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TRUE BLUE INDEPENDENT GRIT
Proudly independent North Country Pictures is putting the quality back into British film drama
E ntering the cyberworld of husband-and-wife British
filmmakers Steven and Julie Woodcock is a little like going back into a Fifties and Sixties time warp. In a good way. Their website is
packed with information, photos and publicity material about the, to date, two, completed feature films from their company, North Country Pictures, which are both firmly set in that bygone era.
The first, Between Two Women, is long a staple of the Sky Television film schedules. Their latest, The Jealous God, due to be theatrically released soon with 50 prints, is based on a novel by John (Room At The Top) Braine and also boasts a gloriously evocative hand-painted poster redo- lent of those ‘kitchen-sink’ times.
The poster image appears to look as made-in Britain as all the other expertly dated images which also dec- orate the website including tinny cars, steam trains, dowdy fashion and bad haircuts. In fact, it was actually realised by legendary American painter and illustrator Basil Gogos at
his New York studio on commission from Steven Woodcock.
Woodcock said he grew up with Gogos’s paintings and especially knew his work from “the stunning covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland. If there is one painter whose style I admire in the world more than any other, it’s Gogos.
“I provided Basil with a very rough concept sketch, and a suggestion of the colours, then handed the whole thing over to thing. We wanted to go for a subtle retro look to the poster,” added Woodcock.
Homage and control. Those are the two recurring themes in the extraordi- nary story of North Country Pictures who not only produce films but have now set up the mechanism to distrib- ute and market them too.
While Julie, as Executive Producer, oversees the business, contractual and financial side of their company, Steven concentrates on the film-making side.
His credit reads “Written, pro- duced and directed by”. But you should know that, under the pseudo- nym ‘Christopher Sutton’ (his birth name before being adopted at six weeks) he also serves as production
designer. And he has been known to do a spot of camera operating as well.
The expression ‘control freak’ comes to mind. “Probably yes,” laughs Woodcock, a proud Yorkshireman. “But that’s too often taken as a deroga- tory thing. Let’s say I know what I want and I know how to do it. What I don’t like is someone interfering and preventing the job being done. I just happen to think that the fewer people involved, the simpler it is.”
It’s been a long and rather fascinat- ing path to this point in his career, which began in earnest when, after art school, he started in the film and TV industry as a special effects model- maker and designer. His first job was with Cosgrove Hall in Manchester working on their animated feature, The Wind In The Willows. By the age of 21 he was ensconced at Bray with Gerry Anderson knee-deep in Terrahawks. His freelance work then encompassed everything from TV commercials to films like Aliens and Billy The Kid And the Green Baize Vampire.
“It was always in the back of my mind to become a director eventually but I didn’t want to jump into it
Photos above l-r: on location with Between Two Women;
Steven Woodcock shooting The Jealous God and working on a special effects set for The Wind In The Willows
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