Page 33 - Fujifilm Exposure_15 Melinda Messenger_ok

Clones are taking over Watford. Well, at least a couple of wannabes are hovering around a deserted American college just outside the self-styled North/South divide. For it’s here that British filmmakers Miguel Sapochnik and Ivor Powell are tackling that most un-British of movie genres: science fiction.
The Dreamer is a 15-minute short - the brainchild of co-writer/director Sapochnik and co-writer/producer Powell
- a veteran English producer who has worked with the likes of Stanley Kubrick on
2001- A Space Odyssey
and Ridley Scott on Alien and Blade Runner.
Pulling in favours and enlisting the services of cinematographer Simon Chaudoir, the duo formed Sun Dance Films after meeting in a TV production agency two years ago, assembled a £50,000 budget and signalled the start of a brave new world.
“It’s disgustingly ambitious,” admits Powell, between takes on the set, which used to be a mortuary for the television series Silent Witness. “But,” he continues, “I’ve had a love of sci-fi since I was a kid.” In the corner, you can hear lead actress Indra Ové (Interview With The Vampire) as she noisily rehearses being electrocuted while strapped to a large crane.
“There’s a tendency in this coun- try to run away from sci-fi,” confirms Sapochnik, 26, a storyboard artist on
FOLLOW THAT DREAMER
films like Small Faces and A Life Less Ordinary before turning director. “But when I met Ivor, we were like kindred spirits.
EXPOSURE • 31
The first thing we wrote
together was a feature which would have cost $50m, so we thought we’d better tone it down a little.”
For Powell, it’s been a long journey: “I’ve been writing in my spare time for 20 years. Two years ago,
I decided to throw in the towel and concentrate entirely on writing. After the initial panic, this has been a great feeling, hearing actors saying your lines.”
In fact, The Dreamer, which is shot on Fuji and will be out next spring, is just the beginning. The team plan to use the finished product as the basis for a feature called Human Condition. Though that’s not to say this isn’t the real deal.
“It doesn’t get more real than this,” laughs Sapochnik. “Making shorts is really hard, particularly with sci-fi, because it’s telling the story in half the time. There is a feature there, but this is where we start.”
And as Sapochnik returns to the set to see how the execution is coming along, Powell surveys his metallic, sterile surroundings. “It’s a long time since I’ve worked this hard, but like I told the crew, we can basically do what we want. It’s insane.” ■ BEN IRVING
MERLIN 2000
Photos inset top right:
co-writer/producer Ivor Powell and inset above: co-writer/director Miguel Sapochnik; above and left: scenes from The Dreamer
After producing a string
of films for American television and video release, Gloucestershire-based Peakviewing Transatlantic had now set Merlin The Return as its first UK theatrical release on December 22.
Written and directed by Peakviewing’s own Paul Matthews, it’s a family sci-fi fantasy co-starring Rik Mayall (below), Patrick Bergin, Tia Carrere, Adrian Paul and Craig Sheffer.
Originated on Fuji (as with so much of Peakviewing’s product) by DP Vincent Cox, Merlin The Return was filmed on elaborate sets, includ- ing
a recreated Stonehenge and medieval English village, at Irene, north of Johannesburg.
Peakviewing’s latest production, Beserker, a fantasy horror set between the Viking period and pre-
CHRISTMAS RELISH
W ritten by David (Reginald Perrin)
Nobbs, Gentlemen’s Relish co-stars Billy Connolly,
Sarah Lancashire and Douglas Henshall in a comedy drama set in Edwardian London.
Directed by Douglas MacKinnon and originated
on Fuji by DP Gavin (Gormenghast) Finney BSC, it’s the saucy story of an artist (Connolly) who turns to photography when his painting style goes out of fashion. Unbeknownst to
him, his mischievous assistant (Henshall) starts doctoring his master’s
work into very popular pornography.
Filmed at Hampton Court House and on various river-
side locations, Gentlemen’s Relish, a Principal Pictures production for the BBC, will be transmitted around Christmas. ■
Photos above: scenes from Gentlemen’s Relish
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
FESTIVALS & EVENTS