London Calling
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OST BUDDING FILM students limit themselves to making a nice, leisurely short film over the course of a degree. Not Thomas Ikimi. Whilst undertaking a writing degree at Columbia University he maxed out a $9000 credit card to fund his 2005 feature debut Limbo, balancing filming with his mid terms. Whilst so many are ashamed of their early forays, thinking back on it Ikimi still has a fondness for his debut. M‘When you watch Limbo, to film fans, the homage to the old school ’60s and ’70s paranoid thrillers is clear. I didn’t have much money, and I wanted to make something that was dynamic, challenging and interesting.’ The gamble paid off and after showing the film at the Cannes Film Market it was invited to open the Taormina International Film Festival in Sicily, where it screened with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. The reason that’s worth mentioning is that Ikimi cites Nolan as an inspiration and Legacy, his second feature (although he hastens to add that it’s his first professional feature), bristles with the same darkly psychological tone, narrative experimentation and creative verve as Memento. TEXT BY DEAN BOWMAN ‘My filmmaking influences are Alfred Hitchcock, Chris Nolan and Stephen Spielberg,’ says Ikimi. ‘There are elements of all three directors in Legacy, but I would say that the idea of a single room film came from both Hitchcock’s one room thrillers (Rear Window, Rope, Dial M for Murder) and Twelve Angry Men.” Despite being set in New York, where the film’s themes tap perfectly into the altered mentality following 9/11, Legacy was actually filmed in a Glasgow tenement. But whether it’s New York or Glasgow is beside the point, the important thing is the claustrophobic isolation of the set, where the protagonist is laid bare. Malcolm Gray is the former leader of black-ops unit Darkhammer, who find themselves up shit creek in the film’s opening sequence when they fall into the trap of vengeful gun-runner Solenko. They were seemingly sold down the river by Senator Darnell Gray, the man who formed the unit in the first place and Malcolm’s own brother. Now Malcolm wants justice, or failing that revenge. So in his darkened abode, shut away from the world, he spins his web, but it’s not immediately clear whether he is the spider or the fly. ‘Setting a thriller like this in one room without bells, whistles, SFX and CGI was always going to be tough. The film is about psychological process, and to bring that to life in four walls was an interesting experience.’ 18TH RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 31 What follows is not the standard revenge drama, but a study of the disintegration of one man’s sanity. No wonder Ikimi had trouble finding funding in the UK, with the now defunct UK Film Council only investing in proven genre pieces or Danny Dyer vehicles. Legacy was never going to fit in a satisfactory marketing pigeonhole, and so Ikimi turned to his native Nigeria and found funding there of all places. When we asked him if he was frustrated that he couldn’t fund his film in the UK he replied: ‘To be honest I was surprised, as the budget sought was so low that with the cast we had I thought some group in the UK would want to support a film like this. The reasons? I can guess at some, but who really knows with these things. I’d rather focus on my gratitude to Nigeria for stepping up to the plate and financing the project, than dwell over a lack of support in the UK.’ Malcolm Gray is played by rising star Idris Elba, who has been making a name for himself in British and American TV productions including The Wire for some years. ‘I sent him my script and a letter saying who I was and what I thought of his work and why I felt it would be good to work together,’ Ikimi explains. ‘Really it was all about him liking the script and what I was trying to do.’ Having got him on board most filmmakers would have played it safe, but as it’s becoming apparent Ikimi isn’t most filmmakers and so he decided to take another risk. ‘I initially wanted him to play the senator, based on his previous work. However, once we got talking, I decided that it would be interesting to go against type and have him play the lead character, who is as far removed from the kinds of roles he has played as you can imagine.’ This choice paid off, as Elba plays the role superbly; his stoic military training slowly breaking down through a pressure cooker of emotions and traumatic memories, to reveal a frighteningly fragile, isolated individual. Elba seems to have taken to this darker side, and since has gone on to play the troubled lead in the BBC’s psychological police drama Luther. ‘Thomas is great as a young director,’ says Elba. ‘He had a vision and he knew what he wanted. Oftentimes directors aren’t as collaborative as Thomas so I thought it was refreshing.’ Like his inspirations Christopher Nolan and Alfred Hitchcock, Ikimi has himself made the move from the UK to Hollywood where he has found representation. There just seem to be more opportunities for me in the US right now. I’m working on a heist and a sci-fi film. It would be good to do something in the UK, but really that depends on whether opportunities present themselves.’ Legacy screens on Friday 1 October at 7:30pm and will be followed by a Q&A with Thomas Ikimi 32 18TH RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL brochure ad_2010_raindance ad 04/08/2010 17:21 Page 1 Pearl & Dean proudly supporting independent cinema since 1953... www.pearlanddean.com 34 18TH RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL VERYONE IS ENTHUSIASTIC about the shoot and we are operating guerrilla- style: covering off the action with two shaky hand-held cameras. We are shooting on two Sony EX3’s, one has a pro-35 adaptor which allows us to mount 35mm film lenses the other has a mini-35 adaptor and we are mounting stills lenses on it. It is hard to follow focus on these lenses, but the look is lovely. The setting is intended to look murky and the style allows for slips in and out of focus. We fire Eoff at least 20 slates in about two and a half hours. This is a wonderful way to work. A lot of the crew, including myself, would be used to working on commercial shoots, where the storyboards have been signed off down to the smallest detail. We are accustomed to the attendance of a client who has numerous product, marketing and target audience concerns spinning around in their head. This morning, there are none of these concerns. I decide I want a high angle shot of the villain so we back up the camera van and Ivan (McCullough, DoP) and I climb onto the roof with the canon 550D and a 50mm lens. While we’re up there, we TEXT BY DIRECTOR BRIAN DURNIN devise a nice shot of one of the hanging florescent lights. We shoot this on a lens baby with the focus swinging in and out. It looks lovely and it’s probably my favourite shot. Luke Griffin, one of our lead actors, has been tied to the chair for the duration of the morning and very politely enquires if he might get a chance to have a pee. A true professional, he has been holding it in for hours (I feel it lends additional urgency to his performance). It seems we have all been suffering for our art. There is no toilet in the warehouse and it is only when we reach the lobby of the Quality Hotel that I remember Luke has a black eye, bloodied nose and split lip and that Gavin is dressed like a very threatening member of the Village People and is carrying a decommissioned (if we are to believe to guy who lent it to us) gun. When we wrap, I am looking forward to the edit. The crew has all given their time and effort for nothing, so we put out the offer of pints in the company’s local. The lads, especially the actors are really looking forward to seeing it. It’s good fun to do gigs like this occasionally. There has been a wonderful vibe on set all day and it has been entertaining to play around with guns and beat the tar out of a guy. Several days later the producer Paul Holmes informs me that the gun has still not been collected by the guy who lent it to us. It’s probably illegal for him to have it in his possession. I’m definitely going to stash it in his luggage next time we’re shooting abroad. 18TH RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 35 22 Bullets Quad_Layout 1 01/07/2010 17:14 Page 1 22 BULLETS A SINGLE MAN BAD LIEUTENANT CAMPAIGN: A SINGLE MAN DATE: 30 NOV 2009 JOB: QUAD REF: 140 CITY ISLAND COCO & IGOR THE INFIDEL THE DISAPPEARANCE HEARTLESS WHITE MATERIAL OF ALICE CREED ORGANIC MARKETING IS A SPECIALIST MARKETING AND PUBLICITY AGENCY OFFERING: MARKETING AND CAMPAIGN MANAGMENT PUBLICITY ONLINE PROMOTIONS DESIGN MEDIA Organic offer cost effective flexible solutions across the whole marketing mix – from single discipline to campaign management. For further information contact [email protected] 45-51 Whitfield Street, London, W1T 4HB T: +44 (0) 203 372 0970 E: [email protected] www.organic-marketing.co.uk Part of the Target Media Group Grange Hotels Supports The 18th Annual Raindance Film Festival Grange Hotels are proud to support the 18th annual Raindance Film Festival, which takes place this year from 29th September to 10th October 2010.