British born director Simon Rumley has directed five feature films since 2010, but will understand if you haven't heard of him. Refusing to be bound by genre or going with the flow (no Bella and Edmund carbon copies here) his films are populated by memorably disturbed characters typically experiencing the worst moments of their lives.
By rights Rumley should have gained wider recognition for 2006's The Living and the Dead, a harrowing but unforgettable journey through the mind of a mentally ill man that boasted some of the year's best performances (including from Roger Lloyd-Pack, forever Trigger from Only Fools and Horses).
Hopefully, that audience awareness will come with Red, White & Blue, Rumley's first American-based film and a psycho-thriller played smart and deadly serious. Centred around three characters, Amanda Fuller's apparent nymphomaniac, Marc Senter's troubled twentysomething, and Noah Taylor's intense Iraq War veteran, it culminates in a shattering climax of violence and retribution as secrets are revealed and a moment of madness unleashes a whirlwind of chaos.
With the film due for cinema release on Friday 30th September we caught up with Simon Rumley to tell us more about his latest movie.
Sky Movies: What is Red, White And Blue?
Simon Rumley: We’ve been calling it for some time a slacker revenge movie. It takes in the kind of films I’ve done in the past, the first three of which were inspired by the Richard Linklater slacker movies, and then the second part was more in line with some relative success I had with my previous film The Living and The Dead which was much more genre based.
SM: What was the appeal of blending slacker movies with a revenge thriller?
SR: It came with my love of and frustration with a lot of horror movies. I caught myself once watching Jeepers Creepers thinking, wow they’re really investing a lot of time in these characters, but in more obvious studio horror films there is almost no character development whatsoever.
I think if you’re expecting an audience to care about characters you have to know more about them than that they’re students who are going to go to the woods, smoke some drugs, and have some sex. One of our main goals was to do a film where you really get to know the characters before all the really bad stuff starts happening.
I think if you’re expecting an audience to care about characters you have to know more about them than that they’re students who are going to go to the woods, smoke some drugs, and have some sex. One of our main goals was to do a film where you really get to know the characters before all the really bad stuff starts happening.
SM: Watching Red, White and Blue and The Living and the Dead it seems you start with character and then move onto plot. Is that the case?
SR: That’s a pretty good way to describe both films. With The Living and the Dead there’s not really a whole lot of plot there, it’s about what happens when the characters endure a horrendous situation. But, with Red, White and Blue there’s certainly a bit more plot, but I guess one day I should just do a film that is all plot.
SM: Although the characters in Red, White and Blue perform shocking acts, they’re not just bad, but not good either. They’re hard to pigeon-hole.
SR: Yeah, I suppose my films are based in reality more than a lot of other horror films, and even though that reality gets crazed and unpleasant these are supposed to be real surroundings and real people.
In most films people are black or white and you’re told who to root for, and that can be fine, but in real life most people are not good or bad, they float in between. So, it’s trying to make things more real and a little bit more interesting for the audience.
And I like the idea that we have the murderer and see the things from his point of view.
And I like the idea that we have the murderer and see the things from his point of view.
SM: Indeed, but Noah Taylor's Nate character in a standard action film is the hero, and his actions would be justified.
SR: Yeah, and it brings up the question, is violence the answer at all. You’re right, taking it at a basic level he is doing terrible things for those he loves.
SM: Was it this approach to the characters and their moral dilemmas that drew the actors to the film?SR: With Noah Taylor it turns out he lives near London and he’s always been one of my favourite actors since I saw him in The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting.
I felt while he done a lot of Hollywood stuff, he’d also done his fair share of indie stuff, and then having spoken to him it turns out he’d always wanted to play a killer. This was the first kind of role like that he felt was up to his ability, but he wanted to know the film wasn’t going to descend into Hostel or Saw territory and I assured him it wouldn’t.
He then sent me an email saying he’d read the script a few times and it’s basically a love story, which is exactly what it is, a very perverse love story between him and Amanda Fuller's Erika.
SM: The film opens with very strong sexual content and climaxes with strong violence, including the torture of a family. As a director, how do you approach that?
SM: The film opens with very strong sexual content and climaxes with strong violence, including the torture of a family. As a director, how do you approach that?
SR: It’s very much down to trust. As soon as an actor comes on board a project you are going to develop a relationship which evolves around trust.
As I’ve done more films that I’ve written what occurs is you hand characters over to the actors and they then have a territorialism over them so they’ll do what they think is right.
As I’ve done more films that I’ve written what occurs is you hand characters over to the actors and they then have a territorialism over them so they’ll do what they think is right.
Plus, the actors here had read the script so were under no illusions as to what they were going to do. And with the sexual content we worked with a closed set and told Amanda that if she ever felt uncomfortable just to let us know. But, after a couple of scenes she was like, everyone’s seen everything so what the hey!
SM: But, you also have a scene with Noah Taylor terrorising a family, and the look on the little girl’s face seems pretty genuine! How did you get that?
SM: But, you also have a scene with Noah Taylor terrorising a family, and the look on the little girl’s face seems pretty genuine! How did you get that?
SR: She was amazing. I always felt that would be the strongest scene in the film in terms of its visceral elements. It could have fallen flat, but to honest it’s all back to getting the good actors.
We saw about fifteen girls and none of them were that good, and then Saxon (Sharbino) came in, pretty, with blonde hair, alive eyes and going, “Hey, how is everyone? Awesome!”.
So, I asked her if she knew what she had to do and she says yeah and asked for a few minutes to prepare. At this point I see the casting director’s eyes go up in the air, but then second later Saxon says she’s ready, bursts into tears and it was amazing.Her mum was there on set and the scene is ridiculously intense, but it was more gruelling for us thinking here is this 9-year old crying and crying and crying, but after we cut she was back to “Awesome!”, so it really was an actress being in the moment then completely coming out of it.
SM: What did shooting a feature in the US for the first time offer you?
SR: I wanted to shoot in America because I’d done four features in the UK and struggled to get them beyond Britain. I’d also never had that much support from the British Film Industy, so I thought it was time to leave and spread my wings.
I didn’t want to spend my life making films that no-one would see, and America is obviously the place to go and make a film that would get bigger distribution. One of the producers is Tim Lee, who runs the Fantastic Fest film festival in Austin with Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News, and I’d had The Living and the Dead there which then won all the prizes and I asked him if he would help out if I ever made a film in America.
SM: The film is called Red, White and Blue and Nate is an Iraqi vet – is this your comment on America right now?
SR: In a way – I call it political with a small “p” and you can read into it what you see fit. But, if you don’t want to see anything deep in it, it won’t spoil your enjoyment of the film.
But, with Iraq it seems nothing was learnt from Vietnam and there are lots of countries, but particularly America, that seem to have violent knee-jerk reactions to situations, so it was a comment on that.
SR: In a way – I call it political with a small “p” and you can read into it what you see fit. But, if you don’t want to see anything deep in it, it won’t spoil your enjoyment of the film.
But, with Iraq it seems nothing was learnt from Vietnam and there are lots of countries, but particularly America, that seem to have violent knee-jerk reactions to situations, so it was a comment on that.
And by extension Britain as well as we tend to follow the superpowers rather than lead.
SM: What do American audiences make of the film?
SR: We’ve had a couple of people who were offended by it, but generally speaking it’s gone down well at the festivals where it’s played, and people seem to have appreciated the representation of Austin especially. At one screening we had one person shouting at us, but by and large audiences have been supportive.
SM: What do American audiences make of the film?
SR: We’ve had a couple of people who were offended by it, but generally speaking it’s gone down well at the festivals where it’s played, and people seem to have appreciated the representation of Austin especially. At one screening we had one person shouting at us, but by and large audiences have been supportive.
It’s getting a release in the US in September, so it will be interesting to see how it plays to a non-festival, unsuspecting audience.
SM: Even if people are shouting at the screen, as long as they’re not bored...
SR: Well exactly, I think that’s it. It certainly elicited a reaction in that person.
SM: Red, White and Blue, like The Living and the Dead, played at FrightFest and other horror festivals, but the two films refuse categorisation. Are you tempted to do a traditional horror movie and plant your flag in the genre?
SR: I would do, yeah. As a director I have a wide remit of films I like; in terms of writing stuff I like to push the envelope.
But, the state of horror today is not terribly exciting. In Hollywood, at least 80% seem to be Asian remakes or 80s remake, so I don’t see the point. Horror seems to be catering to a teen or even PG audience; the studio system today wouldn’t make The Exorcist.
Although, if something came along that went beyond the obvious I would consider directing it definitely.
SM: If you get tired of horror, I think you’ve got a good Western inside of you.
SR: Funny you should say that, I’m actually trying to work with the guy who wrote The Last House on the Left remake and he’s done a couple of Westerns for other people.
Those themes of love, violence, retribution make fascinating drama and are rife in the Western as well the Horror film.
Red, White and Blue is released in cinemas from Friday 30th September.
Rob Daniel
