Kill List interview: director Ben Wheatley, plus stars Neil Maskell and MyAnna Buring

Kill List is a really interesting cross-genre film.

What was the starting point for the film?

Did you set out to make a horror movie?

Ben Wheatley:Theres a lot of different starting points, I think.

Theres one which is that we definitely were going to make a horror film after making a crime film.

We didnt want to make another crime film.

But I never think of them as criminals, theyre more like blue-collar soldiers.

Theres no geezer with gold chains who gives them the cash to go and do their stuff.

Then there was this thing.

Wed written a thing called Get Jakarta, which was for Neil to do.

This was quite early on, I think.

I think this was still while we were doing [UK comedy series]Wrong Door,even.

It was bubbling along.

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It was basically likeGet Carter,which becomes like a HP Lovecraft thing.

But nothing ever came of that, but that basic thing was kicking about.

And then there was a casting idea.

Obviously, I worked with these guys onWrong Door, and Michael Smiley was inWrong Dooras well.

And after working with him inDown Terrace,I really wanted to work with him again.

And we went, This is who its going to be, and they went, …okay!

BW:Not cheap, economic!

That deal was already in place, so we came along.

Is that a hard part of the process, making sure the moneys there?

BW:It wasnt for this film, but Im sure it is.

I think if you have to go out and raise the money, it might be.

Thats why films fall apart all the time, or low budget stuff does.

So it was really quick.

And I think I squeezed another series ofIdealin between, and did a load of ads as well.

BW:I dont know.

If no one was going to fund anything else, we could have done that film anyway.

So thats how we thought of it.

But now weve started to get those other scripts funded as well.

Your career trajectory is very interesting.

Youve done the YouTube thing, the commercial work, television work and low-budget filmmaking.

And that seems to be what people are currently touting as a way into the industry.

Do you have any advice for people starting out now?

BW:Yeah, I think you have to just make work.

You have to do it.

Youve got to just make stuff.

And cameras are all dirt cheap now, sound gears dirt cheap.

Just make more and more stuff, and get better at it.

And even though my career in retrospect looks like a plan, it wasnt necessarily.

Its just to go, try and find out how everything works.

I knew that on the spot.

We saw it and it looked great.

I think the editing side of it really colours how you direct.

And that fell apart, I think because of timing, so we couldnt do that.

As soon as somebody says that…

I dont like to think of myself as ego-ridden, but I kind of went, Woo-hoo!

And like Ben says, it was very fast.

Often these ideas are talked about, and maybe two, three years later they happen.

But this was literally one thing after another.

Its like those things, when you say, if something happens easily, then its right.

Thats definitely how this felt.

NM:Yeah, Ben and I did an Internet viral for a beer company.

And then we spoke about Get Jakarta in a jacuzzi in a five-star hotel in Bucharest.

BW:With a stuntman who specialises in children!

He told us with a straight face, I do children, mainly.

NM:Yeah, a five-foot two stuntman whose girlfriend was six-five.

BW:Oh God, Id forgotten about that!

NM:So we spoke about Get Jakarta then, and I was surprised.

Id worked with Ben for two or three days onWrong Door,which was a good laugh.

Ive been in the game quite a long time, since I was quite small.

And Ive heard enough bollocks to sink a thousand ships.

So I was like, Okay, that would be great.

BW:Good luck with that!

NM:…with your Philippines,Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garciaslapstick romp!

So it was something of a surprise how quickly things moved.

Thats one technique that we had.

And then youd go back to the scripted version.

So you get that realistic feel to it.

Then we would just run on on scenes, and just let them go on a bit.

And that was it, really.

It slightly punctured the film too much.

Because films are just too po-faced half the time.

Theres a bit of laughter, but its not enough.

And I think people are generally pretty funny, so you want there to be funny people.

So, it was on and off improvisation, but pretty controlled.

MB:Thats whats great about working with Ben.

you could very quickly find things funny, and start to laugh.

you’re able to very quickly become subdued.

We switch between emotions, up and down, all the time, depending on whats around us.

Youre not, as a person, just playing one constant emotion, youre playing a reality.

It also means that you get to very seriously consider whats being thrown at you from other actors.

So if they say something, it might not necessarily come across on the page as you read it.

And you never see that in films.

People never interact like that.

Whereas if theyre just very stock-y, TV-style ciphers, then you just dont give a fuck.

Those characters are interchangeable, from Taggart to Morse to fucking Midsomer Murders.

Theyre all the same people, having the same lives, and theyre written lives.

It feels really scripted, because its very trope-y.

So when youre writing a film like this, how do you find that sense of naturalism?

BW:Its written in.

Theyre the big beats of the script, thatll colour the whole of that scene.

So whats the best way of talking about it?

BW:My intro usually at screenings is, Good luck!

Ben, Neil and MyAnna, thank you very much.

Kill Listis released on Friday, 2nd September.

you could read our reviewhere.

you’ve got the option to follow Michael on Twitterhere, or read his bloghere.