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Nick and Garth – The Interview (part 3)
Jim: Can you tell us the budget of the movie and how this is affecting the way you’re shooting the film?
Nick: “Do I have to? I always get a bit funny about that. I’m not going to tell you a figure – yet – because we’re still working stuff out on that. It’s a very, very decent amount of money to make this film but it’s not necessarily up there with the Harry Potters and the Batmans and things like that. One of the reasons why this film is being made – and is being made by us – is that Garth and I approached it with a certain ethos and a style which actually finally persuaded the Studio to say ‘go’. Whereas I think before everyone, as far as studios are concerned, was just struggling because no-one could really work out a way to make this film without it a Titanic-sized budget.
“For us, it wasn’t even, ‘Oh God, we haven’t got enough money to make this film’, because there is money there. For us, our approach to the vision of this movie is one that means it can be done. It can still stand up and look just as good as any Batman or anything else. But because of the material, because of the style in which Douglas wrote the piece, it means we can be a lot cleverer with it and not so gratuitous. I think it would be wrong for this film to be all about ‘Ooh, look, here’s a great new special effect’ and ‘Look at this fancy CG pan over a city.’ Because that was never what Douglas was about.
“Unfortunately I never met the man. I wish I had, I feel like I know him from meeting people like Robbie and all of Douglas’ family. One of the things that I love about this material is that it’s all in the detail. It’s all about the little things and the human aspect of this fantastic world that Douglas created. So for us, that’s what it’s got to be about. It’s got to look great, but the characters and the underlying messages need to come through foremost.”
Jim: And presumably the comedy.
Nick: “Ah well, there’s a bit of that. With the material, I don’t think we’re going to have a problem with that one.”
MJ: Although most speculation has been about the cast, you’ve also got to assign principal crew. The two people who determine the look of a film are the cinematographer or DP and the production designer. Can you say who’s doing that?
Garth: “Yes, I can tell you that. The production designer is a chap called Joel Collins. He is someone who we’ve worked with for eight years, nine years. We’ve done pretty much all our work with him for that period of time. The same goes for the DP. His name is Igor Jadue-Lillo. They’re both part of our family, the crew that we’ve always worked with and that we’ve pulled forward into this movie.”
MJ: Will you be shooting on film or doing a George Lucas and using this modern DV stuff?
Garth: “No, we don’t want any of that modern DV stuff here. We don’t want that here! It’s lovely 35mm widescreen film. I love it when you sit down to a film and the curtains go back just that little but wider.”
Jim: You said how much you enjoyed the script, but is there any pressure to dumb it down from up high in the studio?
Garth: “No, that’s been the wonderful thing. I kind of answered this indirectly earlier with the fact that I was worried that’s what they would have done. But we found that everyone’s gone out of their way to give it a structure that makes it a satisfying film but not lose any of the intelligence. I think people care about it a lot, even people at the studio who won’t actually be working on it directly are so passionate about it. No-one wants to screw up something that they all love so much.”
Robbie: “I think that’s really worth stressing – that it’s everybody involved. Obviously there are issues and things that need to be resolved but we’re not swimming against the tide of Studio indifference or misunderstanding of the material. Disney, Spyglass, everybody involved is determined to let it breathe and allow it to come to the fore.”
MJ: What about the music? Are you going to use ‘Journey of the Sorcerer’ and, assuming that you finish on prehistoric Earth, are you going to finish off with ‘What a Wonderful World’?
Garth: “We’ll be working with a composer but none of that’s confirmed yet so I can’t talk about it. As far as the original theme music goes, can I just say it will be in there somewhere. I think there are certain things like that that are going to be very, very useful, wonderful things to bring into the movie at some stage. As for ‘What a Wonderful World’, I’m not sure about that.”
Jim: Can you tell us how you’re going to be doing Zaphod’s other head? Do you think you’ll be able to improve on the BBC’s effort?
Nick: “There’s no way anyone can improve on that! What are you talking about: you want more than that?”
Garth: “Can I say, we’ve come up with a really nifty way of doing it and it looks fantastic, but can I keep that a secret for now?”
MJ: Talking about keeping secrets, news has been dribbling out, of varying degrees of accuracy through various unofficial or accidental channels. How much control are you trying to have over what news is released and in what order?
Nick: “There are ways in which you can send things out. We are going to have a website set up very shortly, even though we have been promising it on our own website for a while. It is coming. We just have to go through the logistics of getting it up and running. What we will do is: anything that is official we will put out on that website. One thing that Garth and I often feel is that sometimes you want to go and actually see the film and not know too much about it. You want to get a surprise, you want to enjoy the magic of what happens there and then. But I definitely think there will be certain things that we are putting out there. Because it can only help with getting this movie going and it will be fun to get reactions from people on stuff as well.”