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Your new movie Dead
Before They Wake - in a few words, what's it about?
Dead
Before They Wake is a dark crime thriller revolving around Alex, a
loner nightclub bouncer who is approached by a retired lawyer on behalf of
someone in central government. He’s asked to track down a missing
teenage girl who is suspected of being snared by a sex trafficking ring.
Alex is then drawn into the dark world of a grooming gang and his
desperate search becomes more dangerous as he edges closer to finding the
girl. What were your sources of inspiration when writing Dead
Before They Wake? The main source really were the
real life grooming gangs in the UK; particularly Rotherham and Rochdale. I
wanted to base the film on true events as I thought that would add weight
to the story, given the fact it was rooted in reality – with a few of
our own genre embellishments of course. Other inspirations were the BBC
mini-series Three Girls (also based on the grooming gangs) and the
likes of You Were Never Really Here, Harry Brown and Van
Damme’s The Bouncer. Do talk about your directorial
approach to your story at hand! I think really the best
thing to do when directing anything is to trust the actors you have chosen
for the parts and try to get the best from them. Typically I’ll sit back
and say nothing unless I feel the scene isn’t quite going in the right
direction but I didn’t have that problem here. I felt everyone did a
great job. In terms of directing something like this we just wanted it to
feel as real as possible; the characters, the situation and the tension. I
think that we did the script justice and it was great seeing it come to
life, especially as it is a lot darker and more serious in tone than our
usual fare. You've directed Dead
Before They Wake together with Andy Crane [Andy
Crane interview - click here] - so what can you tell
us about him, and what was your collaboration like?
Don’t trust him with a takeaway latte in your car, that’s all I’ll say. It
is always easy to work with Andy, he’s got a great eye for visuals, for
shot composition and framing and a general sense of when something works
and when something doesn’t. If I haven’t spotted something, he
probably has and vice versa. And he’s good at making sure I don’t turn
on auto-pilot when trying to act and direct at the same time. You
of course have to talk about the stuntwork in your movie for a bit! This
one was a little easier on me than usual! The knife fight in the kitchen
was probably the most challenging. I fought David McCallum in an action
film called Lock & Load, and we wanted to do something that was
completely the opposite of that showy fight. So we went for a realistic,
frantic, contained struggle in a home kitchen. Elsewhere we had some
short, punchy fights and a brutal shootout to close. Again trying to keep
it relatively realistic! You
also play the lead in Dead
Before They Wake - so what can you tell us about your character,
what did you draw upon to bring him to life, and have you written him with
yourself in mind from the get-go? Honestly, I usually like
to act in my own films, I enjoy acting and it helps keep me invested
throughout. Hopefully this is my best performance yet but we’ll see what
the audience thinks! Alex is the opposite of me really, he’s lonely, an
introvert and he’s sort of given up on life a little. He’s lost
purpose and the one thing he wants in life (Gemma, the sex worker that
visits him) he doesn’t have the bravery to go for. Really I wanted to
play someone different, a character that could unfold and have an arc and
also build from being relatively mild-mannered and reserved to unleashing
the darkness within him when he’s pushed to his limit. I think it is a
nice progression.
Do talk about the rest of Dead Before They
Wake's cast, and why exactly these people? Grace
Cordell [Grace Cordell
interview - click here], who plays Gemma I’d never worked with before but I’m glad she
did, she really brought the character to life, gave the film some heart
and depth and someone in it to like. I think that side of it was essential
to contrast from the constant darkness and depravity of the story, by
bringing a bit of humanity to the film. Manjot Sumal (Amar) and Kareem
Nasif (Ghadir) however are two contrasting antagonists. Mani is great as
Amar, bringing a real edge to him, always bubbling away ready to explode,
you walk on eggshells around this guy and he’s strict, borderline
entirely morally bankrupt and constantly frustrated. Kareem as Ghadir is
fun-loving, carefree and charming, with a real dark side. But that’s
what makes him so scary, because he’s so plausible. Sylvester McCoy did
a great job of playing the lawyer, Evan. He brings a nice warmth and
gravitas to the role, and it is outside of what he’s known for. Patrick
Bergin as Holden was really good too, he’s got great facial expressions
and delivery and his performance is really unnerving. I think they all
brought so much to the film, I was honoured to be surrounded by their
talent. A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
I’m sure people think that with a topic as serious as this that the set is
very serious and it is at times when you immerse yourself in the scene and
in that world as best you can. But once someone yells ‘cut’ it was
relaxed, warm and friendly, I hope. People always say what a good time
they’ve had on set, which is great to hear. Some days are long, some
nights are cold but when you feel you’re making something good, those
things matter a lot less! Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Dead
Before They Wake yet? Audience is too early to
tell! But critically we’ve been getting pretty much the best reviews
we’ve ever had. There have been a couple of more negative ones, which is
always to be expected at this budget level, and the topic itself was going
to be polarising despite the fact we tried not to deal with it in an
insensitive way. But at the end of the day we were trying to portray the
reality of what does go on and if it wasn’t distressing in places we
weren’t doing our job. But overall the reviews have been really kind,
some great feedback so we’re pleased with that.
Any future projects you'd like to share?
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We have our gothic horror movie The Baby in the Basket coming out
on 17th February 2025 on DVD and digital. It is set in the 40s and is a
real departure for us. It is a bit of a slowburn mystery that focuses on
atmosphere over jump scares. I’m looking forward to the release of that!
Your/your movie's website, social media,
whatever else? You can find us on both Instagram and
Facebook under Shepka Productions! Please give us a follow! Anything else you're dying to mention and
I have merely forgotten to ask? l'm good! Thanks very much
for another great interview and your continued support, and I’d love for
everyone to go out and check out Dead
Before They Wake. Thanks for the
interview!
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