Page 34 - Fujifilm Exposure_40 Golden Compass_ok

Released In February 2008
BORN TO BE WILD
Easy riders, UK-style. Taking to the open road with Freebird
O ver 13 million motorcycle- related magazines and news-
papers are sold in the UK every year. Apparently motor- cycling is currently attaining a
popularity last seen 30 years ago in the Seventies. Freebird, described as a “contemporary rock ‘n’ roll road movie comedy”, marks the feature debut of writer-director Jon Ivay, who successfully staged the subject first in Bristol and then on the Edinburgh Fringe in 2000.
“It was basically,” says DP Peter Wignall, re-united on the project with two of his Layer Cake producers, David Reid and Adam Bohling, “about three characters [bikers on a cannabis-seeking mission] going through their lives and talking.
“For the film, Jon has, of course, expanded it. As a favour to someone called The Chairman, the hero has to go off to his native Wales where his ex-wife and young daughter still live. Now, we also get motor-cycle gangs and warring factions.”
Decidedly low-budget, Freebird, which opens in the UK in February, stars Phil Daniels (swapping his Mod gear from cult classic Quadrophenia for biking leathers), Geoff Bell and Gary Stretch along with Peter Bowles, Laila Rouass, Arthur Brown and Huggy Leaver.
For Wignall, operator-turned-cine- matographer who has since complet- ed Telstar for another first-time direc- tor Nick Moran, “the lure was it was made against all the odds. We had helicopter shots in it, a tracking vehi- cle, steadicam on board all the time, a
full complement of lights, silks and blacks and also helium balloons for the night shots.”
They even managed to film briefly in the States - on a suitably desert-like stretch of road outside Los Angeles – which doubled for the leg- endary Route 66 – as well as in Hollywood itself.
Wignall, who also operated and handled steadicam, noted proudly that, “we probably broke all the rules for a low-budget film”. He used tungsten the whole time (the F-500T and F-250T) because “it’s a bit fairer on the loader, but I also think it gives a nicer look even
to daylight. I also mixed and matched filters.
“The whole film was, of
course, a real challenge –
‘gonzo’ filmmaking at its finest.
I especially think back to one sequence, which involved 150 to 200 bikers having a pitched battle in the Black Mountains in Wales. We had two days to shoot it... then one of them was rained off.
“Most of them were having to go back to work on the Monday, and it wasn’t as if they were extras. They were the authentic thing, a bit like something out of Mad Max. It was a battle in more ways than one.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
Freebird, which will be released in the UK by Delanic Films in February, was originated on 35mm Fujicolor Super F-500T 8572 and Super F-250T 8552
Photos from top: Freebird stars Phil Daniels, Geoff Bell and
Gary Stretch; Director Jon Ivay (left), and DP Peter Wignall set up another shot; Phil Daniels and scenes from Freebird
“The whole film was a real challenge - ‘gonzo’ filmmaking at its finest.”
32 • Exposure • The Magazine • Fujifilm Motion Picture