Eden Lake - Filming the movie

Eden Lake is a terrifying new British thriller from the writer of My Little Eye and The Descent 2, starring Michael Fassbender (Hunger, 300) and Thomas Turgoose (This Is England).

EDEN LAKE was shot between Sunday July 29th and Monday 10th September 2007 on location in Frensham Ponds, Black Park and Burnham Beeches all in the county of Buckinghamshire. Just prior to principal shooting producer Christian Colson had another project suddenly green-lit and started dividing his time between both. “But I realised I was spreading myself too thin”, he explains, “I was doing neither film any favours. So I needed someone with the utmost professionalism and easy-going personality who could take over my production duties on EDEN LAKE at such a late stage, quickly gain the trust of the crew and not annoy anybody in the process. That person was Richard Holmes”.

“EDEN LAKE isn’t my genre at all”, remarks Richard Holmes. “I’m the fluffy comedy man (Shooting Fish, Waking Ned). But Christian called me asking if I’d fancy doing it. I read the script and thought it was very tight and beautifully structured, lulling you in the beginning, then turning into a waking nightmare, with a totally unexpected ending. I heard Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reilly were attached. I liked Mike in 300 and Kelly really is Britain’s premiere actress at the moment. So Christian was clearly trying to do it properly and give it a real touch of class. Then I met writer/director James Watkins, a nice guy with a big brain who understood the dramatic breadth and what the genre allows with such material. So I was in and have loved every single minute of putting this viper’s nest of a story on screen”

That was mainly because Holmes found the core EDEN LAKE plot totally credible. “It’s a contemporary Lord of the Flies in my mind because it revolves around youth amok off an ethical leash. The violence is real, the tension palpable, the car crashes aren’t Jerry Bruckheimer glossy with art-directed flames. They are brutal and nasty. It’s easy to identify with Steve’s dilemma trying to reason with this unruly pack and everyone will empathize with Jenny having to murder her way out of trouble by doing the unthinkable”.

“We spent six weeks filming in woods”, recalls James Watkins. “It was a tough shoot, and really pushed the crew and the cast. Like all filmmakers, our ambitions were bigger than our budget and schedule. As a writer, it’s easy to write a fight scene or set someone on fire or wrap a jeep around a tree. As a director, you have to shoot it! Suddenly there are stunt people, special effects, ambulances, firemen, multiple cameras, and everyone looking at you for guidance. And you have one shot to get it right. It certainly focuses the mind”.

“I’ll say it now so no one is in any doubt”, volunteers Jack O’Connell, “Filming EDEN LAKE was like a fantastic holiday. It was summer, it was hot, we were by a gorgeous beach, we went swimming and I was in heaven. I’m from Derby and you have to travel miles to get to sand. But here was this lake just outside London – I thought you had to go abroad for that. I’d never seen a place like it. Plus we had BMX bikes on set, footballs to kick around, and a Rotweiler dog to play with. It was such hard work! I loved every minute of the shooting”.

“I’m with Jack on that”, smiles Thomas Turgoose. “It was a terrific shoot even if it did sometimes get a little cold in the woods. I could only work six hours a day because of union rules so I often got back to the hotel base first. But the cast got to go out every night to eat together and we could play loads in the games room. Michael Fassbender is one of the funniest guys in the world. Ultra-cool too. I never stopped laughing. On the last day of shooting Mike took us to Thorpe Park theme park, near Slough, and he went on a water ride with just his bike helmet. He was hilarious”.

Fassbender’s jovial off set personality really helped Turgoose cope during one of the more shocking on camera scenes. “Cooper’s darkest moment is when he stabs Steve in the mouth”, he explains. “Mike was tied to a tree stump all day, barefoot, cold and uncomfortable, but not once did he complain. It clearly wasn’t easy for him yet time and again he gave a great performance. I wasn’t looking forward to this scene at all but Mike’s hard work and good humour throughout meant it went smoothly. He always asked if I was fine because it was such a strong emotional moment for me and I really appreciated his concern”.

Cooper’s death scene also made Turgoose slightly anxious too as he recalls. “It was fantastic going to (special make-up prosthetic man) Paul Hyett’s workshop to get my head and shoulders cast in plaster for my neck stabbing. I was a bit nervous when Paul poured all the plaster over me because I felt like I couldn’t breathe properly through the nose straws. But I was so impressed by how lifelike it looked. I wanted to keep my head prosthetic as a memento but I wasn’t allowed to’.

He continues, “As it got closer to the time of shooting Cooper’s death I started getting really worried. I spoke to Kelly Reilly and she told me not to obsess about it or over-think it. She said she was nervous too but, as soon as James called ‘Action’, just to do what I thought was best. I did and it went really well. Kelly was very concentrated throughout the shoot because she had some really hard stuff. I didn’t like disturbing her too much while she was working because of that but she always had time for me and was really lovely to all the young cast”.

Jack O’Connell agrees. “Kelly and Mike were so professional and their experience really made EDEN LAKE sail along. I found it quite difficult to be nasty to her in character throughout the chase. But the hardest scene for me to do was the final shot where Brett smirks in his bedroom mirror wearing Steve’s sunglasses. He’s got away with everything. He might be upset about his friend Cooper being killed and his girlfriend run over, but that’s for another day. Not now. Looking into the camera lens without a flicker of remorse was very challenging”.

“Brett is such a selfish person anyway”, O’Connell continues. “He doesn’t get any TLC from his old man. He might look up to his father but his dad isn’t interested. For that reason he doesn’t act as clever around his dad as he does his mates. It’s all about Brett’s bravado on overdrive and the way he uses it to intimidate and manipulate his mates. Brett has relied on his dog Bonnie for affection for so long it’s a really sad comment on his home life. Bonnie has never let him down and that’s why the dog’s death is so traumatic for Brett. Steve is the only person he can blame and I found it quite easy to play that scene. It might not justify for the terrible chain of events that Brett then puts in motion but I could understand where my character was coming from”.

He adds, “Then, of course, it gets to the point where his gang have gone so far that they need to finish the job once and for all or really suffer the consequences. It’s not necessarily what they want to do but what they have to do if they don’t want to get caught. So when they see a chance of getting free by killing Jenny and Steve, they take it. That’s the only devious moral compass any of them show here – how not to get caught”.

So effective was Jack O’Connell in character he started scaring the crew according to Richard Holmes. “Jack can be incredibly frightening when he turns it on. One such incident proved it in spades. It was the scene where Brett forces Adam (James Gandhi) to light the funeral pyre and then pours petrol over him. Jack went for it big time, going out of control ranting. The violent atmosphere quotient went sky high and the crew didn’t know whether to be shocked by his abusive actions or show their appreciation for his acting dedication”.

Jack O’Connell cherished this impact on the crew. “The crew certainly looked at me differently after that”, he chuckles. He also loved his scenes with Brett’s pet dog Bonnie as he explains, “I’m a fan of big nasty dogs and especially love the Rottweiler breed. The only problem we had in this department was that the female Bonnie dog was played by male Klaus. We often slipped up with he’s and she’s in script context. Klaus was a sucker for frankfurter sausages. The dog trainer could have trained him for days to do an action, but if someone came along with a frankfurter he was anybody’s!”

“Because I was exactly the same age as my character, likewise Finn Atkins as Paige”, points out O’Connell, “We did ask James to pay special attention to our dialogue. After we made some suggestions he actively sought our input. I mean, we are actually teenagers and knew what we would and wouldn’t say. Normally I wouldn’t dream of airing my opinions to the writer of the piece. But he asked for it so I genuinely told him what I thought without being afraid I’d crossed the line”.

He continues, “James was brilliant to work with. He was always attentive to detail, and got the job done. I’m new to this game, but unless I missed the blatantly obvious I would have said James was already the total professional package”.

Kelly Reilly voices her approval for Watkins too. “EDEN LAKE isn’t all about the violent repercussions”, she offers. “James had exactly the right handle on the most touching moment between Jenny and Steve. Jenny doesn’t know until it’s too late that Steve has organised the weekend solely as a device to propose marriage. When he’s fatally injured and she tries to patch him up, she comes across the Tiffany engagement ring in his pocket. It’s an incredibly intimate moment, heartbreaking to play and sensitively done. Both Mike and I knew this scene had to count because it was all about what might have been, not the vicious reality of what is. Steve and Jenny’s rosy future is vanishing fast and it was as solid an acting piece as I’ve ever had to play”.

She adds, “James allowed my input into the script. Some directors I’ve worked with can be quite precious about that but he has actively gone out of his way to make me feel comfortable. Perhaps it is because he’s quite new to the game. With more famous directors it’s all about them. But it became obvious from Day One that James approached every scene and angle with fresh eyes, not from a jaded perspective at all”.

James Watkins points out, “I didn’t want the couple Jenny and Steve to be the usual bland Californian Ken and Barbie horror fodder. You know, the kind that has the audience wanting them to die. We had to care about them: we had to feel their love before we feel their pain. I deliberately kept the context on Steve and Jenny clipped and spare. I wanted them to be every young couple in the audience, making us always ask, ‘What would I do?’ Take responsibility or turn your back? Stand up or step away?”


Eden Lake will be released in UK cinemas on 12th September 2008.