- I read that this movie has been in the pipeline since 2004 so what’s taken so long to get it into production?
Basically both Clive and I have been very busy since 2004 so it’s been a matter of being available at the same time, literally, Clive would be available I would still be on a film and vice versa. We were beginning to wonder if this film was ever going to happen so it took a lot of patience on behalf of the producers to realise that this combination of Clive and me was really going to work and to keep the faith. So that was how that came about.
- And how did this movie resonate with you on a personal level being a father of two boys yourself?
Well I think that was part of the attraction if you like because a huge part of my life has bee involved in parenting, and actually they are two boys who are sixteen years apart, but we are all from the one family if you know what I mean? So definitely it had huge resonance for me, not in necessarily in specific actions or scenes, although there are some pieces that derive from my own experiences.
- No Reservations was your last big release back in 2007 so what have you been up too since then?
Well I made this movie about Philip Glass it’s was a documentary about Philip Glass and it was at Toronto Film Festival two years ago, in fact it through to the last fifteen for consideration for an Academy Award nomination.
- And how did you find the transition between feature film and documentary? Do you prefer one over the other?
I enjoy doing either, the Glass film was the first documentary that I had made in at least ten years, and it was a welcome return as I love making documentaries. The subject is fascinating it’s just a great journey so doing that film with Philip was just wonderful because he is an extraordinary man.
Each one has its own kind of discipline but, funnily enough, there are links there are connections there are ways that my documentary experiences have informed my experience as a director of actors.
And some of the things that I was doing on The Boys Are Back were really inspired by documentary experience in the sense that with an untrained six year old inexperienced child you have to be ready to capture things as if they are never going to happen again, it’s almost like capturing wildlife, you can’t tell it what to do sometimes it’s just going to do what it wants to do and you have to capture it. I wasn’t afraid of that given my knowledge of documentaries shall we say.
- How are you finding the London Film Festival?
Well I haven’t seen any of it yet because I have been doing this and talking to people like you, this is what happens you come to film festivals and you never get to see anything.
- Is it exciting to be here as a filmmaker?
Oh I love it absolutely it’s a great event. It’s the first time I think that I have had a film in the London Film Festival so I am delighted and it’s a great event on the cinema calendar.
- Finally what’s next for you?
To be honest I don’t know, there are a couple of things that I’m looking at but nothing is set, there are two things that are just sort of swirling around at the moment I just don’t know what might crystallise.
The Boys Are back is released 22nd January
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw