Interview - Simon Rumley

Red, White and Blue is a hard hitting, psycho-sexual tale from British director Simon Rumley which has played to packed houses across the US and the UK at various film festivals and consequently garnered rave reviews from many a critic with its unflinching take on life. It's currently on a limited theatrical release in the States and I sat down with the director to discuss the casting process, the problems within the UK film industry and the beautiful city of Austin, Texas:

For the first hour I wondered where it was going. It had been deemed a horror movie and even though the experiences of the protagonists were horrific, it didn't adhere to horror convention. Then the final 40 minutes blew me away. How difficult was it to get the pacing just right in a film like this?

Once I read the script then the film usually just follows but we were certainly aware that it was a film of two halves. In fact we described it as Larry Clark meets Wes Craven and in the context of my last three films – which were very much Richard Linklater or Eric Rohmer in style – the second half is more like a genre film. So there are things in terms of editing, camera work and music...

The score was fantastic by the way...

The composer Richard (Chester, who also composed Rumley's previous movies) and I have worked together four times now and he's always an integral part of my films, but getting back to your original question, the camera literally doesn't move for the first hour. In fact I think the first time it moves is when Erica (Amanda Fuller) is being abducted in the country bar. The camera is being pushed forward by Noah Taylor's character in the second half so that's one way the pacing is affected – it's a very sparse film up until that point.

Amanda Fuller is again a real stand out in this film. She gives an incredibly vulnerable performance, did she audition for the role or was she in mind from the start?

I spoke to three actresses, some known, that were intrigued by the script but in the end said no. So we tried casting in Austin, Texas when we were there but in the end we did an open casting in LA. We had about 50 people read for the part but Amanda was the only one that from the first time we saw her do her stuff it was obvious from the movement in her face and the emotion conveyed even in the audition that she was the one for the role.

As I said she really puts herself out there. Physically its tough, she wears no make up for instance...

She was amazing. A fantastic actress, a lovely, instinctive person – which not all actors are. But she understood the role and the character. She really connected with her. Amanda had watched my previous film (The Living and The Dead) so she trusted me and the cinematographer Milton Kam and was an intelligent person to work with.

Was Noah Taylor the person you always wanted for the role of Nate?

He was the first person we actually cast. We made a list of names of who we wanted for the role and he was one of the top ones and I was really keen to work with him. I mean he's won the Australian version of the Baftas five times! But he's open to working to a tight schedule. I got in contact with his agent and asked if Noah could read the script in the next two days before I head to Austin and if he liked it could he meet with me a few days after that and then could he make a decision quickly. The agent said yes to all of it!

He wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be another Hostel or Saw in terms of gratuitous violence. I assured him it wouldn't be and he came on board. It was fantastic for me because I've been watching him since the age of 16 in films like the year my voice broke and always wanted to work with him.


Why did you choose Austin as the location for Red,White and Blue? It's got a big film fraternity down there...

A few reasons really. One being that my last few films have all been made in the UK and unless you want to make some kind of gangster movie or a period drama it doesn't seem there's a lot else out there. At the moment there's nothing original coming out of the place. Also, England isn't seen as a world class film playing nation. So if you're doing an indie film at the best of times it's difficult. I think for an English film to work you need to get distribution in the UK and then they have to do a good job marketing it and then there's word of mouth – there are constant hurdles. You're relying on distributors who don't get behind your films.

So I wanted to go to America because it's where you need to go if you have any ambition to make films frankly. At least you know if its American it has more chance of getting out there.

I picked Austin specifically because my last film The Living and The Dead played at Fantastic Fest a couple of years ago and went down well. I stayed with Carrie and Tim League and when you get on the circuit you tend to see the same people at the same events so we all made friends pretty quickly. At some point I said to Tim “If I come to Austin to shoot a film would you help me out?” He replied “Yeah, but I'm not going to give you any money but i'll do anything else.” When you talk about the Austin film community Tim's a lynch pin. I knew if I had him behind me then he could sort out a lot of things in a way that someone who had just stepped off the plane from England couldn't. He was invaluable. For instance he used his cinema website to source a car from the locals for a specific character.

It sounds like an Austin community effort...

It really was. Everyone is really friendly. It's kinda the lost bastion of hippydom but in a positive way. Austin is between Hippy and Punk. People are creative and they're doing it because they like it rather than they want to be successful. Money isn't an issue, folk hang out and dig creativity. It's a lovely place in that respect. There aren't many places like that in the world anymore.


Red,White and Blue is currently on a limited release in across the US and is also available On Demand from IFC Midnight films.