"I
thought Summer Rain was fresh, entirely engaged with
the real world, and beautifully shot. Congratulations."
Nicholas
Hytner, Director of the National Theatre, The Madness
of King George,
The Crucible & The History Boys.
An
interview with Jonathan Glendening on BRIGHT FM in
1999, when he was trying to raise money to complete SUMMER
RAIN.
How
did you come up with Summer Rain?
My
friends were making gritty, violent films and I wanted to be different.
My friend Joe Farr had written a sweet short called 'Pull My Daisy'
which I was toying with making, but I wanted it to be more relationship
based. I had just split up with a long term girlfriend in 1994,
and I thought I had a good angle on 'breaking up'. This was in the
pre-"Friends" era, so it was an original idea at the time
to put a group of girls and a group of guys in a common enviroment,
in this case Brighton and see them work out their relationships.
Sadly, in the time that it has taken me to get Summer Rain out into
the world, Friends has come and gone, and the idea is cliche'. At
least we tried to do some different things.
Like
what?
Well,
we start the film with the break up, that's kind of unusual.
It's a five year relationship and we come in at the end
and discover these characters as individuals rather than
as the couple that I hope the audience are rooting for to
get back together. We actually tried to avoid a typical
plot, which for a first film is very risky and just opens
you up to critisism, I wanted to observe the dance of relationships
in your early twenties by watching a group. That of course
makes things difficult, without any obvious 'hero' character
and thus plot. Multi character, episodic films are difficult
to pull off and perhaps not the wisest choice for a first
feature.
Anyway,
it's also unusual for a romantic comedy that I don't deliver the
ending that perhaps the audience is expecting, but I'm hoping that
it fulfills their emotional requirement anyway. That's kind of the
moral of the film that life might not deliver what you wanted or
expected but what it gives you could be just as good, if not better,
it'll just be different and its up to you to make it work for the
best. It's an uplifting film based on dashed expectations.
How
is it different from other British films?
Well,
it's not set in the Richard Curtis world of toffs
and toffettes, I like Richard Curtis's work by the
way. It's not gritty, druggy or another gang land
thriller. It hasn't any token American stars in
it, although I would have liked one! It's a world
away from Trainspotting (which I love by the way),
I just wanted to show a never seen side of the UK,
good looking kids, living in a fairy tale England
of golden sunsets, just how I remember my youth,
without red double deckers passing Big Ben.
You
mention fairytales, the film certainly has a fantasy feel with the
photography.
Well,
I set out to make a fairytale about the twilight of youth and turning
into an adult. So it's a fairytale Brighton of sunshine and sunsets
shot brilliantly by Peter Wignall. I put a fun comic book acting
style in front of it, on which to paint the real emotions of breaking
up and moving on. I wanted it to be like a memory of hanging out
with your best friends; that's why the acting isn't particularly
realistic - this isn't a Mike Leigh film, it's a graphic novel about
growing up and moving on.
The
two principal boys are graphic novelists is that significant
then?
They
are just artists, living the Brighton life and not jobby
exec types which lends itself to the conflict between
Gary and Michelle, and thus the conflict of 'growing
up', to live the Brighton life of fun and art, or get
married and get a proper job. Also, for graphic novel
read film maker for the biographical part of the screenplay.
You
have two artists, and two jobby types for the male leads,
significant?
Absolutely,
its an illustration of that conflict of growing up.
They were supposed to be two sides of the same coin.
Blokes of the same age, living similar lives, in the
same town but with different angles on life. Different
but the same.
Similarly,
the boys all represent different angles on boyfriends, the heartbroken
one, the wise one, the unlucky one, the womanizer and with the villain
Neil, the bad stalker type of boyfriend. Similarly the girls fulfill
similar functions of illustrating different characteristics that
take a journey towards adulthood through the choices that they make
through their love lives and attitudes to work.
You
mentioned a lack of an obvious hero character was that
difficult?
Yes,
as obvious heroes tend to bring a plot with them!
No Paul Vaughan Evans did a great job of translating
his wimpy character into a charming and likable bloke
who happened to be cut up about his ex. I was quite
worried about the audience not liking him though as
he just whines through the film, but in the end he
comes to Becky's rescue fighting off Neil the bad
guy in our token action ending.
But
he loses that fight.
Yes,
but the heroics was in the fact that he tried! It was
also about defying expectations though, as Chris Rieley
would say 'take the brick challenge'.
Why
isn't there any rain in Summer Rain?
The
budget. The big beach party was supposed to be interrupted
by rain, hence Michelle and Michael (notice the similarity
between names meaning they were meant to be together),
run into the bandstand to take cover from the downpour
and thus they kiss. However, the budget meant we could
never afford a rain machine. In fact the budget dictated
an awful lot of how we shot the film, scenes that
were cut, kept and enhanced. Unlike many low budget
films we again made life very difficult for ourselves.
For example, Reservoir Dogs is more or less set entirely
in a warehouse thus limiting the budget. Although
our budget was pocket change compared to even Dogs
we set out to make a fast paced film that changed
location every couple of minutes to somewhere entirely
different.
So
we were a multi location shoot and that takes such a toll
on your budget. Every location change is at least 2 hours
taken out of your shooting day, and shooting days cost money.
So I like to think that when people watch the film they are
taken aback by how expensive the film looks, in that we go
to loads of locations and try to make each shot look beautiful
and very expensive although we only had fifty pence in the
bank.
Where
did the title come from?
It's
a mood title, happy / sad, reservoir / dogs, summer
/ rain. It's also a Belinda Carlisle song I like, but
I think Chris suggested it. My title was 'Brighton Girls'
which sucks. I was going to use the Belinda Carlisle
song at one point for the end credits but of course
we could never afford the rights. In a way the lack
of money led to us using an entirely based Brighton
soundtrack as local unsigned bands were keen and enthusiastic
for us to use their music. Of course in a film starring
Brighton actors, made by a Brighton crew, filmed entirely
in Brighton, it obviously helps enhance the Brighton
mood using Brighton music, - so not being able to afford
Belinda was a blessing, not just because of credibitlity
in the 2000 and whatsits.
You've
called Summer Rain "the Apocolypse Now of Romantic
comedies" why?
Because
like Coppolla making 'Apocolypse Now', not that I'm
in anyway shape or form as talented as Coppola, I
feel like I was in the jungle for years making this
film under the most difficult of conditions as seen
in Eleanor Coppola's "Notes". We started
off with a tiny budget, trying to make a multi location,
multi character, ensemble film which was a huge ask
to start with. Then throw in an under budget, over
spend and suspension of filming. What? We were budgeted
at £200,000, spent £175,000 and then discovered
an investor pulled out, meaning we'd spent £25-35,000
more than we had with three weeks left on the schedule.
It was tough, and the most depressing thing I've ever
done was stop filming because you just assume that
would be the end of the dream.
I
then had to finish the film withing a certain
time period with the footage I had to fulfill
my obligation to investors and that was tough,
without a budget, in debt and then having
to incur more to try and edit the thing.
It's
only because of Ben Beaumont that I came through
that period intact, he was an angel and I
owe so much to him. Fortunately because of
Ben's help the film was finished, and with
him editing on Linear video, which is a skill
in its own right, I had a finished film "Brighton
Girls" and a promotional trailer. With
both tools I was able to raise the completion
finance with Stephen Salter who has been another
unshakable, unflappable pillar of support.
Then to finish "Brighton Girls"
as "Summer Rain" to fulfill my original
creative vision I would not only have to pay
the existing debts, but raise enough money
and credit to shoot for another three weeks.
Hugh Whittaker and Tracey and David and Panavision
agreed to help, as did Pat McNally at Lee's,
Deluxe, and Mike Fraser at the now sadly defunct
Mike Fraser's limited. Without their agreements
I couldn't have embarked on Summer Rain part
2. I also had the stroke of luck that my friend
Adam Betteridge had joined the film's finance
company and was able to not only smooth some
ruffled feathers and matters of mutual disagreement
that existed between us but make finishing
the film in its "Director's Vision"
of mutual benefit to all parties even though
"Brighton Girls" was a done and
dusted deal. Then even after filming,
I
had the job of trying to find an edit facility
to either accept credit or let us in at weekends,
and that was another big ask. Sadly for me,
Ben was being successful and unable to finish
editing Summer Rain - but that led to another
great editor relationship with Iain Mitchell.
Like Ben, Iain devoted himself to Summer Rain
and edited on the never never, and in his
own free time, and often sneaked us into other
jobs edit suites to cut the film. That took
more weeks, months, years. I was under the
impression that if I cut the film as long
as possible, a distributor would see it, the
value in it and then pick us up, and by leaving
the film long their 'creative notes' and instructions
to cut, would then co-incide with mine. But
that didn't happen, all you get is distributors
saying 'it's too long, come back when it's
shorter' which was pretty unhelpful.
We also went down a lot of garden paths with
'interested' distributors who then lost interest
when deals were proposed. I also made a film
with 'no names' and I found that distributors,
especially in Cannes only asked 'Who'se in
it?' and when you can't answer with a star
name that was instantly the end of the conversation.
It's been a huge, long, learning curve. And
now the film is finally out on DVD, I feel
like I'm coming out of the jungle, and all
for "Hollyoaks the movie" - which
is my own self depreciating term which has
been used against me by some unoriginal critics
who can't think up their own lines. So yeah,
its been tough, and all without a regular
income, but the audience response and the
international awards have made it all worth
while. I have a lot of people to thank but
ultimately Ben Beaumont, Iain Mitchell, Stephen
Salter, Adam Betteridge and Adam Phillips
saved me and the film. I finally have Ian
Sadler of Eureka to thank for loving the film,
recognising it for what it is, 'a bit of fun'
and putting it out on DVD. Then of course
I have to thank Andrew Kirkham for doing such
a great job in designing the DVD and keeping
it true to the spirit of the film.
So
who likes the film?
Not
critics, they tend not to be in my target age
group and don't get that audiences love the
film. After all, it did win the audience award
at the Rome Independent Film Festival. Teenage
girls seem to love the film, as its about who
they are going to be, and who they want to be.
They seem to recognise a lot of themselves in
it although its about slightly older people.
English people don't seem to get the film as
willingly as the American audiences I've had
at film festivals. I think the Americans like
it as its familiar with its English language,
but exotic and unusual because of its English
accent and humour.
They've
not seen a bright, positive film about the UK before which
wasn't about Hugh Grant. Most of the films success has come
in the USA whether it be in Savannah, Cleveland, Oklahoma
or New York. American audiences get it, and of course screening
at the Savannah film festival was a great audience as Savannah
has one of the largest art colleges in the USA and Summer
Rain sold out two screenings in their beautiful restored
cinema. In the UK I find people in their late twenties and
early thirties like the film as it reminds them of their
University days, which is pretty much the fairytale memory
I was going for.
You
say Americans like the film but on the DVD there is "Summer
Rain Hits Hollywood" which clearly shows you having a miserable
time in Hollywood. Why include it on the DVD?
Well,
I wanted to show the reality of making an independent British
film. When you don't have finance or support its difficult
to promote your film and achieve the Hollywood dream and this
half hour documentary shows that warts and all. It's difficult
to break into the industry even when you have three Best Film
awards under your belt. I sent out what three or four thousand
invitations to producers, distributors and big shots in Hollywood
to attend my screening at a 179 seater cinema in Hollywood
and only three people on that guest list turned up. So I can't
even say that Hollywood hated my film, they didn't even see
the film! I hope that its a poignant film, showing how tough
this industry is.
I certainly don't want pity as I came away from that trip
with a very positive spin as some companies were requesting
to read my next screenplay, but it was tough. I also tried
to make that DVD feature fun and self mocking, and that
was the Spinal Tap-esque joke although again it seems to
open myself up to criticism from people who don't get it.
Still, this DVD feature has been shown at the DC International
Film Festival and the Bare Bones Film Festival in Oklahoma
to good reviews, so some people get it and I think its a
valuable addition to the DVD, although "Summer Rain
in the Big Apple" is just me and Charlie being stupid
in New York, no real message with that DVD extra other than
going to Festivals is fun.
So
what now? After 12 years is Summer Rain finally out
of your life?
Thankfully,
Summer Rain hs been a very positive experience.
I've made some wonderful friends, been around the
world and made a movie I'm very proud of despite
all the problems. I'm pleased it's over and can't
wait to make another film. I've written several
screenplays, two which have been optioned and of
course I have my dream project that I want to pursue
as my next film. In the meantime, I'm making a short
film with Charlie Watts that he has written called
'About Before'. I'm a staff director for StoneCircle
Productions and I've been editing various projects
for the BBC, so I've been keeping very busy. I think
I'll take a holiday though, just for a while, before
I come back with my next movie.
