David Bloom (Donkey Punch) Interview
Starring Jaime Winstone, Nichola Burley and Sian Breckin, Donkey Punch is a no-holds-barred horror/thriller that pushes the genre to its limits and dares to ask the question: Do you know what a Donkey Punch is? David Bloom is the film's co-writer.
After studying at the University of California Berkeley, London born David Bloom returned to Britain to embark on a successful career in advertising. He then went on to pursue his first love, comedy, selling out his stand-up show at the Edinburgh Festival two years running. David co-wrote Donkey Punch, his first feature screenplay, whilst studying for an MA in Screenwriting at the National Film and Television School. David’s projects currently in development include Clever which he is rewriting for producer Angus Lamont.
“Olly and I met about ten years ago. The Fulbright Commission had given him a scholarship to study at NYU film school and I had been given one for Berkeley. I got a job in New York after I’d finished studying and we shared an apartment. We’ve been friends ever since. I started at the National Film and Television School about 2 years ago. About that time Olly asked me to think about writing a film that could be made for under £1 million, so it would be easier for us to obtain the money and make it.
I had the idea while I was on holiday in the South of France. They have these amazing harbours which are full of beautiful shiny yachts worth about £4-5 million each and completely empty. I had a friend who had worked as crew on some of these boats and he had told me stories about how they were total ‘babe magnets’.
Then, on another occasion, I was at a very civilized stag do (bucks party). Everyone felt pressurised to be manly so were telling bawdy stories. Finally one guy says ‘Have you ever done a donkey punch?’ I’d never even heard of it before. Everyone was laughing but I noticed one guy was listening quite intently; you could tell he was taking it all seriously. As a writer I’m interested in group dynamics, and the idea that this guy was so eager to please the others that he might try it really interested me.
The other thing feeding into this idea were tabloid stories at the time about footballers accused of gang rape and filming each other having sex. It seemed like there’d been a change in sexual morality and behaviour that I just didn’t understand. It seemed like people in their early twenties didn’t seem that bothered by the idea of putting themselves online naked or having group sex. I wondered if that was real or just peer pressure.
So the idea of a small group of people trapped in a particular place is ideal for a low-budget film, and that’s what a boat gives you, a situation where people have to fend for themselves, where the rules of society are up for grabs. It’s the ‘Dilemma Thriller’, the ‘What would I do if that happened to me?’ narrative.
It took us six weeks to write the first draft of the script and then about a year rewriting it! Knowing you are going to be shooting so soon keeps you fast and focussed. We spent a lot of time playing it out; one of us would be on the floor and the other standing over pretending to kill them! We had a lot of laughs. And the great thing about writing the script with the director is that you know it’s going to be very close to the original. I was very lucky to have been on set for the whole shoot, and it is an amazing thing to see great actors totally inhabiting your characters. Their bravery was incredible. We were very inspired by Larry Clark and Neil LaBute. The film was dubbed by some ‘LaBute on a boat!’ I wanted to make a film about a world that nobody knew existed but that felt completely real. They are young and feeling indestructible. No-one is evil, they just make very bad decisions. And no one has super powers, they only have their street smarts. Underneath all the thrills it needs to be credible and intelligent with real decisions, situations where you could be either the victim or the perpetrator.”
Donkey Punch is released in UK cinemas on 18th July 2008.
