Not Since ‘Brokeback Mountain’ a gay Film for all } W e e K e N d
An interview with Andrew Haigh, director of "Weekend," which played the Seattle International Film Festival last spring and returns Friday, Oct. 28, for a regular run in theaters. Perhaps not since "Brokeback Mountain" has a gay film received the kind of praise that's been showered on this movie.
Special to The Seattle Times
ANONYMOUS / AP
Perhaps not since "Brokeback Mountain" has a gay film received the kind of praise that's been showered on "Weekend," which played the Seattle International Film Festival last spring and returns Friday for a regular run.
The New York Times' A.O. Scott called it "one of the most satisfying love stories you are likely to see on screen this year." Praising the intimate look of the movie, Film Comment magazine's Paul Brunick wrote that "these are some of the most beautifully revelatory close-ups I have ever seen."
"We were always quite keen that the film not exist within a gay niche market," said the 38-year-old writer-director, Andrew Haigh, during a SIFF visit.
"I have seen a lot of gay-themed films that didn't really express how I see being gay, at this moment in the world. There never seemed to be a kind of authentic depiction of relationships. I wanted to be as honest as I could be with that, and not have it be about coming out or being beaten up at school.
"That's all that gay films always seem to be about — it's as if you come out, and then have nothing else interesting to say about your experience."
Two experienced British stage actors, Tom Cullen and Chris New, were cast as adults who meet at a Nottingham gay club, spend the night together, then discover they want the relationship to continue.
"It's about these characters trying to make sense of their lives and trying to find their place," said Haigh.
Finding the actors
Initially, New's more outspoken character, Glen, was going to be an American visitor who expresses the aggressiveness Haigh sees in gay Americans.
"I think in England we meander through and not complain too much," he said. "We see gay Americans as strong and having a passion for political statements."
Russell, a lifeguard played by Cullen, was always going to be British. His role went through fewer changes.
"We were looking for sort of un-actorly people," said Haigh, who auditioned 15 couples before casting them. "Tom and Chris had never met, and they're not like their characters in the film (Cullen is straight, New is gay), but there's a feistiness between the two of them that I liked."
Complicating matters: Glen is leaving to study in Portland, Ore., and he insists this is no time for a relationship.
"There was always a possibility that an end to the relationship was kind of looming," said Haigh. Also adding to the tension is the location, which changed because of funding.
Filming in Nottingham
"It was London originally, but we got money from Nottingham, which is not London in terms of acceptance of gays," said Haigh. "That actually helped the story a lot.
"I quite like (the Albert Finney film) 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning,' which was shot on some of the same locations in Nottingham, and even though the films are so completely different, it influenced this film in some strange way."I see Glen as a modern version of Finney (a rebellious factory worker whose mantra is 'Don't let the bastards grind you down'). They're both dealing with the social climate in Nottingham, and how they respond to that."
Shooting in Nottingham's gay clubs, the filmmakers quickly realized that "there were a lot of people there who didn't want to be seen on camera. We didn't want to out anybody."
While the film seems improvised, most of the dialogue was written in advance.
"We spent a lot of time trying to make it feel like the whole story wasn't constructed," said Haigh. "It felt natural as much as possible, but in fact everything was quite tightly structured, script-wise and visually.
"Within each scene there's one long take. For me, that really helped the actors and their chemistry and their ability to try new things. Some of the takes are like six or seven minutes, which is quite a lot for an actor.
"I was never adamant that they stick to the script. If they could think of something better, then we could just do that."
Haigh learned about technique from working as an editor on Ridley Scott's "Gladiator." His only previous film as a director was "Greek Pete," which he describes as "a micro no-budget feature, a docudrama about male escorts in London."
Next up: He's planning a remake "of an old French film that we're trying to get the rights to."
John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.co
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