Hayden Mears chats with Close director Vicky Jewson…
Director Vicky Jewson made her Netflix thriller Close because she wanted a compelling, female-driven action film that could breathe new life into a tired, male-dominated genre. When world-renowned bodyguard Jacquie Davis appeared on her radar, she knew that the world needed to know this extraordinary woman.
Starring Prometheus lead Noomi Rapace and The Book Thief actress Sophie Nelisse, Close follows bodyguard Sam as she fights to protect a sheltered heiress from mysterious forces.
Flickering Myth chatted with Jewson about her film, how it changes the game for female-driven action films, and what audiences can expect from such an intense, personal story.
How did Jacquie Davis, the inspiration for the film, first show up on your radar and what about her fascinated you so much?
I found her in an article in the Telegraph about female bodyguards.We met up in a pub in London where she gave me insight into her world. It’s not just the amazing jobs that she’s done that fascinated me; it was the profession, the personality, and the life that you can have alongside that and what it’s actually like being a woman in that environment. I thought that was quite a rich story to delve into.
I saw in a Variety article that she was involved in a lot of the fight sequences. What was it like seeing this master of her profession teaching Noomi on the set and teaching you about combat, adjusting your mindset, etc.?
It was very inspiring and empowering, actually. I came to see how minimal they like to keep it. She taught me about the Golden Triangle, which is where you can cause the most damage. It’s all about being efficient. The goal is to get their client out as quickly as possible. It’s not actually to engage in a long, drawn-out fight. It’s to finish it as quickly as possible. And that’s something we tried to bring to the film. The fights are very intense and very fast.
Something I really enjoyed about the film was that every action scene involved maybe a total of four or five people. I really liked how intimate that was. It kind of reflected the intimate focus of a bodyguard’s job and how close they have to be proximity-wise to the person they’re protecting. It sounds like, based on your answers, that this decision was a conscious one and not a budgetary one.
It was a conscious decision! We wanted to make it a small film so that we felt connected to our characters. I wanted to keep the stakes as high and as intimate as possible and make an intense film. That’s why all the fight scenes take place in corridors or cars or other impossibly small spaces. It also makes it feel more realistic and special. I don’t want to create a big spectacle. It wasn’t budgetary at all.
I thought the underwater scene toward the end was just so tense and really well shot. Was that difficult to shoot? Had you ever filmed underwater scenes before? How did that moment challenge you as a director?
It was a real experience because I’d never done it before and Id been told that it would take a long time because moving underwater is very slow. But I wanted to film something that was very original with that fight scene and those fish were something that I felt we haven’t seen before. There was this sort of ethereal beauty about them and I wanted them to move in a pack so they felt like a monster and so that it would feel cinematic and stressful. I was very lucky that we shot it at Pinewood where we had an experienced underwater team.
I’m curious: what kind of fish were they? An unnamed species created for the film or were they a specific species you guys wanted to put in there?
They were barracudas. I did a bit of research into the sort of fish they’d be catching off that particular coast. But I wanted them to be scary fish. I really wanted to use real fish and I was trying to get some so that we could use them as a sort of basis for CGI matting. But that just wasn’t possible so they are all hand-drawn and produced by the production team.
What made that scene really authentic for me was that Noomi is afraid of water and you can see the terror and the fear but also the determination as she’s fighting this guy underwater.
You get some really incredible commitment when you work with her. She’s all-in. There’s no holding back. So even though it was one of her greatest fears, there was never any hesitation on the day. She just got on with it. And I think that kind of dogged determination and commitment does really translate into that scene. It absolutely helps give it that extra dimension.
Jacquie obviously has a very long and eventful career. Are there any sequels you could do? Is there more of her story to tell?
We’ve actually just acquired the rights to Jacquie’s book The Circuit which is a complete autobiography about how she became a bodyguard. We haven’t decided how we’re going to pursue that yet but I’m keen to make more content in that world.
SEE ALSO: Exclusive Interview – Noomi Rapace discusses Netflix action thriller Close
Many thanks to Vicky Jewson for taking the time for this interview.
Hayden Mears
