Page 14 - 08_Bafta ACADEMY_Goldie Hawn & Jamie Bell_ok

People & Places In The News
THE BEST
While American filmmakers and distributors have grown used to throwing huge advertising budgets at their films, their British counterparts have learned to work in a more austere environment.
Thora Birch is an advantage. That obvi- ously helps with an American distribu- tor. It’s a suspense tale set in an English public school, and in a phrase I’d describe it as ‘Lord Of The Flies meets Scream’. It’s basically a thriller that will hopefully surprise you in the end.”
hand at doing things for television, then we did Shopping in 1993, followed by Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon and Soldier. Then came Vigo and There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble.
“Shopping is a film I’m proud of, as much for what it got wrong as what it got right. It was very important for
Paul and me, and it taught us a great deal. We’ve been together ten years now, and we’ve just sold half our company in a joint venture to Constantin - the giant German dis- tributor - to produce two films a year here and two in America. There’s a big development overhead element, so we’ve now decided to put on the long trousers, but hope- fully not lost any of our aggressive, maverick tactics.”
In the end it may be such pan- European deals that see smaller British companies challenge major Hollywood producers in an ever more competitive market place.
And the deal is bearing fruit for Impact right away with Resident Evil, starring Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez, cur- rently shooting in Berlin.
“The film is based on a game that has sales second
only to Tomb Raider,” Bolt adds. “Again that’s a very simple concept, and because of Paul’s experience with Mortal Kombat he knows how to adapt it into a film.” ■ Anwar Brett
www.theholethemovie.com
Despite this economic fact of life, small production companies seem to have thrived. Typical is Impact Pictures – which comprises producer Jeremy Bolt and director Paul Anderson – which has accumulated an impressive and ambitious filmography in less than a decade, with a highly optimistic view of the future.
The immediate future for Impact involves the release of The Hole, pro- duced by Bolt, Lisa Bryer and Pippa Cross and directed by Nick Hamm. Based on a novel by Guy Burt, it is a tense psychological thriller with an intriguing Anglo-American cast that bodes well for the US following its UK release by Pathé in April.
“This is very tight concept,” says Bolt, “a very simple pitch. Also, in hav- ing an American actress on board like
Bolt’s enthusi-
asm is contagious
as he describes
his film in one of
its
Buckinghamshire
locations. But
then he is clearly
a film fan as much
as a filmmaker,
having learned the business from the ground up, initially under Ken Russell on The Lair of the White Worm.
“I progressed through the ranks and was taught the ropes by Ken and Ronaldo Vasconcellos,” he recalls, with a knowing smile. “When I formed my company with Paul Anderson in 1989 we tried our
As a film industry lawyer and occasional - as yet unfilmed - scriptwriter, Harry Dixon felt that new media had yet to fully exploit the fully interac- tive potential of the internet. So he decided to do something about it, and Magic Squirrel was born.
“I think in the right environment Magic Squirrel could herald a whole new genre of entertainment,” he explains, “with virtual worlds that are scripted in the loosest sense. To some extent you almost get that with some of the online games, where you’re in a virtual environ- ment and there are other people there
MAKINGANIMPACT
FURRY
INTERESTING
12
Photos top left: Jeremy Bolt above: The Hole; above right: Harry Dixon and Nick O’Hagan
O