Page 18 - Fujifilm Exposure_44 Damned United_ok

“IT’S KEEPING THAT BELIEVABILITY WHICH FUJIFILM DOES VERY WELL.”
who can be truthful and naturally funny. Or truthful and naturally touching. The moment there’s a sense of ‘now it’s a comedy scene’ and ‘now it’s a sad scene’ really just doesn’t work.”
The multiple Cantonas marching before us are a case in point – it’s a scene that contains violence, men- ace, sight gags and farce all at the same time, yet Loach is firmly in control, and it remains realistic. BENJI WILSON
Looking For Eric, which opens on June 12, was originated on 35mm Fujicolor ETERNA 500T 8573 and ETERNA 250D 8563
THE DP VIEW
BARRY ACKROYD BSC
I would call this film ‘magic so- cial realism’ – a new genre. Everyone who knows Ken
Photos (above): Ken Loach with DP Barry Ackroyd BSC: (top) Steve Evets with Eric Cantona training and below (left to right): Eric Bishop played by Steve Evets and with the famous Cantona poster
I tried to set up some shots almost subliminally. Cantona might be sitting on a bed with a pillow be- hind him and a bit of a headboard. In my mind, those were his ‘wings’. Or else, he’d be in a high-backed chair.
This isn’t something I said to
Ken, rather something in my own
head, sort of subtle visions to
tell you he’s a kind of spectre. ”
LOOKING FOR ERIC
➤ [Laverty, Loach’s writing part- ner] and I were interested in foot- ball. So we met.”
Cantona had an idea about his re- lationship with one fan in particular, but Loach and Laverty found they couldn’t make that story work. They did, however, think he was on to something: “Not only the enjoyment of football and the part that football plays in people’s lives, but also the notion of celebrity and how celebri- ties are built up in the press and on television. They have a superhuman quality in people’s minds.”
Laverty and Loach came up with the character of Eric Bishop, an in- telligent man who suffers from panic attacks and who has been forced to breaking point by his two wayward teenage stepsons.
Loach’s behind-the-camera stock company is back in force, re-inforced by the return of DP Barry Ackroyd BSC who had been away for a couple of films on duty with Paul Greengrass. This production marks their thir- teenth collaboration across 20 years.
For Ackroyd, it was going back to basics. “Ken is very classical in his
approach. He always wants his films to look as they always have looked; he likes this consistency throughout his work and that’s fair enough.
“As far as the technical side is concerned, the location is always emptied of anyone who’s not neces- sary. With the cameras we get as dis- tant as we can, even if the locations are very small, and also as subtle as wecan.Wegoontoalongerand longer lens and that gives you a kind of very filmic look and is also very simple. It’s keeping that believabil- ity, which Fujifilm does very well.
“It may sometimes feel like hand- held or tracks, but it’s not. If some- one moves towards the camera, they get bigger in shot; if they move away, they get smaller. That’s life, that’s observation. That is Ken’s whole being and philosophy.”
Eric’s route to redemption, via reconciliation with his first wife, is as close as Ken Loach has ever come to a romantic comedy, but he says that the film remains true to the core of all his filmmaking.
“You can only be truthful. And that again is down to finding people
“
might greet that with shock and awe. Cantona’s first appearance is in a cloud of smoke as the other Eric is
puffing on a joint.
16 • EXPOSURE • THE MAGAZINE • FUJIFILM MOTION PICTURE