Today was a relatively short day, work-wise. We had some much-needed rest in the morning, and woke up to news in the afternoon that we’d gotten approval to film the red carpets for 12 Years a Slave and Locke. Excitement! We split up into our two units again; I was with the second unit at the Locke red carpet.
Interesting thing–Wikipedia claims that Locke is American. We spoke with Steven Knight (the director), Guy Heeley (producer), Paul Webster (producer), Andrew Scott (actor), and Tom Hardy (you know who he is) and all of them were of the opinion that it’s a very British movie. And in fact, basically everything about it, from cast to creative team to location is British. The only thing that wasn’t is the money.
Which really comes back to one of the central questions of our film, now doesn’t it? What makes a movie British?
Since it was a red carpet, we obviously didn’t get to spend a long time talking to anyone, just a couple minutes each. But I think they were all a bit surprised what questions we did ask, and despite the rather hectic environment we got some very well-considered and thoughtful answers. Tom Hardy was very intense.
(Tom Hardy was also shorter than I expected, but let’s be honest… when you’re acquainted with someone by watching them on a giant screen, it really just kind of ruins your perception of proportion for all time.)
The first unit apparently did fantastically at 12 Years a Slave. They got to speak with Steve McQueen (director), Chiwetel Ejiofor (actor), and Lupita Nyong’o (actor), all of whom were gracious with their time. I’m really looking forward to seeing the footage, since apparently they gave great answers.
One more red carpet tomorrow!
Rachael Acks
Executive Producer
@katsudonburi