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Photos from top l-r: Director Piers Ashworth and Rik Mayall; Piers Ashworth(left) and DP Haris Zambarloukos (right); Rik Mayall selling timeshare; scenes from Oh Marbella
feature in focus
COSTA DEL COMEDY Sun, sex and goat-hurling as Oh Marbella
went before the cameras in Southern Spain
One of the world’s favourite holiday playgrounds has been turned into the back- drop for a madcap comedy following the misadven- tures of a disparate group of tourists arriving at the famous Spanish resort.
The cast includes Rik Mayall as a slick timeshare salesman, Lara Belmont, as an animal rights activist, and Tom Bell, as a hit man coaxed out of retire- ment with Mike Reid as his last job.
The film itself follows four sepa- rate storylines – a la Pulp Fiction, say the filmmakers – that eventually weave themselves together and inter- connect over the course of a weekend which also features German nudists, East End villains and a goat.
Oh Marbella is the first of a series of films planned for production by VF Versatile Films, based at Mundo Studios, Spain’s largest independent film and television complex.
It’s written by Darryn Welch, Nick Moorecroft, Nick O’Hagan and Piers Ashworth, who is also making his fea- ture film directing debut.
Said Director of Photography Haris Zambarloukos: “I met Piers not think- ing I would get the job. I was leaving London for a commercial the following day and Oh Marbella was scheduled to start shooting in two weeks.
“I had read the script the night before, really loved it and when I met Piers we just couldn’t stop talking. We clearly loved the same films and dis- cussed this project quite concisely in the short time we had.
“Piers told me that he wanted to shoot a comedy in Marbella in the style of Breaking The Waves, 24 and certain Dogma films. However much I admire these films they are rather
gloomy and depressing and that left me very curious to hear how he planned to film a comedy in that way. It was interpreted as a lot of hand-held camera and naturalistic lighting.
“The script called for a lot of extraordinary things happening to four groups of ordinary people all at the same time.
“There were only eight days to prep for the film and four weeks for principal photography so we decided to shoot Super 16mm with two Arriflex SR3 cameras and Zeiss Primes from Panavision London with the kind help of Hugh Whittaker.
“Film stock brought with it the age- old dilemma of speed versus film grain. Fuji 500T was a tried and tested stock for me and I had shot a fair amount with the Reala 500D this year and got great results. Both were rated at 320 ASA to ensure a good blow up to 35mm. Roger Sapsford was very encouraging saying that I could push it to the limit and have no worries.
“We had a limited lighting pack- age most of the time and both stocks performed in the most extreme light- ing conditions: daylight shooting throughout the day, varying cloud level, mixed temperature architectur- al lighting and even a surreal musical dance number!
“All that and handheld with a long lens... It had gaffer Joe ‘Bullwinkle’ Allen, best boy John ‘Artifact’ Eusden and crew on their toes most of the time.
“With comedy you will always need to have a performance priority shooting plan. My camera crew (Hamish Doyne-Ditmas, Tristam Cones, Federico Staffa, Tote Navalon and Key Grip Matthias Genschell) per- formed their technical duties with the least intrusion to the performers.
“We had to let things happen in the frame and capture all the spon- taneity of comedy and they never missed a beat. That still left opportu- nity to play around with quirky fram- ing and absurd surreal blocking.
“The script called for 50 dancing nudists and a goat hurling rescue mis- sion! With Rik Mayall, the main chal- lenge was to not fall off the dolly laughing in the middle of a take.
“Then it all was over. Piers and I were left with a minimal crew, some Tilt and Shift Lenses and a Lone Jet Ranger with a Tyler Mount and a few days to do inserts and establishing shots. I have never been more curious to see how a film cuts together!” added Zambarloukos. ■ QUENTIN FALK
Oh Marbella was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
EXPOSURE • 19