Hey U Guys

Earlier this week, I put up a post detailing information on the release of new British movie, 'Jack Said' which stars Danny Dyer and Simon Phillips. 'Jack Said' is based around the graphic novel written by Paul Tanter. Paul has been kind enough to answer some questions posed by HeyUGuys which you can check out after the jump. The all important HeyUGuys question 'What is Your favourite 80's movie' is obviously there in the mix too!

Jack Said has a week long run at The Apollo West End starting 25th September and is then available on DVD and Blu Ray from the 5th October. You can view the trailer and poster for the movie on my previous post.

Check out our interview with Paul after the jump....

 

Our first question goes right back to the start - what was the initial inspiration for the 'Jack' series?

The first Jack story was originally a short story written for Simon Phillips as a birthday present by Piers Pereira – who clearly didn’t want to spend any money for his friend’s birthday. Simon liked the initial story and asked a writer friend to expand it into a screenplay. He’s just done Measure for Measure and was looking for his next project. It was re-drafted but they needed a fresh pair of eyes to take a look at it. By this point, Rita Ramnani had been cast as Erin and she suggested me – we became friends at university and kept in touch over the years – and I redrafted it into what eventually became the film Jack Says. We always had a definite sense that we wanted it to be film noir – no one else was really doing anything like that at the time, in the UK at least. In fact, the last one I could think of was Croupier, and I think that was ten years ago. In the US Brick and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang had shown noir could still be done in a modern setting, and we wanted to do that in the UK.

In terms of cinematic inspiration, we always had in mind the classic 1940’s feel. You can see shades of the iconic shot from The Big Combo on the back of the Jack Says DVD cover, and much of the early concept art was based on the style of the Black Mask comics – which partly led to the graphic novel. There were other elements that we wanted like the quick fire dialogue between the male and female lead, and of course, the narrative voiceover.



We're in the middle of a surge of graphic novels being adapted to film, were these films always part of the plan?

Well of course Jack Says wasn’t based on a graphic novel. It was as I was writing it that Simon and I discussed what a good idea it would be to provide Jack’s back-story in an accompanying format. The early concept art for Jack Says had made us both think that a graphic novel could be a great way to provide the audience with something different. Jack Says starts on a cliff-hanger, so we knew we could have a lot of fun leading people up to that point. And it was nice to provide a new story as the graphic novel, rather than just do a graphic novel version of the film, which I’ve increasingly noticed in bookshops recently.

It’s true that there is a surge of graphic novel to film adaptations at the moment. This is partly because the technology has finally caught up with the imagination of the writers and artists .You can’t imagine Sin City or Watchmen being made – at least not to the same standard – ten or fifteen years ago. But the other reason is that graphic novels have finally become part of the mainstream and accepted as “normal” literature. Well, mostly. I still get looks sometimes from people on the tube when reading one, but on the whole they are afforded the respect they deserve, and that has opened up the potential audience when looking at film adaptations.

By the time we came to shoot Jack Says I had already written the Jack Said graphic novel, so we were able to put little references to the back story into the film. We always had the plan to turn the graphic novel into the next film, but this was when it was published and really took off!



The visual style of the source material is very film noir - how much control did you have over the look of the artwork, and subsequently the films?

I worked closely with Oscar, the artist, to achieve the look of the graphic novel. He had a great intuitive sense of what looked good, and we would exchange ideas with me providing as much description of the shot as possible in addition to the dialogue. The style has been compared to the Sin City graphic novels, which I can understand due to the black, white and red palette, but I think our style is unique and very recognisable as “Jack” and nothing else.

For the films I think we have achieved a fantastic visual style, and this really is down to our DoP, Bob Komar. The guy is such a perfectionist and it shows on screen. He’s spent his life creating beautiful pictures and we’re so fortunate to get the benefit of all that experience. During filming I’m always on set to offer my opinion and discuss the script with people, but when it comes to how to make things look great on screen, I shut up and listen to Bob!



What was it like seeing your work on the screen?

Unbelievable! When there’s something you’re wanted to do all your life, and you know there are thousands of people trying to do the same, it’s an amazing feeling seeing it up there. Seeing these names that you’ve grown up admiring acting out your scenes – Danny Dyer, David O’Hara, Mike Reid, Eric Cantona, Rula Lenska, Jimmy White – you have to wonder if it really is happening. Getting to work with them on the scenes as they do them is great, and they’re so professional that you find yourself working with a colleague rather than a “celeb”. I do honestly realise that I have been incredibly lucky so far and that I could so easily have still been knocking on doors that never open for years.



What process did you go through adapting your own work for the screen? What were the challenges and rewards?

When I came to write the Jack Said film, I obviously had my original graphic novel as a basis, but everything needed to be bigger and longer. I came up with some ideas for new characters and plot threads and discussed these with Simon and Toby Meredith (producer). We wanted to stick as closely as possible to the graphic novel, which is why so much of what is in the book features in the film. I’d already had ideas for other characters as part of the back story while we were shooting Jack Says, so this gave me the opportunity to bring in Natasha, The Boss and the Fixer, and see more of Dominique, Carly, Vic Lee, The Other Side gang and Natalie’s heavies. It’s nice for me and the actors to be able to expand the characters. Obviously I was very focused on Nathan too, as this was such a pivotal role – which Danny carried off perfectly.

One of the great things about writing a graphic novel is that there are no limitations beyond your imagination. There are things in the GN that I never thought would make it to the screen. It’s easy to write “the warehouse explodes” and get someone to draw it; it’s quite another thing to actually make it happen in real life! On the day we filmed the explosion, I was talking to Patricia Rybarczyk (Assistant Producer) and she pointed out to me that were surrounded by crew setting up the shot, with the fire brigade there on standby, as the special effects guys rigged a building to explode, all because months ago I had written “the warehouse blows up”! When it went up in flames that night, I did feel quite proud!

One thing that I wanted to change was the ending. The end of the GN takes us up to the beginning of Jack Says, but I wanted to give the audience something extra, so we decided that the Jack Said film would take us up to that point, and then beyond the events of Jack Says so we can see what happens afterwards. I can’t think of another film that has done this before, so I’m also pleased that we could be the first!



Can you tell us a little about your experiences working on a British independent film?

When you tell people you’re making a film, after they have asked if they can be in it, the next thing tends to be that it must be fun, exciting and glamorous. It is fun and exciting because you’re doing what you’ve always wanted to do, surrounded by really enthusiastic people who become a second family for the duration of filming. But glamorous it is not. Being cold, wet and tired are what leap to mind. I’m not complaining in the slightest though – I’d do it every day if I could!

Now, I’ve never made a film that isn’t British or independent, so I can’t compare it to other experiences, but it seems that on Indies everyone mucks in and just gets on with the work. There’s no room for egos – and they get cut down very quickly. Everyone, no matter what position in the cast or crew, has a real sense of pride in what they are doing and know that we are all working towards the same achievement. When you’re working long days with people, it helps if you get on, but everyone effortlessly becomes close very quickly. It really is like having a second family.

One thing that I’m assuming is the bane of all independent producers is money worries. People don’t want to invest in something unless they can see something already, and it’s difficult to produce anything with no money! It’s a real chicken and egg scenario, but that’s where you need good producers, and that’s where we’ve been so, so fortunate to have Simon, Toby and Trish.



Simon Phillips has received plaudits for his performance as Jack, what qualities does he bring to your creation - and did he bring something to Jack you didn't expect?

The annoying thing about Simon is he’s a great producer and actor – how fair is that? I’ve seen him do Shakespeare, comedy on stage, play someone he claims is based on me in a horror film, and other stuff, and he always delivers. I like how Simon has managed to make the character grow – he was quite enigmatic in Jack Says due to the characters amnesia, but always hinted at the good and dark sides that lurked within. He gets to play around with this much more in Jack Said as he’s playing the character sans amnesia. Jack isn’t a typical hero, but that’s what makes him convincing to the gangs he infiltrates. Simon is great at portraying the everyman caught between good and bad, doing whatever it takes to protect himself and those he loves.

I think he’s brought a lot of charm to Jack too. We see how he meets Erin (Rita Ramnani) in Jack Said and its great how they play off each other. Their relationship is the one thing that keeps Jacks feet in the “good” camp and it’s great to give them both the full gamut of emotions to run through – all we all do in relationships.

I'm sure you'll get many questions on this one - how did Jimmy White end up taking a role in your film?

His character, Vic Lee, is a small-time criminal who owns a snooker hall and has a very unfortunate encounter with Jack. We thought it would be nice to have someone associated with snooker, and the first thought was Jimmy – he really is the biggest snooker star, isn’t he? It turned out he had seen Jack Says and was a huge fan of Mike Reid. We sent him the script – which he loved – and he agreed to do it immediately. He was great in the role and such a nice guy. I’m hoping to bring his character back for the next one.

What's next for you and Jack?

I’ve written the next graphic novel, Jack Falls, which continues from the end of the Jack Said film. I’m currently redrafting the film script – which like last time is bigger than the GN with more characters – and we plan to shoot it in Jan/Feb 2010. This is going to be the one that ties up all the loose ends and answers all of the questions that have been thrown up. There’s a lot of history and back story to certain character that has been hinted at in the first two films. Now we get to link everything together. Ashlie Walker (Natalie) said that everything is like one big puzzle – well it will be solved once and for all!



And finally, our stock question - what's your favourite 80s film?

This is so, so difficult! I recently got the box sets of Back to the Future, Beverley Hills Cop, Ghostbusters and Gremlins and well as The Goonies. Then we have to consider Blade Runner and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which is an often underrated brilliant comedy. And Brewsters Millions can be a guilty Bank Holiday pleasure.

Of course, it’s difficult to think of 80’s films without thinking of John Hughes. I loved HeyUGuys recent John Hughes retrospective. I don’t think we fully appreciated his films until he died. Now we’re seeing the huge amount of work that did and that we grew up with. People often focus on the brat pack stuff, but even his lesser talked about work like Planes, Trains and Automobiles was fantastic.

Ultimately though, I think I’m going to have to go for The Blues Brothers. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi play it beautifully understated, it’s funny, there’s great music, quotable dialogue, brilliant stunts, and the best car chase ever in the history of cinema!

 

Jack Said has a week long run at The Apollo West End starting 25th September and is then available on DVD and Blu Ray from the 5th October. You can view the trailer and poster for the movie on my previous post.