Going back to the cinema release ofStarred Up.
You got strong reviews, and a relatively wide release.
Given the subject matter of the film, it seemed like your distributor backed it quite hard.
When you started it, you cant really have envisaged itd be a huge commercial project.
ButStarred Upended up with a relatively high profile.
That the film did reach into areas, and got the crossover effect that we wanted.
You dont have any understanding or expectations of the release, at least not on an indie scale.
Its not a pre-marketed studio film.
I hope the DVD will widen the audience.
Hopefully the DVD will open that up.
What was as interesting waswhereit played.
That it was inner-city multiplexes where it was doing a great deal of its business.
Do you think the casting of Jack OConnell helped get that to a younger audience?
That it was a welcome by-product?
Hes a great young actor, and he really through himself at the role.
He really understood the character.
Its a great performance.
I kind of knew that was going to happen.
We agreed that was what we were aiming for, and it was great when it came together.
I wasnt implying cynicism, to be clear.
you’re able to target things, and you’re able to push things in certain directions.
But that wasnt what we did with this film.
When you make film likeStarred Up, do you hope it has a broader, legal ramification?
I dont think its specifically aiming to crusade or to change anything in particular.
Its showing something about the system.
It wouldnt surprise me if thereweresome ramificiations there.
Theyre definitely on the agenda.
But the film itself is not particularly targeting any particular change.
And so Rupert had to relate to Jonathan, who was there on the set.
To work out how to turn the character as written into something.
Its very hard, because you dont want to paint the stereotypical picture of the do-gooder.
Ive read about the slightly unusual way that you filmed this.
Its hard to pin down exactly what is amazing about it.
Movies tend to be dislocated and non-linear in their process.
Youre guessing a lot more things, and youre having to consume energy guessing, and youre not certain.
One other unusual step: it didnt seem to matter that I couldnt hear all the dialogue.
That there were moments were the exact words mattered less than the ferocity of their delivery?
Can you explain why you went that way?
[Laughs] Well, its a real challenge.
Within the prison system theres a lot slang, a lexicon of words that are used.
It was a juggle that was going on to the last minute.
I was always of the strong feeling that you dontneedto follow every word.
It starts off being more obscure, but you get used to it.A Clockwork Orangething.
I readClockwork Orangewithout any vocabulary and I got to understand the words as I went through it.
I like that process.
You have to do a little bit of work.
But one of the hard things in a way is to let go of understandingeverything.
Some people want to know what every word means.
But you dont need to.
Youre not missing everything out if you dont get one slang word.
Jacks character doesnt know half the words himself at the start, and its about getting into that world.
Before we run out of time, can I ask how Journey Into Spaceis coming along?
Last I heard, you were leaning towards a TV, rather than film adaptation?
Its coming along, but Ive got a 200 page script for a feature film!
Its 100 years in space, five generations, insane things happening, each generation rebelling against the last.
Im excited by the project, but Im been confronted by the challenges…
I dont want to do an epic four parter.
I want to do it in the one thing, because I think thats the trick of it.
But watch this space, and I will do it.
Itll be an extraordinary movie!
[laughs]
Theres one other project I wanted to check in on too.
A few years ago you mentioned in an interview that you were developing a western.
And is it still a live project?
It was an American western, and I dont know whether its still active.
David Mackenzie, thank you very much!
Starred Up is out now on Digital HD, DVD & Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
