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An Interview with Tom Jolliffe, Writer of The Baby in the Basket and Cinderella's Revenge

by Mike Haberfelner

June 2024

Tom Jolliffe on (re)Search my Trash

 

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Your upcoming movie The Baby in the Basket - in a few words, what's it about?

 

The film is set on a remote Scottish island convent toward the end of World War 2. As a storm sets in, a baby is mysteriously left on the doorstep. The nuns take the baby in and one of the younger nuns, Sister Agnes, starts to suspect the baby might be the devil... it’s all downhill from there!

 

What were your sources of inspiration when writing The Baby in the Basket?

 

Nathan (Shepka) [Nathan Shepka interview - click here] sent me a voice note, which is a daily routine between us that usually revolves around who can send either the most accidentally gargantuan message (I think I hold the record at 13 minutes) or the most unfit for human consumption (probably a tie on that one). We often spitball too and Nathan had the idea of a nun being dropped on the steps of a Church before everything skews into The Omen and Rosemary’s Baby territory. He asked if I’d be interested in scripting and I was, so it went from there and we fleshed it out, took on a bit more inspiration from things like Possession, The Lighthouse, The Shining and Black Narcissus to name a few.

 

A few words about your movie's approach to horror?

 

We kind of wanted to go with a slow burn type of horror, built more on atmosphere than gore and jump scares. Had we approached a distributor with the concept to see if they’d fund it, we’d likely have had to make something more in the vein of The Nun. More jumps and gore and less character depth and buildup.

 

Do talk about The Baby in the Basket's directors Nathan Shepka and Andy Crane, and what was your collaboration like?

 

I’ve been mates with Nathan for well over a decade now and we made our first film together during Covid. We have similar tastes in films, so once we put a pin in an idea forming it into a full and feasible script is usually simple. It’s a good working relationship.

 

Nathan has worked with Andy a load of times too and Andy was the DOP on our previous collaboration, When Darkness Falls. That one looked great so I trusted Nathan in putting together a crew, and trusted the crew to deliver something great. We also brought Gary Collinson into The Baby in the Basket as a producer, and I’ve known Gary years too. I’ve written for Flickering Myth for 14 years now which Gary runs, and as you’d guess from running a film site, it requires being a big film fan. Going forward we’ll have more collaborations so long as we’re all not driven mad by movie-making.

 

What were the challenges of bringing The Baby in the Basket to the screen from a producer's point of view?

 

From day one until today, the biggest challenge has always been money. We started with a crowdfunder that was going great up until we had issues with a rival indie filmmaker trying to sabotage it. In the end they didn’t, but we lost prime placement on Kickstarter in the final week which probably cost us a good 5k. That’s extra days to shoot, more money on CGI, so it makes a difference. In terms of seeking private investors, that’s becoming increasingly challenging because it’s not as viable an investment as it was 5 years ago.  As UK filmmakers we have to deal with the industry being all but dead in UK indies, but the US market is also in dire straits at the moment. Until streamers pay proper money at the top of the chain, that’s unlikely to change. We could have done with more money and more time, but like everyone at this level, we can only do our best.

 

Do talk about The Baby in the Basket's cast, and as a producer, how much of a say did you have or demand when it came to casting?

 

One major reason I wanted to produce this, and produce in general now, is to have a little more control on matters away from the script. When I write for hire, I’m basically writing to the specs the producers and/or distributors want. Casting is something I really enjoy having a say on. I’d helped cast the two leads in When Darkness Falls, Michaela Longden [Michaela Longden - click here] and Elle O’Hara, and we loved what they did. They were always in mind whilst writing The Baby in the Basket. Amber Doig-Thorne had actually auditioned for When Darkness Falls but I also knew of her through her work on films with Scott Jeffrey and Louisa Warren, both of whom I’ve worked with. We wanted a couple of seasoned veterans and were pretty keen right from the beginning to cast Paul Barber (The Full Monty) and Maryam d’Abo (The Living Daylights). We then cast Annabelle Lanyon and I was a huge fan because of her role in Legend, but also Dream Demon, so it was great getting her on board. Then we ended up recasting a role a few weeks before shooting and Lisa Riesner came on board. She stood out over about 600 applicants, and as a German native, we rewrote her role to fit to her as a displaced German from the war, which was an interesting character development for ‘Lucy’. Everyone is phenomenal in the film. I think it’s going to be one of the biggest strengths of the film, because casting can often be an oversight in low budget English genre films.

 

A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

 

In hindsight we really challenged ourselves on this one. We made it a period film. We had a real baby in the film. We used a real dog in the film and we had a very specific location that was tough to find on a budget. We must have been fucking nuts. We somehow scraped over the line, but in terms of atmosphere we shot a bulk of this gothic, moody horror at a place called St Conan’s Kirk in Scotland, and it was absolutely perfect because it’s old, gothic and moody.

 

The $64-question of course, when and where will The Baby in the Basket be released?

 

We are close to tying up a US deal and sealing a few other deals. All being well we might have a release date either late this year, or (more likely) first half of 2025. It’s a long old process. We started developing this film in 2022, funded it in mid 2023, shot it in late 2023 and it’s been in post until mid June 2024. As just a writer I’ve had jobs where I’ve written and handed off a script in a week and I’m done. But then I have no control on how it turns out. Producing is a slog but hopefully worth it.

 


Another very recent film of yours is Cinderella's Revenge - so what's that one about?

 

It does very much as the title suggests. Cinderella, as usual is having a horrible time thanks to her stepmother and stepsisters, who push her way too far. The Fairy Godmother arrives to help Cinderella get to the ball but then to exact revenge on her hideous family.

 

So how close does Cinderella's Revenge actually stay to its source material, and what were some other sources of inspiration when scripting the movie?

 

The original French story and then variation in the Grimm fairy tales are pretty dark. People just think Disney, but things like Cinderella, Snow White etc were a lot darker originally so in a way we’re stepping back to that. I was inspired by Terry Gilliam films, particularly the blend of humour in the more fairy tale styled segments of Time Bandits and Baron Von Munchausen. One thing I was keen to do, which the producers wanted as well, was a bit of humour in the film. There’s a misconception among a lot of distributors that comedy in horror doesn’t appeal to audiences, and I’ve often been asked to strip it all away. Look at almost every cult horror film from the 70s up to the 90s and it’ll tell you different. Almost all have some level of humour, even if it’s just macabre. A Nigtmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead, Fright Night, Lost Boys, Braindead, Re-Animator and on and on.

 

It seems there's a trend of late to turn fairy tales and other stories for children into horror movies for grown-ups - do you have any explanation for that trend?

 

We’re definitely in a cycle right now and movies run in cycles. I feel like we’re either in the middle, or coming toward the tail end because after the success of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a mass of similar films launched. Ironically I turned down Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey because I was juggling too many projects, and got offered Cinderella's Revenge around that time too. I opted for Cinderella's Revenge purely because Mark L.Lester was on board and I’d grown up on his classic films like Commando and Showdown in Little Tokyo. It is odd to think though, had I stayed on Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey I would be a Razzie Award winner right now. I suppose there’s still time (laughs). I have a couple morefairy tale themed film projects currently in development, which I wrote for hire (with Mark again). They’re very well known characters, but this is why it’s a well studios are diving into right now.

 

To put the last question slightly on its head, how much fun was it to turn Cinderella into a horror character?

 

It was a lot of fun to write. I liked the idea of having the stepsisters a kind of awful double act. I also wanted to make sure the Fairy Godmother role allowed plenty of room for the actress to have fun. The intention was always to cast a well known name, and then later into the process they cast Natasha Henstridge, which made 16 year old me cartwheel with joy. I’m a huge fan of her work and watched Species way more times than was necessary. I’ve had some big names in my films so far that had my inner film nerd excited, but Natasha more so than any one else. She’s amazing and she’s great in the film too. I loved all the cast actually. Lauren Staerck (Cinderella) has a bright future I think. I always love writing villains and Steph Lodge (Stepmother), Beatrice Fletcher and Megan Purvis (as the sisters) are so much fun. They really did those roles justice.

 

How would you describe Cinderella's Revenge's approach to horror?

 

It was a fun blend of horror and comedy. I was also keen to secretly keep a sense of the pantomime stage shows of Cinderella that play all over the UK around Christmas season. I don’t know if it’s a thing in the US, but panto here is basically unbridled silliness, a bit campy, with naughty humour. I left a sprinkling of that in the script but it’s like chilli flakes as a seasoning, you don’t use too much.

 

Do talk about Cinderella's Revenge's director Andy Edwards, and what was your collaboration like?

 

Andy was on by the time I’d pretty much finished the script. I’ve not yet actually spoken to him but I know of Andy and his work. I’ve actually been meaning to touch base, but as he’ll likely also know, there’s rarely a free minute in the life of a producer/filmmaker. He’s got a great visual eye though and he makes good films. Check out Graphic Desires and Punch. As well as Cinderella’s Revenge of course. He was more director for hire on it, but he did a great job on an undoubtedly tight budget and schedule.

 

Any other current of future projects you'd like to share?

 

For the last year or so I’ve been planning produce a film solo and just do something completely different. I’ve flitted between some ideas and never got time to source the kind of money needed for them. Not huge amounts but significant, particularly as I’m actively going against what the market suggest is commercial. A couple of actors I knew had some free time, and a brainwave hit me. I had the bones of an idea. I launched at the beginning of May into a script for We Go Again, an arthouse psychological drama dealing with mental health and neurodivergence. After a bit of drama recasting a role with a week to spare, we were shooting at the end of the month. It was the only way to do it, kind of jump in, otherwise you just delay and delay. We have another few days of filming but it’s gone great so far. Zuza Tehanu is an actress, musician, dancer and physical performer who I’ve been dying to work with for ages. She’s got an amazing presence and I wanted to put her in the lead in the kind of role she deserves. I’d worked with Charlotte Chiew before. She came in, saved the film from collapsing just before shooting. I knew what she could bring and she brought even more than that. Most importantly she and Zuza have amazing chemistry. This is my attempt, alongside my brother (who is directing, shooting and editing it) to make a film completely my way. We wanted creative freedom and almost a pick up and shoot style, which means I’ve had to fund it. What I’ve learned is, that even zero budget costs a frickin fortune (I wanted to make sure I paid people too). We’re really pleased with how it’s gone so far, and later this month Annabelle Lanyon joins the cast. So all being well we’ll be hitting festivals with this early next year. There’s just the small matter that I’ll probably be scoring the film myself too (I’d love to do this more but there aren’t enough hours in the day).

 

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Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?

 

There will be more films on the way this year, including Demon Hunter (my ode to End of Days), Psykhe (a psychological horror) and a UFO movie. I’m also working on the next project with Nathan and Gary, and we’re taking those tentative first steps to finding the money to make an action thriller. A few more hire gigs will go to camera later this year which I’m looking forward to seeing, and I’m also working on my first book, a Making of Die-Hard. This time next year I may need a year off and to not write a single word. That feeling’s always in the back of my mind that I may get fed up with writing, and if that happens I’ll either focus on music or work a BBQ grill somewhere and make hamburgers for people.

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


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Thanks for watching !!!



 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
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