In front of me, just about, sat Broken Director Rufus Norris, Editor Victoria Boydell, Producers Nick Marston and Dixie Linder and actors Eloise Laurence, Robert Emms, Clare Burt and Bill Milner, squeezed in and ready to celebrate at the after-party about to commence.
This was Rufus' debut film, an impressive way to make an entrance on the film-making scene.
You can also read my interview with Broken and Skyfall actor Rory Kinnear in my other post here.
GG: Rufus, how do you feel?
Rufus: Rubbish [laughter]. I feel absolutely bloody great.
GG: What does it mean to you in terms of what you are going to do in the future as a Director?
Rufus: It hopefully just makes it more likely that I’ll get a chance to make another film. Evenings like tonight are great because all the people out there, all the films that have been made, were labours of love. It’s very hard to make an independent film in Britain – nobody gets paid anything like a living wage, by the time you’ve totted it up after the four years of production, that’s very tricky. It’s very lovely to come together and celebrate each other and great for us as it hopefully increases the chances of us doing another one.
GG: What was it about the story about three families in a cul-de-sac that made you want to put it on film?
Rufus: I think it’s hard to talk about it intellectually. It’s one of those things that if it doesn’t affect you in the gut, then you’re not very likely to get through the next few years of committing yourself to it. There’s something about the centre of this story, a girl who’s an optimistic young person who is gradually opening their eyes in lots of ways, that’s how I would like to see myself. I think its very good if you’re telling a story to take yourself into the centre of the film - I don’t like stories where it’s good people and bad people, I don’t think life’s like that. This is a great, true story, showing how people behave in sometimes really awful and sometimes really good ways. Often it’s to do with love or protection or fear. These things affect us all.
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| Eloise Laurence in her debut film and Tim Roth in Broken |
Eloise: Yes it’s my first film so this is all a new thing for me. It’s incredible – the films not even been publicly viewed yet and it’s just won an amazing award; thrilling!
GG: It must have been quite the learning curve for you, what is your experience prior to Broken?
Eloise: I was just regular, go to school kid, this sort of thing never popped into my head, not even the idea of going for auditions.
GG: Assuming starring in Broken has now given you a taste for an acting career, do you have a film you’d like to be in or who you’d like to work with?
Eloise: I'd love to be in a film with George Clooney or Meryl Streep. I think I'd like to act and do music.
GG: You’re musically talented as well?
Eloise: I sing and I play guitar and piano.
Clare: She sings in the film, that’s her voice and on the soundtrack. [You can hear Eloise singing a cover of Blur’s track ‘Colours’ on the trailer at the end of this interview].
Rufus: When we went to Cannes, Eloise sung on the harbour with Damon [Albarn] and the Electric Wave Bureau band at the party, it was brilliant! Our plan is to repeat that for the premiere. [Blur front man Damon Albarn worked with Rufus on the soundtrack]
GG: You look like quite the family in front of me here, was that the case on set? Was it all placid or were there moments where you couldn’t stand each other?
Dixie: I’m trying to think of a bad moment and I can’t think of any – I think all the bad ones were in the finance department [laughter all round].
Clare: I’m Eloise’s mum and I made sure in a very cool fashion that she enjoyed herself.
Victoria: Clare is also an actress, she plays Mrs Buckley, Rick’s mother in the film. [Rick is played by Robert Emms].
Clare: Her life was based on a trampoline or a skateboard or putting pegs on her nose [all scenes in the film], she just lived a childhood, albeit in a bizarre fashion in this film.
Robert: The cul-de-sac that we filmed in really helped make it a family – we were in a dead end road and we had to just get on with each other and we did – it was just the best time, in Finchley. With a trampoline...in a cul-de-sac! [Laughter from all]
GG: Clare, would you have let Eloise act in Broken had you not been on set being part of the film yourself?
Clare: Yes, I was actually told by the Director [looks to Rufus] that there was a possibility that I would have a part in the film and then when my daughter [Eloise] got the part I was told that the likelihood was lessened [laughter from the cast] because we were too similar. I tried to threaten him with ‘if my daughter doesn’t do it; I don’t do it’ dialogue which didn’t work, but we both got in it and it was fine. We laughed a bit when we did scenes together but it was extraordinary, for me to see my baby experience this. It’s nothing more than any other kid experiencing another culture if they were on a trip in India for two weeks; it changes their life. This film has changed her life for six weeks in a different way but definitely for the better, without altering her childhood; shes still a child.
GG: Are you going to be working on any more projects together in the future do you think?
Rufus: I think one of the reasons that the film is such a joy to work on was that it was born from a very tight relationship which is essentially the relationship that I have with Producers Nick Marston and Tally Garner and Dixie Linder of Cuba Pictures. There’s no question in all of our minds that we will work together again, those things are still under wraps a little bit.
Rufus hopes for an April 2013 premiere of the film.
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