Rear. view ' s ~
Phil Kay
Entering the Scottish film biz, Phil gets a job as an extra in Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar.
TrueLrle Fr/ms Presents
ln Assocratrorr wrth ActualEvents
An Occr rr'rence Frlrn
A Short Film About The Scottish Film Business.
Pr'e—Cr'edrt Scene. A crowd gathers outSrde the GFT rn preparatron for a hus rrde to ()han to he extras rn r‘vlorvern Cal/ar. Phrl. 37. approaches and hlends rn. He nrrngles.
Phil Wow. rs thrs not amazrng’? We are all gorng to be at a party together and here we all are . . . I mean. you never USLraIIy see all the people before a party. they Just turn up.
Cred/ts.
Desmond. the castrng drrector. approaches and gets everyone hut a few hopefuls on the hus and then hrres two taxrs.
Des How much tae Oban’?
Taxi driver John Eh . . . what . . . erm, hang on . . Des: I'll take two please.
Cut to: two cahs rn among the mountarns. Hrtchers put therr thumhs down rn
a technrcal loophole, alrard of the cost. App/n Town Hall. 50 extras wartrng rn the hall. Phr/ and three grr/s start a hadmrnton game wrthout rackets. handmrnton. An atmosphere of restless antrcrpatron. A clock moves forward an hour. All have gone to the husses up to the set. Local/on: the Locatr'on. A med. sr/e country horrse. hrg front room. Chrrstmas decs. The dr'rector. Lynne Ramsay, young. attr‘actrve and flush wrth the success of her debut and wrth an Oscar- nomrnated actress on hoard. talks to the extras.
Lynne Eh. rrght thanks everybody . . . we're doing a party scene . . . so rf you
. a hundred pounds . . .
could all rust do what you werrld do at a party. Have fun and dance. There will he
cameras movrng among you so . . . right. we'll start wrth some dancing.
They do. There rs a DJ. There rs dancrng. Occasrona/ly you can see people do not Arrow what they are meant to he dorng and occa3rona/ly rt all stops and Lynne grves more direct/on and a product/on manager asks people to drrnk from them cans and glasses full of water.
Two grr/s take therr tops off and get l<rnd of left alone and not really related to rn the way that would seem a contrnuatron of an atmosphere that mrght have produced the/r drsr‘ohrng.
John Fardell
547‘” it’s :JLIQ‘J-i 1V! ){Av't .- ‘r'v‘f 'r‘ "Lv' . - . . gruellmg feats of endurance , violent conflrcc, nail-brow negocracrons , Mysterrous encrgpéad documents , sordid :exua/ enCOUVYCer . ..
'.t l,-'.">1 5‘ I. I-
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They hreak at 2am to." a guarltr meal; people eat rn slenee r: the Town Hall. BacA at the set. Lr nee, asks PM. Ar‘er‘mg he s a corned/an, to sar a ten era‘s re the oartr goers. Lynne \N’ould you maybe tell a tea. rakes? Phil «on a crate math DJ awake and a feet and a-nar' e" 'eaa'r Everythrng so tar has been magrc. and new we haxe to really ttrg I rn and go for rt for a cOLrple mere hours . l thrth exenone here was prcked for how they look and now we have to go rnsrde and summon somethrng up . when those two took therr tops off I heard someone say The, 're lucky. i mean. rt's three rn the mornrng. there's musrc and dancrng. thrs rs a part, . . Knock knock? Some of the crowd \r’y’hor'are’.> Phil You are; only you are there. knor‘krng on the mansron ol achrevement. go on go rnsrde and settle rn. haye a sandmch . . wear a robe . . (:Irp your toenarls . . . Lynne selects Phrl. and some others to dance around a trre outsrde and consults Phrr’ ahout rr hat they should he dorhg, Lynne says Phr/ rs dorng what a second AD does. lH/S /S (>le OF THE MOST RAP/D RISES /l\l THE SCOTT/SH FILM lNDUSTRY. Our man rs ta/Arng to the drrector. lt rs not who you know. rt rs how you're known. Phr/ rs fr/led wrth an energy that surpasses the frve- thrr‘tr lee/rng and the hours of very lrve/y ‘contrnurty danCrhg' he drd. never knowrng exactly when the cameras had stopped and gorng on and on for so long and then f/llll/xlllt} may he they had started agarn and keeprng on and then, luck/t. decrdrng that. anyway stopprng would feel (lull. They jump through the lrre, the tops come off agarn, everyone has a synthetrc ‘snowha/lfrght' and the stars do therr actrng. Cut to: everyone eatr‘ng one last hacon roll and sayrng therr goodhyes and hoardrng the hus. Cred/ts. The frnal scene. Phrl alone rn a rnrnrvan cal). As we get rn close, hrs eyes dwrndle and close and at the secoer they touch: Driver Rrght. that's us rn Glasgow. Phr'l wakes up and then rs standrng l<nacl<ered and summonrng up the energy to shut the Srde s/r'dr'ng door. As rt s/rdes shut, the door cuts the film to /)/(I(,‘/\.' ‘The Begrnnrng '.
136 THE LIST 26 Apr—10 May 2001