in that and I had been watching Taxi Driver and I thought that no one had done a first person narrative film for quite a while, or a film like that, and I thought it might be a good idea to do something like that here.
We were originally going to do a straight film about terrorism, but trying to get funding for that was difficult - so we decided to do this instead.
* The script was also penned with Robert Henry Craft so how did you come to work with him?
He and I met through an ex-girlfriend of mine, funnily enough, and really became good friends.
I was looking for a technical advisor at the time, and he had written some things, so I said 'we should collaborate on something' and The Veteran is the result of that.
* It is a fictional story but the movie does touch on the subject of adapting to civilian life as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so how much were these taken from the experiences of Robert?
Quite a lot actually. With something like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder it's such an internal thing for the soldier to deal with so to render those ideas visually was challenging - the way that Bob deals with it is different and ever soldier goes through something different.
Toby helped a lot with this as well, I remember in my notes I wrote that with the actor portraying Miller I wanted the war to be portrayed across his face and he brought that to life. Some of the things that he did really helped to show the impact of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
* The movie stars Toby Kebbell and Brian Cox so did you pen the script with any actors in mind? And can you tell me about the casting process?
We didn't know, it's an independent film so we didn't know if it was going to get made you just hope it does, so it was never penned with anyone in mind. Toby was always the first choice I think he is a fantastic actor and we really thought that he could bring the character to life - and he did.
Between me and Bob and him we created this fully rounded character. I had seen him in Dead Man's Shoes and Control and I just thought that he would be perfect for this and he responded to it.
We sent him the script, he read it, he liked it, we met with him and that was pretty much that.
Obviously Bob trained him up and talked to him about what it's like to be a soldier as well as all the weapon handling, so when you see all of the weapon handling in the film it's all authentic and accurate - we wanted to portray it in a very real way.
And the same thing with Brian, he is just a legend he's been around for so long and been in some really great films, it was an absolute thrill to work with someone of his stature
I remember we were filming his last scene and I remember standing there and thinking 'wow this is Brian Cox' (laughs) - I had this slightly surreal moment.
Again we sent him the script and he responded to it he came in and he was great - considering I had only done one other feature - he was very good with me. He came in and we chatted, he did his work and then went home again.
And it was the same thing for all of the cast from Tony Curran, who is really good in the film, who read it and responded - he lives in LA so he came over for a few days, did his thing and left again.
The casting process is an interesting experience because when people like... we have Ashley Thomas in it as well and I didn't know of his music career at all the casting directors brought him in and I cast him because of the performance that he gave in the audition.
I think one of the most interesting casting decisions was for the young boy and we found him in a school in Hackney - he had never acted before. We auditioned a load of children in this school, which was set up by our casting directors, we went down and videoed them all and we chose him.
He was absolutely brilliant, considering that he had never acted before, he came on the set and he was brilliant - I was very pleased to get him.
* Is there any particular message that you wanted to convey about taking care of ex-service men when they return home?
I think, in my own sense, it's good that we have been given an opportunity to touch upon this subject matter and bring awareness about what these soldiers go through when they come home - I think that it's very important.
Obviously ours doesn't have a particularly happy ending but it does show that you can get help and there are charities out there to help.
So I think it's just to bring about an awareness of the problem, the worse thing is to suffer in silence and they do not have to do that. Some of the statistics, on average, it takes thirteen or fourteen years to come to grips with it and seek help and for a lot of them it's too late and some of them are ending up in prison or homeless.
* This is only the second feature film for you so how have you found the transition from shorts?
(Laughs) It's just bigger. On my first film I was slightly overwhelmed because you don't realise the amount of stuff that has to be shot. On the Veteran I knew on day one that it's just a process and you got through it one day at a time and you have a plan.
That's the most important thing and you have the team around you - I had a brilliant DOP, designer and editor and we all made it together. You have to stick to the plan and execute it.
* You shot on location around London so what challenges did that pose?
I like shooting on location I like the excitement of it and the unpredictability of it - I think it adds a kind of realness to the film.
You are dealing with the general public and you are dealing with cars, one of our Ad's ran into the road to stop the traffic so we could get a shot (laughs).
You face all different kind of challenges really but it's fun and exciting because you don't have control of the environment even though you are trying to control the environment.
* This is an independent production so what with all the trouble with the likes of the British Film Council recently how difficult a project was this to get off the ground and get made?
The investor, Dawn, came in and read the script and liked the subject matter because her background is something similar - she's from the car industry.
So she responded to that and agreed to part with her money so we were very fortunate. We made it last year and it was sold last year, which is fantastic. It's such a testament to Dawn's faith in us.
* How delighted have you been with the response to the film?
I don't read the reviews I don't think it's healthy for a filmmaker to read reviews of his own film. But from what I have been told I'm really delighted I hope that audiences like it and respond to it as well.
*Finally what's next for you?
I don't know yet (laughs). I'm writing some stuff at the moment - it will be in the same genre as The Veteran.
The Veteran is released 29th April.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
The Veteran see British filmmaker Matthew Hope step behind the camera to make only his second feature film.
He has brought together an impressive cast for the project - including Toby Kebbell, Brian Cox and Tony Curran. I caught up with him to talk about The Veteran and what lies ahead.
* The Veteran is about to be released in cinemas so can you tell me a bit about the movie?
It's a story of a solider who has returned from Afghanistan and he finds it difficult to fit back into society. He gets a job in covert surveillance and becomes obsessed with saving this young Muslim woman who is working undercover for the intelligence services.
He fails to stop a terrorist attack and ends up going a bit crazy and having a massive shoot out with drug dealers on the rough estate where he lives.
* You have also penned the screenplay for the movie so where did the idea and the inspiration for the movie come from?
I spent two years making it and developed the idea with Robert Henry Craft, who was in the military for twenty four years, and the idea came about through conversations he and I were having about soldier returning from the war and how difficult it is for them to fit back into society and a lot of them have post traumatic stress disorder as well.
So we were interested in that and I had been watching Taxi Driver and I thought that no one had done a first person narrative film for quite a while, or a film like that, and I thought it might be a good idea to do something like that here.
We were originally going to do a straight film about terrorism, but trying to get funding for that was difficult - so we decided to do this instead.
* The script was also penned with Robert Henry Craft so how did you come to work with him?
He and I met through an ex-girlfriend of mine, funnily enough, and really became good friends.
I was looking for a technical advisor at the time, and he had written some things, so I said 'we should collaborate on something' and The Veteran is the result of that.
* It is a fictional story but the movie does touch on the subject of adapting to civilian life as well as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder so how much were these taken from the experiences of Robert?
Quite a lot actually. With something like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder it's such an internal thing for the soldier to deal with so to render those ideas visually was challenging - the way that Bob deals with it is different and ever soldier goes through something different.
Toby helped a lot with this as well, I remember in my notes I wrote that with the actor portraying Miller I wanted the war to be portrayed across his face and he brought that to life. Some of the things that he did really helped to show the impact of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
* The movie stars Toby Kebbell and Brian Cox so did you pen the script with any actors in mind? And can you tell me about the casting process?
We didn't know, it's an independent film so we didn't know if it was going to get made you just hope it does, so it was never penned with anyone in mind. Toby was always the first choice I think he is a fantastic actor and we really thought that he could bring the character to life - and he did.
Between me and Bob and him we created this fully rounded character. I had seen him in Dead Man's Shoes and Control and I just thought that he would be perfect for this and he responded to it.
We sent him the script, he read it, he liked it, we met with him and that was pretty much that.
Obviously Bob trained him up and talked to him about what it's like to be a soldier as well as all the weapon handling, so when you see all of the weapon handling in the film it's all authentic and accurate - we wanted to portray it in a very real way.
And the same thing with Brian, he is just a legend he's been around for so long and been in some really great films, it was an absolute thrill to work with someone of his stature
I remember we were filming his last scene and I remember standing there and thinking 'wow this is Brian Cox' (laughs) - I had this slightly surreal moment.
Again we sent him the script and he responded to it he came in and he was great - considering I had only done one other feature - he was very good with me. He came in and we chatted, he did his work and then went home again.
And it was the same thing for all of the cast from Tony Curran, who is really good in the film, who read it and responded - he lives in LA so he came over for a few days, did his thing and left again.
The casting process is an interesting experience because when people like... we have Ashley Thomas in it as well and I didn't know of his music career at all the casting directors brought him in and I cast him because of the performance that he gave in the audition.