ROARING FIRE FILMS
PRESENT
THE TICKING MAN
A rural action/thriller
Running time: 85 minutes
For further information contact: Steve Simpson Roaring Fire Films
T: 44 7976 428612 [email protected] “THE TICKING MAN”
INDEX
Cast List………………………………….. 2 Crew List………………………… ………. 3 Music Credits……………………………. 4 Synopsis………………………………….. 5 Production Notes………………………. 6 Production Company Info………….. 8 Cast Biographies………………………. 9 Directors Biography…………………… 11 Directors Filmography……………….. 12 Director of Photography Bio..…….. 12
1 “THE TICKING MAN”
Cast List
Peter……………….……… Alan McCafferty Jack……………………….. Aaron McCusker Hitman……………………. Ian Hanmore Marianne…………………. Harriet Hunter Barry………………………. Gavin Marshall Jenny……………………… Charli Wilson Ian…………………………. Simon Tait Stewart…………………… James Bryce Fran……………………….. Sheila Donald North……………………… David Paul Baker Bob………………………… Doug McFarlane Alex……………………….. Kevin James Kelly Betty………………………. Margo Croan Johnny……………………. Martin McGreechin Dan………………………… Roger Burroughes Phillip…………………….. Robert Rennie Maureen………………….. Linda Aitcheson Rev. Cartman…………… Billy Riddoch Gabrielle…………………. Alana Skrgatic Susan……………………… Marion Kelly Ian Muir………………….. Norman Simpson Sheila Muir………………. Suzanne Simpson Betty (voice)……………. Carol McLean-Smith Armed Response Unit…Angus McPake Simon Tomlinson Sam Williams
2 “THE TICKING MAN”
Crew List
Writer, Director, Producer…………….. STEVEN LEWIS SIMPSON Director of Photography……………….. IAN DODDS Production Manager……………………… TOM KELLY Sound Designer………………………….… JOHN L COBBAN First Assistant Director………………….. LOUIS STEFANO Second Assistant Director……………… ART VANDELAY Production Coordinator…………………. ROWAN AUST Sound Recordist…………………………… ANGUS McPAKE Boom Operator……………………………. SIMON TOMLINSON Dubbing Assistants………………………. KAREN ALEXANDER JAY D PENNEPACKER Production Designer……………………… ARCH STANTON Art Director………………………………….. SHARRON SAKILA Production Representative for First Scottish……………………………. HUGH LOCKHART Production Representative for Scottish Screen………………………… STEVE MACINTYRE Art Department Assistants……………… HENRIK I. SINGER ISAWAR KRIMIN AL HANGIM Props…………………………………………… MIGUEL SIMAO Special Effects Make Up………………… STEPHEN MURPHY Crossbow Handler………………………… TIM MUNDON Armourer…………………………………….. ARVALON STAGE ARMOURY Production Assistant……………………… MARIA EVENGELOU Animal Handler…………………………….. CHARLOTTE WILSON Catering………………………………………. AUSTAN ROW NED THOMAS LOUIS STEPHENS Drivers……………………………………….. LON WRIGHT WASU TANOR Pre-production Consultant……………. ED DOWDING
3 “THE TICKING MAN”
Music Credits
Music Composed & Arranged by STEVEN LEWIS SIMPSON & THE AUDIO NETWORK © & (p) Audio Network PLC
Additional Music
IN THE LAND OF THE PHAROAHS (CINEMA REMIX) by TAIT/REID/MACPHAIL/MCGAUGHRIN/WELLS/GEDDES/KILDEA/SHAW published by DOUBLE SIX/UNIVERSAL/ISLAND MUSIC LTD/COPYRIGHT CONTROL
IN THE LAND OF THE PHAROAHS (DARK TOURISM) by MACPHAIL/MCGAUGHRIN/WELLS/GEDDES/KILDEA/SHAW published by DOUBLE SIX/UNIVERSAL/ISLAND MUSIC LTD/COPYRIGHT CONTROL
DELINQUENCY (GARETH JONES MIX) by MACPHAIL & MCGAUGHRIN published by DOUBLE SIX/UNIVERSAL/ISLAND MUSIC LTD
all performed by V-TWIN courtesy of DOMINO RECORDS
CYCLONE by PAUL FOX & DUNCAN PATERSON (COPYRIGHT CONTROL) performed by FREE RADICALS
4 “THE TICKING MAN”
Synopsis
A drug dealer double-crosses and kills a drugs trafficker who imports drugs for him in the remote west coast of Scotland. The dealer gets arrested and finds out he was witnessed by a couple of local people. Sitting on remand facing life imprisonment while having millions of pounds of drugs with only two unnamed witnesses from the small rural village standing between him and freedom he decides to hire a Hitman to kill all the potential witnesses.
Outside a rural police station the hired Hitman starts a stopwatch, runs across a road, jumps into his car and goes screeching off down the road. He drives full speed through the barren country roads until he pulls up in a remote, one street hamlet, Bartoun. He jumps out the car and stops the stopwatch. It reads 28min 36 sec. We pull onto a poster advertising a village fair taking place in the next town that day and that a minibus shall pick people up from Main Street at noon. Through that morning we start to establish all the residents in the village.
At noon as people congregate on main street beside a mini-bus The Hitman walks down Main Street towards them pulls out a couple of handguns and starts shooting them. Once his initial attack is over he pulls out his stopwatch that has its countdown timer set at 28min 36 sec and starts it ticking down. This is the time he knows he's got to kill everyone in the village before the police can possibly get there. Pandemonium follows within the village as he methodically hunts down his targets and people frantically try to stay alive.
5 “THE TICKING MAN”
Production Notes
Script “Why shoot an action movie in Scotland?” this was the initial question writer/director Steven Lewis Simpson asked himself at the outset of developing The Ticking Man after all it’s far from being a hotspot of dramatic, life- threatening events. Its cities are safe and its countryside, sleepy. So it was to the root of what makes Scotland one of the last places for an action movie that got the premise rolling. What if a gunman entered a sleepy, remote, ordinary community in what is one of the most anti-gun cultures on earth. Within that Simpson saw the opportunity for tension.
“When you have this Hitman running amok in this remote village with the police half an hour away it becomes like the Terminator meets a western in that it is a lawless one street village being attacked by an untouchable force. Indeed it is the pure ordinariness of the residents with there own squabbles and feuds that makes the upcoming events so involving and shocking for the audience since it doesn’t feel like Bruce Willis is going to save the day. If the story was set in the USA then once the Hitman starts shooting then people would run to their sock drawers, pull out a 45 and start shooting back” (Simpson).
Once the premise was established then the structure had to be defined. “It was clear at the outset that this was such a monumental event to each individual in this tiny village that we’d have to witness the key events from all of their perspectives and so the free movement of time within the film allowed us to jump back those 30 seconds to another perspective” (Simpson).
The other thing explored was the idea that people don’t expect this sort of thing to happen so if they don’t see it but only hear it then the last thing they’d expect would be that someone was killing people, so the situation was set for some mundane reactions and for the events to come crashing in on peoples normality. “The police in an area like that would rarely have to deal with more than a speeding motorist so I chose to wrap some humour around their introduction to the events” (Simpson).
Casting The cast comprises of newcomers, veteran actors and a number of actors with whom the director had previously worked including leading actress Harriet Hunter who was extraordinary as the lead in Frog, which Steve Simpson produced. Other Frog cast members Sheila Donald and Ian Hanmore take prominent positions within the film. But most of all Steve knew he had an ace in his hand with Gavin Marshall with whom he had worked with a number of years before and was dying to work with again. Best known for his powerful portrayal of Begbie in the stage production of Trainspotting, Marshall has also a background as a trapeze artist and has an incredible physical presence on screen.
6 “THE TICKING MAN”
Production Notes (Continued)
“It was crucial that we had someone who could send a chill down the audiences backs while playing the utterly cold and immoral drug dealer who is behind the hiring of the killer” says Simpson “Although he is not on screen for most of the movie Gavin’s characters presence is felt throughout. After seeing this film producers should be tripping over each other to offer him some terrific roles”.
For the two young male leads Steve cast the experienced Alan McCafferty who had just starred in the heist comedy feature film, Pasty Faces as well as the newcomer Aaron McCusker who had just graduated from RSAMD in Glasgow and had landed a top agent in London while still at college. “Their styles were so different and that perfectly complemented their characters. As an actor, Alan is very special indeed. He’s intense, got great instincts and technical skill and could draw up some pretty powerful things whereas Aaron both on and off character has a delightful happy go lucky nature and a charm that rubs off on screen, which is a pretty rare quality to find in an actor” (Simpson).
Location The Ticking Man utilized a broad range of beautiful locations in the Borders and Lothian, which successfully doubled as the remote West Coast of Scotland. All the interiors and some exteriors were shot within Edinburgh without ever loosing the sense of the remoteness of the location. For the dramatic finale the production ventured further a field to Slains Castle in Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire. Most famous for being the place that inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula, the dramatic cliff top setting of the castle ruins fully achieved the tension required for the traumatic climax of the story.
The key locations of the hamlet and the ruined castle were combined together in a special effects shot that places the castle on the hill above the village even though the location is in reality 150 miles away. The hamlet in itself didn’t exist in the form portrayed as a number of other houses along the coast were digitally removed in post-production.
The film was shot rapidly over 19 days with a tiny crew. “ We worked fast and were a half a day ahead of schedule at the halfway point. But rain started getting in the way and at the end we came in bang on schedule. In our most monumental day we shot 13 pages of script in only 9 shooting hours. The smallness of the crew and the remoteness of the locations allowed us to fly though it averaging between 40 and 60 setups a day”. (Simpson)
“It’s funny that the reaction of the Reverends character in the film when he doesn’t pay much attention to the shots was just like the public when we were filming. We’d be firing off all these blanks in locations close to the public (with police approval) and those bystanders nearby all thought the shots were from something innocent and didn’t bat an eyelid, “pest control” said one.”
7 “THE TICKING MAN”
Production Notes (Continued)
Post-production It is in the editing that The Ticking Man most distinctly comes alive. The average feature film of ninety minutes has on average six hundred and fifty edits. The Ticking Man contains within its eighty-five minutes within the region of two thousand three hundred edits, placing its cut rate on a par with the likes of Natural Born Killers and The Wild Bunch. Add to that the complexity of the films split screen sequences as well as a number of effects sequences that will go unnoticed by the audience then one ends up with a film truly distinctive in its rhythm and style.
The music is formed through a similarly complex process with suitable segments of music edited into a tapestry that would create the right atmosphere for each sequence. A single scene might contain within the region of a dozen different segments of music combined together utilizing both sourced music and elements composed specifically for the film.
The Production Company
Roaring Fire Films (RFF) was established in 1993 to produce TIES, the first independent Scottish film of the nineties, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and winner of Best British film at Cherbourg Festival and has produced a range of projects since then.
The company's experience in low-budget production is unique within Scotland. Combining direct production experience blended with RFF's proprietor Steven Lewis Simpson’s initial experience working for Roger Corman’s highly efficient studio as well as the skills from his previous career as a stockbroker and financial advisor. The blend of financial experience, with a diverse film making talent and a broad knowledge film making process makes Simpson the perfect person to lead such an endeavour.
8
“THE TICKING MAN”
Cast Biographies
ALAN MCCAFFERTY – PETER Glasgow born, Alan is an intense, instinctive actor. After leaving school he immediately moved into acting, ending his studies with a stint at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He has gone on to be one of the most popular actors amongst the new wave of film-makers in Scotland appearing in numerous short films as well as sitcoms and commercials campaigns. His feature film debut was in a lead role in the heist comedy Pasty Faces that was set in Scotland, LA and Las Vegas.
AARON MCCUSKER - JACK Aaron was born on New Years day 1980 in New Jersey but after only three months his family moved to Armagh, Northern Ireland. After obtaining a National Diploma in the Performing Arts, he graduated with a BA Honours in Acting at the prestigious RSAMD in Glasgow. While still in his final year at RSAMD Aaron was picked up by one of the top talent agencies in the UK, Conway Van Gelder and quickly landed a lead in The Ticking Man. Further roles followed in the TV miniseries Murder, starring Julie Walters and directed by Beeban Kidron for the BBC as well as in the TV series Ultimate Force that starred Ross Kemp. Most recently he performed in the play Blind Sight for the Tramway Theatre. He currently lives in London.
HARRIET HUNTER – MARIANNE Edinburgh born, Harriet started acting at eight years old performing with the Nation Youth Music Theatre and she continued performing throughout her school years including intensive studies in the performing arts. Her debut film performance was in the lead role in the dark fairytale, Frog, The film received rave reviews and she landed a number of roles in short films as a result. Her style is distinct and she has a great ability to draw an audience into her own private space. More recently she has been busy in the theatre with her most recent performance being Hermia in A Midsummers Night
Dream. The Ticking Man is her feature film debut.
9
“THE TICKING MAN” Cast Biographies (Continued)
GAVIN MARSHALL - BARRY An actor and circus performer of 13 years experience, Gavin’s performing work has taken him from continent hopping with the Circus to playing Begbie in the West End production of Trainspotting. On the fringe he has devised and directed a number of circus, cabaret and club entertainments, has acted in Rep theatres all over the country and worked with directors such as Steven Berkoff, Michael Boyd, Mark Bramble and David Glass. Gavin recently spent a year acting in the RSC’s Olivier Award winning Henry VI trilogy, returning to choreograph aerial work in last year’s productions of the Tempest and Pericles at the Roundhouse in London, for which he was short-listed for the Circus Category of the 2003 Arts Foundation Award. Last year he also assisted on Camden’s outdoor spectacle Tumbling After as well as writing an original screenplay The Witch In The Stone Boat. He worked as movement director on Linda Marlowe’s shows Berkoff’s Women and Diatribe of Love before being asked to write and direct No Fear! which is currently at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh and will be touring during the Autumn. He has had various parts on TV and The Ticking Man marks his feature film Debut.
IAN HANMORE - HITMAN Ian came to acting later in life after already having varied careers. He studied his craft at Queen Margaret’s in Edinburgh and soon after established himself as a regular face in film and TV in Scotland. One of his first film roles was in Postmortem, which stared Charlie Sheen. His recent roles include parts in the acclaimed features Young Adam, Solid Air and The Magdalene Sisters.
CHARLI WILSON - JENNY Born in 1984 in Edinburgh, Charli is an already-accomplished actress with several impressive roles behind her -- in two other independent films, Lunar Girl and Beauty Fool, and in the Bafta-winning series, Jeopardy, shot in Australia for the BBC.
10 “THE TICKING MAN”
Biography - Steven Lewis Simpson
At 18 Steven Lewis Simpson was the youngest fully qualified stockbroker and trader in Britain. At 22 Steven moved to Los Angeles to work for the legendary Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures. He returned to THE UK in May 1993 and shot TIES, his first feature film, which he wrote, produced, directed, edited and financed through his company Roaring Fire Films, the production included four key crew members that had previously worked at Concorde Studio's.
TIES premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1994 and (amongst other festivals) was invited to HOF Filmdays in Germany, ("Ties" and "Shallow Grave" were the only British films invited) and to the Cherbourg Festival of British Film, where it won best British film. At that point attentions turned to "Pulse", a love story/thriller for which a promo was shot and which is currently being financed.
More recently Steven shot his first documentary TIMOR TIMOR in West Timor, Indonesia, which also marked his first co-production with the production/sales company Pretty Pictures in Paris. He produced and co-edited the award winning surreal fairy tale, FROG from director Steven Morrison, which recently screened on Canal + (France) and won the Frank Copplestone first time directors award at the Celtic F.F. He also associate produced the black comedy feature, RESURRECTING BILL.
Steven also dipped his toes into the music world with the release of two critically acclaimed albums featuring a track he collaborated on with composer/musician Future Pilot AKA. The collaboration continued with Steven directing two videos for his second album.
1999 also saw him commence shooting A THUNDER-BEING NATION, on PINE RIDGE INDIAN RESERVATION. A feature documentary it covers the Oglala Lakota Indians attempts to re-establish they’re own nation to break free from the USA. Filming shall continue over the next four years.
He has just completed production as writer, director, producer on a feature, THE TICKING MAN, an action-thriller shot in Edinburgh and rural Scotland, which premiered at the Montreal Film Festival in 2003 and received an amazingly positive audience response.
Steven has many other projects in development and fourteen completed feature film screenplays.
“THE TICKING MAN”
Filmography – Steven Lewis Simpson
THE TICKING MAN (feature film) Roaring Fire Films/Scottish Screen/First Scottish (writer/director/producer/editor)
BEAT OF A DRUM & OM NAMAH SHIVAYA Roaring Fire Films Music videos for Future Pilot AKA (Producer/director/editor/photography)
A THUNDER-BEING NATION (feature-length documentary) (In production shooting from 1999 to 2005) Roaring Fire Films (Writer/director/co-producer/editor/photography)
FROG (film) Bureau of Strange Happenings (producer/co-editor) writer/director Steven Morrison Winner Frank Copplestone first time directors award
RESURRECTING BILL (feature film) St. Moritz Prods. (Associate producer) writer/director Faye Jackson
TIMOR TIMOR 50min (documentary) Roaring Fire Films/Pretty Pictures (Paris) (writer/director/producer/editor/photography)
PULSE 9min. (feature film promo) Roaring Fire Films (writer/director/producer/editor)
TIES (feature film) Roaring Fire Films (writer/director/producer/editor) Winner Best Film Cherbourg Film Festival
Biography - Ian Dodds (Director of Photography)
Ian Dodds has worked as a drama and documentary cameraman for over ten years. He has shot over 30 short dramas on film. Among the more recent shorts, ‘Frog’ (50mins), ‘To Whom it may concern’ (30mins) and ‘Best Man’ (20mins) have all won several awards. He has shot many broadcast documentaries in various locations around the world such as Belarus, China, Abu Dhabi and the Outer Hebrides.
‘The Ticking Man’ is the second feature he has photographed; the first was ‘To Xarama’ (The Dawn) shot in Greece on 35mm. He has written and directed 2 short drama films: “Seahouses” (20minutes) and “Breaking the Angel’s Back” (10 minutes). He has recently directed another short ‘Leila’ (20 minutes) written by Roxana Pope.
2