Long in gestation, Terence Davies’s adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s classic novel, Sunset Song, follows a farming family who are struggling to eke out a living in northeast Scotland. Jason Wood, our Artistic Director of Film, speaks to the film’s producers, Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter.
Jason Wood: Sunset Song continues your ongoing collaboration with Terence Davies. How did you first come to work together and how much of your initial connection was based around your shared links to Liverpool?
Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter: In 2008 Liverpool was The European Capital of Culture, and the city council and North West Vision put a film fund together calling for three low budget film projects to be part of the year-long celebrations. We are Terence Davies fans and hadn’t seen any of his work for some time, so we went looking for a phone number to see if he would be interested in collaborating. We called and he said no.
A week later, Terrence was driving in London with his manager John Taylor and they were listening to Peggy Lee’s Folks That Live on the Hill. He had a vision of Liverpool’s slums being flattened to her song – and as it finished his phone rang. It was us calling to ask the question again, and this time he said yes. It became one of the most moving moments whilst making the film.
JW: Terence has been vocal in the past about how his ability to make films has been hampered, yet now he is becoming – speak it quietly – quite prolific. Of Time and The City, The Deep Blue Sea, Sunset Song and A Quiet Passion have all been completed since 2013. Do you think there has been a change to the extent to which Terence is acknowledged and appreciated as one of our foremost film artists?
SP and RB: The fall out with the public sector film establishment over ten years ago was a huge set back, as Terence had always relied on public film funds. After we made Of Time and the City, the new management at the BFI once again embraced him. When it was playing at festivals, where it was well critically well received, Islington’s Screen on the Green had a sign on their cinema saying ‘Britain’s Greatest Living Director’. Somehow, that sort of stuck and was picked up more widely, either consciously or unconsciously. By the way, it would be great to find out who was responsible for that! Interestingly, the last film we shot with Terence, A Quiet Passion, was for a large part privately funded (together with Screen Flanders and Belgian tax shelter money). I think this shows how his films are becoming more accepted by the wider industry.
JW: How did Sunset Song finally come about? It is a project Terence has discussed for some time? How were you able to bring the project to fruition, both in terms of financing and teasing out the key elements of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s novel?
SP and RB: When we asked Terence what he would like to do after Of Time and the City, he told us about his adaptation of Gibbon’s novel Sunset Song and how, with producer Bob Last, it nearly got it’s finance in 2000. We met Bob who suggested he would be the film’s executive producer, and then we went to get further support for the film. The first industry outfit to come on board were the international sales agents Fortissimo. As you know, a sales agent with such kudos can really put a heartbeat into a project, and that was the catalyst. We then did the rounds and found ourselves connecting with co-producer Nicolas Steil, who was looking for a quality English language project to put to the Luxembourg Film Fund. With this, we approached the BFI where Chris Collins (who has sadly passed – we dedicate the film to him) became our champion, and together with strong support from BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland, we got close to our required budget. Note I say close – for such an ‘intimate epic’ we never really had enough money. Production was not easy, and we decided to shoot on 65mm for the exteriors. Ho hum…
JW: Could you say something about the decision to shoot on 65mm film and Arri Alexa [a film-style digital camera]? It gives the film a very specific aesthetic but is also indicative of Terrence’s sense of precision and knowing exactly what he wants.
SP and RB: Terence has always described this as an ‘intimate epic’ where the landscape would be a character in the film. Production was difficult due to the constraints of the budget and the ambition of the script, not to mention the fact that we decided to shoot on 65mm for the exteriors to capture the epic quality Terrence wanted. We did tests on 65mm up in Scotland, projected the tests on film, compared it to the footage shot on Arri Alexa, then made the decision that we simply had to go with the 65mm for exteriors. The sweeping shots of Barley Fields in New Zealand and the Scottish exteriors do look spectacular, so creatively, it was well worth it for the extra spend on film. Sadly, with the exception of one reel that we want returned as a souvenir, the negative has to be destroyed since the real negative is now the 4K master.
JW: How did the casting come together for the film? The more established actors like Peter Mullan and Daniela Nardini blend perfectly with newer faces like Agyness Deyn and Kevin Guthrie.
SP and RB: The financing took so long on the film that some of the cast had to hang on for us for over two years. For Agyness Deyn, this was even longer. Our casting agents put some really interesting names together – mostly Scottish of course, since we had such an iconic book to bring to the screen. The very first person to audition was Agyness Deyn. She blew our socks off and Terence was in awe of how she brought Chris Guthrie to life.
Terence knew he wanted Peter Mullan and five minutes into their meeting he asked Peter to play the part of the father. Terence had no idea that Peter lived in Glasgow and had made the trip to London especially to meet Terence – at which point, Terence said “I would have offered this over the phone!” So Peter had to tell him “I’ve just spend £200 quid to get here!”
Terence has a keen eye for casting and he insists that everyone auditions. Apart from Peter Mullan, everyone did. Our casting agents threw the net very wide, and the part of Chris Guthrie’s mother was given to Daniela Nardini, who is simply heart-breaking in the role. But all the cast are spectacular; some are in their first major role, like Jack Greenlees.
JW: Could you tell me more about the co-financing with Luxembourg and the decision to use Luxembourg and New Zealand as locations?
SP and RB: Sunset Song is an agricultural story set in the farmlands of Aberdeenshire before World War One, so we knew we would need crops and a harvest. The film had to be organised so we could best represent all four seasons. At one point (when we thought the money was coming together), we were planning a summer shoot in Scotland and a winter shoot in Sweden, just to be sure of snow. As it turned out things got delayed, so we opted for a spring shoot in Scotland and headed to New Zealand to get the last of the summer and the harvest. Of course, when the crew got to start recces in New Zealand, the country was experiencing its worst summer rainfall for 100 years. Luxembourg Film Fund came on board as co-producers via Nicolas Steil, so to get their funding we needed to shoot our studio interiors there.
JW: When we last met we were on a panel discussing the Northern Powerhouse. It is something you are obviously very passionate about. What new opportunities are opening up in Liverpool? And in terms of industry and talent, is it exciting to see the North beginning to present a serious challenge to London?
SP and RB: We started talking to Liverpool City Council about film funding and a potential studio a few years ago. A lot of films come to Liverpool or Merseyside and that’s great, but to get more work that comes from the city, you need a base and a fund that acts as a carrot to attract producers. We would love to shoot a film in Liverpool, and with all the moves to set up a studio here, that dream is getting closer.
JW: Finally, what can you reveal about A Quiet Passion? I know that it features Keith Carradine, who is possibly my favourite actor of all time.
SP and RB: It’s a biopic about the great American poet Emily Dickinson, who is played by Cynthia Nixon. In support are Jennifer Ehle and Keith Carradine, who play Dickinson’s sister and father. It’s an amazing cast and a very funny script – like Oscar Wilde meets Dorothy Parker. Terence has given Emily Dickinson a wicked sense of humour, which is so unexpected but works brilliantly. And what can we say about your favourite Keith Caradine? He is an absolute joy to work with!
We managed to get private finance to develop and fund the film, together with Belgian tax shelter money and some Screen Flanders support. Europe is fast becoming a good place to take Terence Davies films, both to shoot and finance. We finished our shoot in Massachusetts around the very house that Emily Dickinson lived in (it’s now a museum). We’re hoping to find a major festival launch for the film next year.
Join us on Thu 3 Dec for a preview of Sunset Song, plus Q&A with director Terence Davies. Sunset Song opens on general release from Fri 4 Dec.