each ntake a film under strict constraints. namely that the budget should not exceed L‘lm per film. the film must be shot in Glasgow. feature the same actors (and to a certain extent the same characters). and should take no longer than six weeks to make.
Andrea Arnold takes up the story ol‘ how she
‘R R AD IS A
C O , VITAL AND
6 Pl 6 THRILLER. IT IS ATURE, INTENSE AND BRILLIANT'
got dragged into this mad yenture: ‘Zentropa were looking to do a sort of low‘ budget scheme where they got some first time filmmakers to do a project with restrictions. a bit like the [)ogme concept. And they came up with this idea of giying three filmmakers a set of rules to make a film each by so they contacted me.
RED ROAD
, “'ng ‘. .Ptt.rlau’fip.“-I.:.Iy“,'., :
*‘ ' ' ew- ‘- r‘
if: _ .,,.g
. fans "
{.JCE’. ;;Zr. -' ’ «' 3.09.. ‘ ’°-
'0’... ,. "
o~-..
They had been looking at a lot of people‘s shorts and I think they saw my short ll’us/i at the lidinburgh l'ilm l‘iestiyal.
‘I had a couple ol intery'iews and they asked
me to join and they asked a couple ot‘ other
directors to join as well. Basically they told its what the rules were it. we wanted to participate. Then it got yery' ol'ficial -~ we were giy‘en this tour. fiye page document. which explained the rules. They were a hit weird w hen you first read them. but it is quite straightl‘orward really.‘
So did Arnold break any ol‘ the rules‘.’ ‘.\'o. It was six weeks. I shot in (ilasgow. I Used Ill). so I was pretty faithful to the briel' really.
Actually there was some slight breaking ol'
rules to do with the casting because we didn't really haye time in the end. When my film got green lit we had run out ol‘ time to cast. In the beginning we thought. "why don‘t we cast early before we write the project. and then we will haye this cast and we can write our projects with this cast in mind". but that didn't happen. We did a couple early on and then everyone got too busy and we didn‘t see each
other l'or ages so we only ettded up really lolly doing most ol' the casting \ery last minute.
‘I l‘clt a bit sot't'y lor the actors. because haying one director is tough enough. llaying three is hard going. Not only did these actors haye to fit the part: they had to fit across three people's \ isions. which is pretty high stakes.'
\Vltateyer the truth about the backstory. the upshot ol~ all these shenanigans is one ol' the best liilms to come ottl ol‘ Scollttntl sitlcc Ramsay's .llori‘ern ('ul/ur. a film ol singular \ision. reserye and awe inspiring intelligence. It‘s a film that has more in common with the cinema ol l)ayid Lynch. 'l‘errence .\la|ick. and Belgium's l)ardenne Brothers. than anything homegrown. Andt'ca Arnold seems to know she is coming l'rom a dil‘t'erent. \ery special place. Laughing in case she sounds too pretentious. she says. "l‘he great l‘rench filmmaker Robert Bresson said. "Build your film on stillness. whiteness and silence." I'm always quoting Bl‘c‘sstmi he had lots ol- good things to sit}:
Selected release from Fri 27 Oct.
‘ x ' THE LIST 19