INT: Dan Reed

How did the casting of Gillian Anderson come about? Did you pick her (if so why)
or was she imposed on you?

Hell no, she picked
me! The lead character in Straightheads is a confident, charismatic loner, an
ice-cool lady in her mid-30s. She has a real edge about her, this is a woman
unafraid to take risks, be reckless even, because she’s always in control. I’d
seen Gillian in House of Mirth, a period movie from 2000, and in a few X-files
eps and I had this overwhelming feeling that she’d be perfect for the part. I
couldn’t even think of another actress who could inhabit that role. When I sat
down for coffee with her in Notting Hill in London my heart was in my mouth.
Then she rolled a cigarette, looked up at me and said she loved the script…

This is your second theatrical feature film. What we’re the major differences
between shooting Straightheads and say, a TV Movie or a TV show?

It’s my first
theatrical feature. On a low-budget film like this the technical set-up is
similar to a TV drama of the same budget, but the difference was that we were
playing for much higher stakes, and with a much darker script than you’d be
allowed to shoot for TV. Everyone gives it that little bit more because they
know it’s for the big screen.

Did the screenplay change much throughout production? If so what was altered and
why?

I sat down and
wrote Straightheads over a six-month period, which encompassed 1^st
and 2^nd drafts. The 2^nd draft jumped out pretty much in
one piece. The financiers were really hot for it and decided to go into
development, and attach first one producer, then a second. Over the next three
years the screenplay went through more than 25 drafts and I received literally
hundreds of pages of notes representing the input of 17 different people.

What changed in the
course of all these drafts was 1/ the dialogue (this was given to someone else
to rewrite, in a less oblique, more TV-drama style – but actually there’s very
little dialogue left in the finished cut); 2/ the end of the film, which is much
“harder” and more brutal in tone than in earlier drafts and 3/ the entire middle
of the film was cut out, including many more scenes between Alice (the Gillian
Anderson character) and Heffer, the man who rapes her, in which she stalked him
and got closer and closer – unhealthily close in fact.

What was the more arduous obstacle you encountered during the shoot?

The cold, the mud
and the rain. Straightheads was originally written as a summer film, but we
ended up shooting in the dead of winter. Gillian and Danny Dyer the male lead
had to shoot their first sex scene, which was set in a forest, in temperatures
well below minus 5 degrees Celsius. Gillian wore a diaphanous silk dress. We
surrounded the “sex tree” with huge gas heaters blasting warm air, and that
seemed to work, though we couldn’t get the blowers too close for fear of
ruffling her silk dress. Later on we had to post-synch the scene, moans, gasps
and all – which Gillian and Danny recorded separately.

Would you say that the film is graphic in its violence, more suspense oriented
or a bit of both?

A lot of people
who’ve seen it come away feeling it was an incredibly violent film. There isn’t
that much violence in the film, but there’s an atmosphere throughout that’s
paranoid and hostile. I guess it’s just the shocking rawness of the violence
that does occur, which upsets people.

Word as it that Gillian Anderson has a steamy love scene in the film. How steamy
is it? Trust me, my readers and I want to know!

There are three sex
scenes between Danny and Gillian, getting progressively rougher as Danny’s
character sinks into a sexual crisis. I think quite a bit of steam will be
generated by all three.

What’s easier to shoot for you; a love scene or a tension laced sequence?

A love scene – much
harder to control and you’re at the mercy of the chemistry (or lack of it)
between the actors. Fortunately Danny and Gillian got on together very well and
there was plenty of on-screen chemistry between them.

Did you keep the film’s impending DVD release in mind while shooting it? Did you
prepare some weighty extras for the disk while on set? If so, what will they be?

When you’re on a
really tight filming schedule it’s almost impossible to devote time to the
extras – though the DVD will have plenty to keep people interested in the way of
making-of footage and interviews, deleted scenes, a commentary by Gillian, Danny
and me, etc…

What’s next for you; any other features in the works?

I’m writing a
couple of low-budget features right now and also working on ideas for a big
genre movie.

Is a Sraightheads sequel feasible in your mind?

Yes. But let’s see
how this goes down first.

What do you hope audiences will say after stepping out of a Straightheads
screening?

I need a drink –
badly!

Thanks for the straight talk Dan and break a leg with Straightheads! BRING IT
TO OUR SHORES ALREADY!

VISIT THE OFFICIAL STRAIGHTHEADS SITE HERE

VISIT
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