|
Your new movie The
Evil Fairy Queen - in a few words, what is it about?
While this is a fantasy about evil fairies, the film is really about a mother
who finds herself in an awful situation and who must risk everything to keep her family safe.
With The Evil Fairy Queen
being firmly rooted in the fantasy genre, is that a genre at all dear to
you, and some of your genre favourites? I love fantasy, science fiction and horror. I don't tend to watch much else
when it comes to films. It grew from watching the old Ray Harryhausen
movies as a child. I've seen all of his films. I saw The Neverending
Story at the cinema as a teenager, and that is also a firm favourite. (Other) sources
of inspiration when writing The Evil Fairy Queen? The
original inspiration for the movie came a few years ago. I was a member of
one of those postal book clubs. This one was about fantasy and science
fiction. They would send you a magazine each month, you would choose any
titles that took your fancy, and they would then send you the book. One
month I chose a book of fantasy artworks about fairies. It turned out that
these were rather naughty fairies and it made me think that there aren't
many films about actual fairies where the fairies are the baddies.
European mythology, in fact, abounds in stories of mischevious or
downright nasty fairies, and so an idea began to form. What if some
fairies needed human sacrifice to keep their magic intact? And so the
Richards family began their journey... What can you tell us about
The Evil Fairy Queen's director Simon
Wells [Simon Wells interview - click
here], and what was your
collaboration like? He's amazing. He's a natural storyteller and really knows what he's doing. We
got on really well. I don't think we ever had a real disagreement. There
was only one scene over which we had a slight difference of opinion on (he
knows which one before I say it!). It's the river scene, the discussion
between Kate the mother and Dillon the troubled local who was once taken
by the fairies. Originally, there was much more dialogue there and this
explained the full story of how Kate's family were involved with the
fairies and the sacrifices. Simon thought the audience could work a lot
out for themselves from clues elsewhere in the movie and so it was edited
down. I went along with Simon's reasoning and I'm happy with the scene.
You can see the original in the DVD extras anyway.
What were the challenges of The
Evil Fairy Queen from a producer's point of view?
We were clearly on a low budget, which isn't ideal for a fantasy that needs
special effects and fantastical locations. But we were able to make
changes to the script in pre-production which allowed for the reality of
what was achievable. I ended up being responsible for finding the
locations, the props, catering (along with my wife Georgina), and
continuity. The toadstools that are used in the fairy ring were all made
by me. They took ages to make as they are far more detailed than you actually appreciate in
the film. But I'm a bit of a perfectionist so it was my own fault!
The largest single expense was the chalk quarry we used for the sacrificial
altar scenes. We had just one day there, and it was really hot. This was summer 2022. The shoot itself was something like half a mile from the
quarry buildings (and toilets) and was really craggy and uneven, a
nightmare for getting valuable equipment (not to mention people!) about
safely.
We also had to be thoughtful when it came to props, as it was part
of the film's mythology that fairies cannot touch iron, so the sacrificial
knife and the chains all had to be painted to look like bronze or gold,
and we had to make sure than none of the fairies ever touched something
iron.
Logistics was another issue, especially when all of the fairies
(thirteen in all) were needed at one place. I spent a lot of time running
about in my car picking people up and taking them places (as did my
youngest son). Incidentally, one day this running about led indirectly to
a real pain of a continuity problem. There is a scene when Julia/Kate is
about to go down to the fairy kingdom and is equipped with a shotgun, a
cartridge belt, a bag and a small axe, the axe being tucked into the belt.
Or at least, it should have been. I was picking up Natasha from the
railway station at the time and in my absence the axe got forgotten about.
It was needed for the story, and later scenes with Julia having it had
already been shot. It was noticeably absent from that scene's footage
though, and Simon had to do a lot of jiggery pockery with the editing to
set it right. You can't tell though, now. In fact we had two hand axes.
The first was an old, real one of mine, the other was a rubber one that we
got off ebay and painted up to match the real one. You can't tell which is
which in the film, though one would hope the fake one was used in the
fight scenes!
|
|
Another consideration when making the film was that two of
the main characters were children, so making sure that they were happy and
safe was the priority. Kitty's mother acted as her chaperone throughout,
and of course, helpfully, Aniela already had her mother there. Both young
actors were brilliant and to look at them on set you would think that they
were sisters in real life.
You also make an appearance in front of the camera in The
Evil Fairy Queen - so what can you tell us about your character,
what did you draw upon to bring him to life, and did you write him with
yourself in mind from the get-go?
I needed a way for Kate to discover about protecting herself from fairies,
once she realised what was going on with Violet, Radella and Melisandria.
A YouTube-type video was an obvious way. I have long been interested in
cryptozoology and folklore, and it seemed to make sense that the video
presenter was such a person, albeit one who is a bit more extreme in his
views than myself. I wrote up the scripts for two videos, one about
general fairy mythology and one about protecting yourself from fairies.
Only a small part of one was ever going to be in the film but Simon had
the idea right from the very start to expand on the whole Jack Coleman
thing. The Coleman bits were the first filmed, on a cold wet day in
February 2022. It was also the first time I had ever actually met Simon.
The full versions of the videos are on our Jack Coleman YouTube channel
and on the DVD extras. I had no plans to play the part of Jack Coleman
when I wrote the script, but it was just easier for me to do it. His name,
incidentally, came from a mixture of my eldest grandson's name (Jack) and
my great-great grandmother's maiden name (Coleman). Do talk about the rest
of The Evil Fairy Queen's
cast, and as writer and producer, how much of a say did you have or demand
when it came to casting? The cast were brilliant, so talented and committed. Simon and I made all the
casting decisions together. It was really important to us that the actors
playing the family were believable as a real family because, although this
is a fantasy, it is really about a family going through something terrible
together, and they had to be convincing. The first one chosen was the
youngest daughter Violet (Kitty Sudbery) who just jumped out to us both
when we saw her audition tape. We had some great choices for the others,
though in the end went for real life mother and daughter Julia Czartoryski
and Aniela Leyland, who play the mother Kate and older daughter Adelaide.
In fact Julia commented early on that Kitty looked very much like Aniela
when she was younger, and so both were very believable as her children.
Then we needed someone to play the father, Tom. Martyn Spendlove gave a
fantastic audition and so we had our family. Funnily enough, something I
didn't realise at the time of choosing, but Martyn used to live on the
next street from us and knew my wife! Small world!
|
|
The fairies were of course equally important, and we were really happy with all of our
choices. Hannah Harris is perfect in the title role. She looks so sweet
but brought such menace and evil to the character. As soon as I saw her
audition tape I thought “That's Melisandria.” She also did a great job
with The Song of Melisandria, which you hear in part in the film and
in full in the end credits. Megan McElduff was wonderful as Radella, the
little fairy who is befriended by Violet. She has a butter-wouldn't-melt
look but, like Hannah, was so convincing in her icy, unsympathetic
attitude towards humans.
Natasha Killip was great as Mandy, the barmaid
who is taken by the fairies at the start of the film. In fact she had
worked with two of the actors who played a couple of the fairies before,
Joe Hallett and Georgina Vowles; they had all been in Paintball
Massacre together, so it was a bit of a reunion for them! Luke Hunter
was perfect as Dillon, the young villager who helps Kate. Good looking and
rugged, he was ideal, and such a good actor. Elspeth was played by Judy
Tcherniak. The character is supposed to be in her nineties but has been
kept magically younger and healthy by the fairies. Judy was so believable;
she emanated warmth and love with the family but steely determination when
it comes to leading them to the slaughter. I never did find out her actual
age, but one does not ask a lady!
Making Judy's/Elspeth's skeleton was a
lot of fun, but very messy. It was basically a full size plastic skeleton,
but we wanted some flesh and gore on it, so I used clear silicone to cover
the bones to make some flesh. That stuff got everywhere! I then painted it
to look like her body had rotted away as she sat in her chair. It's a
great moment when Fiorella Castagna (Laura the care assistant) comes in
and screams as she sees the body. In the script it was a lot more
horrific, but we were playing down the horror for younger audiences. It's
still very effective though.
A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
|
|
The shoot was hectic, and hot! It was shot in the stifling heat of Summer 2022
over a total of about 15 days. The heat was a real pain, partly because
everyone was so hot and thirsty but also because of the effect it had on
the locations. The grass was just brown, or gone altogether, and the vines
which we used to tie Julia/Kate to the sacrificial altar wilted very
quickly. We had to cover these up in post production with a bit of special
effects magic because they looked so pathetic (we should have just used
rope!). But heat aside, the cast got on really well. We set up a WhatsApp
group for coordination purposes before filming started, and it's still used
weekly as people catch up with one another and tell everyone about their
latest roles etc. You couldn't ask for a nicer bunch of people, and they
were all really supportive of each other. In true nepotism I got my oldest
grandson's mother, Charlene Willson, in as one of the fairies. She'd done some modelling work
before but no actual acting. A couple of the female fairies took her under
their wings (sic) and were really supportive and helpful. The $64-question of
course, where can The
Evil Fairy Queen be seen? At the time of writing, we have iTunes/Apple TV, Vimeo, Amazon Instant Video,
Vudu, and Google Play. There will also be various cable and satellite
providers carrying the movie in their TVOD offerings, and then other
streaming options. A DVD will also be available soon. Anything you can tell
us about audience and critical reception of The
Evil Fairy Queen? So far it has all been pretty positive, which is encouraging. I am writing
this before the full release so it is hard to say at the moment, but I haven't come across anyone who hated it yet!
What got you into the filmworld to begin with, and did you receive any formal training on the
subject? I was a member of the now defunct International Society of Cryptozoology and
had always been interested in dinosaurs, strange creatures and mythology.
One day I watched Extinction: Jurassic Predators, a Ben Loyd Holmes
film about dinosaurs. I got chatting to him on social media and said I had
an idea for a horror film about the Loch Ness
Monster. He encouraged me to write the script, so I did. The pandemic stopped any real progress on
bringing that film to life but in the meantime I wrote The
Evil Fairy Queen. I had no formal training in scriptwriting, just some advice and
a useful book, Screenplay by Syd Field. I then got talking to Simon
about The
Evil Fairy Queen and here we are, four years later! From what I know, The
Evil Fairy Queen is your first film as a writer and producer - so
what made you choose a fantasy story for your debut, and do talk about
your journey to kick the project off! Fantasy
has always been my go-to genre, especially if there is a horror element to
it. My daughter Laura bought the DVD of Simon's film Carnivore:
Werewolf of London, which we enjoyed. As a result I got chatting to Simon on
social media and ran the first act of The
Evil Fairy Queen by him. He liked the idea, suggested a few tweaks, and so I finished it off, and
he was keen to bring it to life. In late 2021 we started pre-production,
beginning by Simon creating a logistical bible of scenes, characters
and props etc, then looking at locations and advertising for the cast and
crew. It gradually came together and the first scene was shot on August
1st 2022. Incidentally, that first day began with a bit of drama. We had
arranged to use a farmhouse for some exterior scenes, but the person who
had sorted it forgot to actually tell the owners we were coming that day.
It was all fine, but made for an awkward few minutes! Based on your
experiences with The
Evil Fairy Queen, could you ever be persuaded to write and produce
another movie?
 |
I would love to produce another movie. I'm available! It was an amazing
experience. I have already written several other scripts, one of which is
the sequel to The
Evil Fairy Queen. My first script (The
Evil Fairy Queen was the second) was a horror based on the Loch Ness
Monster, in which a sinister cult keep the monster's existence a secret and worship him as a god,
sacrificing various unwary travellers to him. The story centres on a group
of scientists who find out too much. You can guess how that works out for
them. The third was about werewolves, based on a real incident from the
nineteenth century, the fourth about water nymphs and other ancient Greek
deities, and the fifth was about a demon who is accidentally released into
the world by a group of paranormal researchers. All of them are based in
genuine mythology or historical events. I'm writing one now about the
Pandora's box myth. How would you describe yourself as a
writer? I'm really quite logical, and try to be realistic, even in a fantasy. I try to
think what a real person would actually do in a given situation. There
needs to be a good reason for everything that happens, and a very clear
backstory. I am very particular about the wording of the dialogue. That
doesn't mean the cast can't make it their own and adapt it accordingly, as
indeed some of them did with the film, but some parts are worded
specifically as they are for a reason. I actually noticed a difference in
attitude towards the script between those who have done a lot of theatre
and those who haven't. The theatre ones seemed to regard to script as
sacrosanct and memorised it verbatim, while the non-theatre ones had a
more relaxed attitude to the precise wording. I also try to base the story
on either a true event or at least a genuine piece of mythology. As for
the horror element, I want my characters to do sensible things (as you or
I no doubt would) and not stupid things (like separating or going down
into the basement alone) but still fall foul of the baddies, despite that.
I also like to give my characters some free will in the things they do. So
I might want a character to do such and such a thing, but they will
disagree and do something else instead. I know it's all me really, and I'm
simply changing my mind, but for the characters to be fully rounded they
need to behave how they would in reality and not be the mere robots of
their creator's orginal plan. Writers, filmmakers, whoever else who inspire
you? I love the old Ray Harryhausen films. There's a magic to to his special
effects that no amounts of CGI can ever replace. Your favourite movies?
|
|
 |
 |
Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
|
|
 |
|
My
absolute favourite has to be Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts.
I think my love of fantasy and mythology comes from that film. His Sinbad
films too. And Jack the Giant Killer, which isn't Harryhausen but is
in his style. I really enjoy the Star Wars and
Alien universes, though the
first ones made in those franchises are the best to my mind. Zombie movies
are great too, like 28 Day Later. I love
An American Werewolf in
London and the old Hammer vampire films, especially
Vampire Circus. ... and of course, films you really deplore? I'm
not sure that there are any specific films I deplore, but I certainly
steer clear of rom-coms and anything that is overly sentimental. Your/your movie's
website, social media, whatever else?
We have a YouTube channel (Jack Coleman Cryptozoologist) which not only talks
about the film but has videos on other subjects, such as the Loch Ness
Monster, werewolves, vampires and the Yeti
- https://www.youtube.com/@JackColemanCryptozoologist
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theevilfairyqueen/
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.evil.fairy.queen
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@theevilfairyqueen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theevilfairyqueen
There is also a book of the film, which will be available as an ebook on amazon
once the film is released. I had great fun writing this, as it gave me an
opportunity to expand on the world I had created. You see a lot more of
many of the characters, like Dillon and Mandy, and understand their own
stories, of which you only get a glimpse in the film.
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? I
would like to draw attention to the music. Luis Lopez Pinto did a
fantastic job. It's a really beautiful score. The soundtrack's available
too, on Amazon. I'd like to mention the crew as well. They were so
talented. The main ones that were with us most days were the
cinematographer Ed Cotton, sound recordist Doug Maybury-Swallow, camera
assistant Richard Mukuze. And makeup artist Magdalena Rosa. Thanks for the interview!
You are welcome!
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
