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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.

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