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Your new movie Allan
Quatermain and the Spear of Destiny - in a few words, what is it
about?
After spending some time in prison, Allan Quatermain is recruited by MI5
to track down the spear of destiny that has been stolen by a group of
neo-Nazis.
Now what prompted you to make an adventure movie
spanning three continents on a rather modest budget in the first place,
and how did you make up for the lack of funds?
All of the best adventure movies seem to include some degree of globe-trotting. The film was all shot on a budget of £30, so we didn’t
actually leave the UK. We had to get a little creative with our sets and
stock footage. How did
you actually first stumble upon H. Rider Haggard's Allan
Quatermain, and how close is your version of the character to the
one depicted in the books?
I first encountered the
Quatermain-character in the Cannon
Films movie King Solomon’s Mines starring Richard Chamberlain, which
itself was not very close to the original character in the novels.
It was a blatant Indiana Jones rip-off. Our film is a rip-off of a
rip-off lol, but hopefully it has its own charm. Plus we have Nazi
zombies, so it mixes things up a bit. (Other) sources of
inspiration when writing Allan
Quatermain and the Spear of Destiny?
The main influences were Indiana Jones, King Solomon’s Mines and
The Lost Cities of Gold. Plus a little bit of James
Bond.
As mentioned, you've made Allan
Quatermain and the Spear of Destiny on a rather modest budget - so
in what way was that limiting, challenging, but maybe also freeing for you
as a filmmaker?
Yes, the only things that we spent money on were refreshments and a fez
hat. The rest was either free, built or borrowed. We raised some
additional funds for post-production FX and artwork using crowdfunding.
The challenges are that sometimes the script would need to be modified
because we couldn’t afford to shoot certain scenes in the ways
originally planned. The great thing with a zero budget production is
that you challenge yourself to overcome obstacles with creativity. What can you tell us about your overall
directorial approach to your story at hand?
It was a very basic approach. I would try to storyboard as best I could
and then get all of the shots I needed in as little time as possible.
There was no crew, other than myself, so we could shoot things very
quickly. David would get the sets and props ready prior to each shoot. I
would set up lighting and call action. We didn’t run sound so didn’t
have to worry about setting up mics etc. We shot in a very short space
of time (48 hours in total) and also had to work around cast
availability. Most of the film was shot with only one or two actors on
set, which makes things easier to control, but also means a lot of
editing and calculating. The actors were often not on set together even
though they appear to be in the film. This was of course challenging for
the actors as they would often be having a conversation with a light
stand.
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Do talk
about Allan
Quatermain and the Spear of Destiny's key cast, and why exactly
these people?
The main cast are all actors that I have worked on Roasted Films
projects before. We have known each other for many years now and we all
work well together. It was great having David Hardware as the lead and
producer as he runs 369
Film Studios, and we could shoot a lot of the
film with just him and myself. Most of the lead cast have also had
prominent roles in my previous films. We’re like the cast and crew of
the Carry On films, but for trash movies. We just change the story and
swap the characters around. A few words about the shoot as such, and
the on-set atmosphere?
It was a really fun shoot. It was mainly shot in one location at 369
Film Studios, so it was fast and furious. We could be in an Egyptian tomb in
one scene and then 10 minutes later be in an asylum in Yorkshire or Nazi
bunker in Argentina.
Anything you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of Allan
Quatermain and the Spear of Destiny?
Fans of Indiana Jones and trash movies seem to really enjoy the film.
It’s essentially a zero budget mockbuster, so fans of either of those
things should enjoy it. Any future
projects you'd like to share?
We are looking at making it into a trilogy. Your/your movie's website,
social media, whatever else?
Roastedfilms.co.uk
Acclaimvideo.co.uk
Thanks
for the interview!
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