Helen Walsh is an English author responsible for four novels. Recently, she’s swapped books for cameras for her feature film debut The Violators. We caught up Helen to find out what inspires her creative process…
Helen Walsh
What’s your earliest memory of cinema/the theatre/the arts?
HW: Watching Rocky with my big brother, Guy. I was eight years old. It was the first film we ever rented from the newly opened video store in Latchford, Warrington. I was devastated when I learned that Rocky Balboa was a fictitious character, played by an actor.
Which living actor/director/artist do you most admire?
HW: There are too many… but in terms of consistency, I love all the films of Jacques Audiard. He takes his time but each film is an event: sensuous, masterful and visually explosive.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
HW: It would be an intimate party: Jean Luc Goddard, Woody Allen and the transgendered sex workers, Sin-Dee Rella and Alexandra, from Tangerine.
If you were stranded on a desert island, what one book/piece of music would you take?
HW: The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh. (ed Ronald de Leeuw). Much more than an insight into the artist’s inner life, this is a book about life itself and what it means to be human.
What has been your most difficult achievement?
HW: Making The Violators for such a modest budget.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
HW: On the night before I started senior school my dad said: ‘Listen, when you grow up you wanna be spending your time doing exactly what you want. You don’t need to be rich or successful, just make sure you’re not waking up each morning with dread in your soul.’
What’s your guiltiest pleasure (books, TV, music, etc)?
HW: The David LaChapelle/Hozier film of Sergie Polunin, the bad boy of ballet. Heavenly stuff. I must be responsible for at least 13 million of those youtube hits.
When you’re not at work, where are you most likely to be found?
HW: Drinking Liverpool Gin and arguing with my husband about the film we’ve just seen.
Helen joins us for a post screening Q&A of The Violators on Fri 17 Jun. Find out more and book tickets here.
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