We met up with him in London to chat about the movie, about politics, and aboutDredd… Well, quite possibly!
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Theres a rule about casting I learned a long time ago.
The right person for the role is the person who stands in front of you when you say action!
In this instance, that wasnt actually the case!
Patrick Neate, the writer, knew Riz through Book Slam.
Id talked to him about Tommys character already, and Riz was interested.
I told him I had this thing, and he was like, yeah, send it to me.
We hit it off straight away.
There was something really special about what he did inShiftyto me.
There was something really raw and beautiful about his performance in that film that I really loved.
Sometimes you meet people and it feels like it has to be them.
This was one of those occasions.
And during that time, his star was on the rise.
Which wouldnt have been the case if wed tried to make it just after hed madeShifty.
Thankfully for us, his career went stellar.
[Laughs] Good question!
Ive not thought of anyone yet!
Were you very keen to avoid Landmark London?
That was very deliberate.
I find that version of London either Hollywood or an era when were looking at the past.
It just feels fake to me.
I didnt want that.
I dont think thats what London is.
But also what that can give you, if youre open to the possibilities.
That was what always excited me about London.
Look at Michael MannsHeat, his love letter to Los Angeles.
Collateraleven more so, perhaps.
There are no amazing sights inHeatorCollateral.
But he seems to somehow capture the soul of the city.
Thats partly the relationships of the people, and the way they seem part of the landscape.
Theyre not standing outside a famous building.
Even the view of the hills doesnt have the Hollywood sign in it.
Theres a John Sayles movie,City Of Hope.
Interweaving stories of different people all caught up in a conspiracy thats kind of to do with property development.
Its a beautifully choreographed homage to living in a city.
I was inspired by things like that really.
Where the grit of the story and the beauty of the story is at ground level.
I said to everyone I dont want to fly a helicopter over fucking Canary Wharf thank you very much!
I didnt want sights!
What did you want?
It was set in West London.
I was looking for an iconic image from there.
I thought that should be in a movie somewhere!
I went in search of where you could see it.
It just stands there, in the skyline, a symbol of something.
I thought thatd be our central image of London, and thats what it was.
All the big wide shots either feature the Trellick Tower, or are shot from it.
So if theres a landmark, its that.
But its not one thatd be on a tourist card!
Can you talk about how you use light?
You have key sequences, for instance, where you streak it across the screen.
Me and Felix, my cinematographer, this is the third film Ive done with him now.
We were thinking about what the story would look like.
You have to embrace the fact that its a gumshoe movie.
Tommys not a milkman.
Hes a private detective.
That comes with a genre twist.
So we said lets embrace it, and feel what that would be like in London.
And then we started looking at it, thinking it was all going to be set at night.
But we didnt want it to be grim.
I dont find London grim.
I find it exciting.
And if you look around London at night, there is a lot of neon.
We didnt add much.
We had a few signs, but we didnt artificially create it.
Theres quite a lot of it around.
I think we were probably inspired by Christopher Doyles work with Kar-Wai Wong.
He shot beautiful hymns to Hong Kong, and I thought why cant we bring that sensibility to London?
That strange strobing effect, we nicked it fromChungking Express!
I spent lots of time wondering about west London trying to figure out what its like.
Would you call this the passion project?
I think they all are to be honest.
I dont think Im any more passionate about it than anything else.
That are set in a city that seem to capture something about it.
They seemed true and real, but strangely achingly romantic.
When was the last time we saw one of those, even in the last ten years?
We havent had very much progress at all.
How do you contrast that withCity Of Tiny Lights?
Do they feel very different films?
Obviously there are no car chases and explosions inCity Of Tiny Lights.
A little bit of running.
A gun in it.
Its quite hard to make a noir without one gun at least!
That was a political thriller for me, but the politics were on the edges of the film.
I got sent a bunch of scripts that were all really good, and that was the best one.
Movies that I adore.
And I thought I want to do that for a modern generation.
Ive always loved movies of the 70s.
Theyve always felt very true.
They dealt with the real world.
Exciting films with a political edge to them.
Hollywood seems to have forgotten about such things.
So this script came along from Sony.
I thought if they want to make it, I want to do it.
Its a very different thing fromCity Of Tiny Lights, but the process is still the same.
We had a lot more money, but still have compromise.
Its got politics in it!
So I spent six months going around the world trying to find a cheap place to make the movie.
In the end we made it in Mexico for $30m.
Even at that level, youre having to make compromises.City Of Tiny Lightswas probably only $5m.
But the process is the same, the passion is the same.
And I love all that stuff!
But theres also something nice about an intimate story where theres a love affair.
InVantage Point, most of the relationships didnt last more than six seconds [laughs].
Theres not a lot of development in that movie you wouldnt call it deep.
Even though its a lot of fun!
Im very proud of it.
But also, its like going to Nice and sitting on the beach.
There are lots of people and you’ve got the option to have a really nice time.
But also, theres something nice about hiking in the mountains in Nice.
And I like hiking in the mountains!
I like to be able to do both things.
Details such as a sign on the wall, background little touches.
Everybody was very passionate about the film.
The detail came from everyones passion, to be true to the source material.
Alex Garland was fanatically passionate about that, the art department too.
The comics are really beautiful.
Beautifully written, powerful stories…
Full of politics!
Yeah, about politics too.
And the essence of getting those things write was essential.
But then when you make a film likeThe Go-Between, I want to know what 1900 is like.
Like in any film, the texture of the story has to be right.
The set inVantage Pointis an exact replica, but its still a set build in Mexico.
Detail is essential to everything.
Going back toCity Of Tiny Lights, what are your hopes for the film now?
What do you want audiences to take from it?
I dont have expectations of the audience really, except that they might enjoy it.
I think its a bit arrogant to have expectations of people.
You just see whether they like it, and go with it or not.
Whatever film you make, some people will love it, some wont.
We talk about diversity of casting, which is important.
But the bigger issue for me is the diversity of storytelling.
We talked aboutMy Beautiful Launderette, 35 years ago being a gay multicultural love story.
I think its a hopeful film.
What are you working on next?
Im working on a political thriller for ITV, calledFearless.
Its about a human rights lawyer inspired by Gareth Pierce, played by Helen McCrory.
And thats six parts?
Six parts, six hours, yes.
Youre directing every episode?
Ive only television where I feel like I can do the whole thing.
I just see this as a six hour movie.
Im not really interested in doing serial television where I only do a bit of it.
I want to be able to have a voice of my own in it.
Pete Travis, thank you very much.
City Of Tiny Lightsis in UK cinemas now.
