Paul Andrew Williams (The Cottage) Interview
So, what is the film about?
In a nutshell it’s about two brothers who have kidnapped a young but interesting girl and taken her to this cottage in the middle of nowhere. It all goes a bit crazy and they end up somewhere special with this nice farmer who does crazy things.
What inspired you to write this story?
Originally I was intending to write a film that cost no money and was all set in one location—that was the first section of the film involving the kidnapping. For the second section I got a bit carried away!
I was always interested in the relationship between brothers. I think without this relationship the film would be pretty boring. The reason I wrote about two brothers is because siblings argue and talk to each other in a very different way. There is always a certain bond that no matter how stamped on it gets, it will always be there.
Has the film changed much over the years?
Yes, the story changed but quite a long time ago, even before I shot London to Brighton. Tracey was originally 40 years old and Andrew was her husband. But it was felt that Tracey should be younger. At first I was very annoyed and reluctant, but then Jennifer (Ellison) read for the part and I thought she was perfect.
The dialogue itself has always been there though to be honest there was probably more dialogue in the first draft. The first half of the film is a character and story build, whereas the second half is carnage.
The script was recently revised to add more horror elements to the beginning, but after shooting most of those changes we decided in the edit that the film works much better as a tale of two halves.
Why a horror film?
It’s not really a simple horror film. Obviously it’s got the horror, certainly in the second half, but for me it’s still a character story. It’s still a story about these two brothers and their journey. It’s all about the people and the dialogue. The horror element only works due to the fact that we’ve got a story, and we’ve got characters that we care about.
That’s the thing. If you don’t have a story then it doesn’t matter how much blood and gore you’ve got, people are going to eventually switch off. You need a good story and characters you care about.
How did the characters evolve?
The idea with this film was to do something that was a bit different from your usual horror fare and to not have your typical young attractive cast. For me they all had to be different, I wanted the audience who would see the film to ask “Who are these guys? Why are they all together in such a weird combination?” For example with Andy (Serkis), he’s the straight man of the film. He’s the person that holds the other characters together and because of the way he is, Reece (Shearsmith) and Jennifer (Ellison) and Steven (O’Donnell), have much more freedom to be the way they are. All the characters are very different and all the actors are very different in their approach. It’s a really nice ensemble cast because there isn’t really a lead.
And the Farmer? How did you come up with him?
I think it felt natural that if you were going to have a crazy psychopath in the middle of the countryside it would be a farmer who had had a farming accident… it’s all pretty ridiculous really.
How did you go about choosing your cast?
I actually met Andy about four years ago when we were first trying to make The Cottage and I thought he would be great for the role of ‘David’. Many blonde-haired young women were suggested to me for the role of ‘Tracey’, but Jennifer was the only one I wanted to audition. She read for the part and blew me away. I actually originally wrote the part of ‘Peter’ with Reece in mind. Not only is he, as everyone is in the film, a very gifted actor but he brought something funny and likable to the character. And when Steven O Donnell walked into the casting room he got the part before he opened his mouth!
Did you always plan to direct it?
I always knew I wanted to direct it. So I was directing it in my head when I was writing it. But when you come to actually do it,it’s completely different. There are some scenes that are similar to how I had them in my head, but once you get the actors in and once you get a camera in, you find you can’t do it this way and you have to do it that way—it all changes. It’s good being the writer because there’s an element of control that you have, but then there’s also the responsibility—only one person will get the blame and that’s me, for both the writing and direction.
What do you think it brought to the film to shoot on real locations vs in a studio?
I think the fact that we’ve got such an expansive set, that it’s countryside, that it’s natural, that we’ve found such great, real locations rather than shooting it in a warehouse is a complete bonus. The elements were at times against us but it’s all set in two locations: the cottage and the farmhouse. We had a great production design team and they’ve done a really great job on both of them but obviously, what they had to work with originally were these great shells of buildings.
What can audiences expect?
Something interesting and something funny, something very different from my last film. I hope they have a good time. This is not meant to be terrifying. It’s meant to be a ghost train or a rollercoaster. We want people to be scared but laughing. Getting horror and comedy to work together is really difficult. It’s not easy because you’re asking people to feel two very separate emotions at the same time.
What are your plans for the future?
I want to continually do different stuff. I like watching lots of different types of films so I would like to make different types of movies. But realistically, in order for a film to work, it’s about the story and the characters and the performances, whatever genre you pick. So for me it’s just about finding something that’s good, that will attract great actors and will work as a story, regardless of what genre it is.
The Cottage is released in UIK cinemas on 14th March 2008.
