Trevor Hogg chats with writer-director Luke Hyams as well as actors Melia Kreiling and Mark Bonnar about literally get some chills shooting a horror film in Northern Ireland…
“My dad was a talented song writer and a great lover of films,” explains British independent filmmaker Luke Hyams. “He exposed me to stuff like Alien [1979], Blade Runner [1982] and Shane [1953] when I was tiny and those films left a startling imprint. My Mum was a book dealer and had a good line in bed time stories so I think that may be where my love of story originated.” The third instalment of the original Star Wars trilogy left a lasting impression. “One night back in 1983 my Dad came home from the pub with a pirate copy of Return of the Jedi [1983] that changed my life. I loved the look of it, the music, the characters and could taste the finality of what I thought then would be the last Star Wars movie. The last twenty-five minutes became something I rewound until the tape snapped. I just loved the way the tension built in triplicate on the planet of Endor, in the Emperor’s throne room and outside the Death Star [‘It’s a TRAP!!!’]. In particular, I connected with the emotion of the moments in which Darth saves Luke from the Emperor and then reveals Sebastian Shaw underneath the mask [‘Now go, my son’], in a very formative way. I continued to watch the last twenty-five of ROTJ at least twice a week until I was 19 and The Phantom Menace [1999] of merchandise left a bad taste in my heart. It was also around that time that I learned that cannibal serial killer Jeffrey Dahlmer also constantly replayed the end of ROTJ, particularly before killing someone. Weird, huh?”
“No one in my immediate family is professionally an artist, but there has always been a significant amount of attention paid to the arts especially to music and the visual arts,” remarks actress Melia Kreiling (Cold). “The flavour was definitely there for my tasting it as a child.” The native of Geneva, Switzerland who was raised in Athens, Greece began to understand cinema by watching old Greek movies. “The actors were more involved in the portrayal of their own public personas rather than inhabiting a role completely. I recall being aware of that and enjoying that little bit of information as i watched them. The time that I was really struck by a movie was when I first watched Opening Night [1977] by John Cassavetes. I couldn’t quite grasp its power; it overwhelmed me, and that was probably the time I really started to consider what was acting and moviemaking. Then of course there were French comedies like Le Diner de Cons [1998]; I was in stitches and in awe of the intelligence behind it all. Also, Clueless [1995] as it was so fresh, fun, age appropriate, and incredibly liked the fashion in the way it set trend; the ‘whatever’ gesture made it all the way to Greece!” Fellow actor Mark Bonnar believes that he came from an artist family. “My dad is an artist and sculptor, so I suppose I was brought up in those kind of surroundings. But when you’re a kid, it doesn’t matter how out of the ordinary something is it’s just your everyday.” The world of animation had a dramatic impact upon Bonnar. “My gran took me to see the Disney’s Snow White [1937] when I was four or five; I couldn’t get the wicked witch out of my head for weeks! It’s probably one of my earliest memories, and looking back, it kindled my lifelong love of horror.”
“Working in TV and online is the best training to make films you could possibly conceive of,” observes Luke Hyams who wrote and directed episodes for The Hidden City and Dubplate Drama. “I am yet to be in any sort of filmmaking situation where we aren’t pressed for time and money so with the type of films I plan to make it was important to get used to working that way early. The stuff I’ve done in TV has always been multi-episodic stories which is something that I love. But with Xmoor it was cool to step away from that and approach a story with the idea of condensing the beginning, middle, end and everything you want to say into one experience.” Melia Kreiling has appeared on the small screen most notably on The Borgias which has affected her approach towards acting. “I haven’t done enough of it to say really, but perhaps in being accepting of last minute script changes; not being too set in your preparation and ideas so that you can adapt quickly enough.” Mark Bonnar who has appeared in Psychoville, Line of Duty and Shetland does not notice a difference in how he approached his TV performances. “It’s exactly the same as theatre acting, but a bit quieter and more relaxed.”
Horror movies have become a staple of independent filmmaking. “There is an appetite for low budget films from audiences that you don’t get from a lot of other genres,” observes Luke Hyams. “They also potentially travel well because what is likely to scare someone from Crawley could most likely put the frighteners into someone from Mumbai. So many filmmakers choose to break in with horror because a lot of us are just fans of the genre who want to see if we can push it in a new direction. Horror films are also powerful because they hit you in such a visceral way and the feeling that you have the power to make people shit themselves is quite an alluring thing.” Melia Kreiling has a better appreciation for the genre known for blood and gore. “Now that I’ve been in one, I wholeheartedly understand the ‘hide and seek’ of it all. The adrenaline, thrill, surprise, fear, awe, and alertness are all elements that we don’t experience daily and so horror movies give it to you on a polished silver platter and say, ‘Here you go buddy. Indulge!’” Mark Bonnar notes, “Horror is popular because we love the unknown and we have an inbuilt fear of it. Also, there’s nothing like the adrenalin that accompanies the build up to a bloody good fright! Performing in a Horror is like the best of both worlds. You get to be scared and make the audience scared too [hopefully!].”
Written and directed by Luke Hyams, Xmoor (2014) revolves around two documentary makers Georgia (Melia Kreiling) and Matt (Nick Blood) who are assisted by a veteran tracker Fox (Mark Bonnar) as they search for a fabled moorland beast. “I welcome The Blair Witch Project [1999] comparison,” reveals Hyams. “It was a film that made me physically sick and defined found footage horror and narrative lead marketing as we know it. Xmoor is similar in that we have three characters lost in the wild and there are cameras involved as a starting point but beyond that I think provide a distinctly different cinematic experience.” Storyboards were essential in designing the production. “I had the pleasure of working with an incredibly talented storyboard artist named Dan Evans which helped a lot. The frames Dan put together were a key moment when I became really excited about how this was all going to come together. The idea of the story all came to me one morning in early 2012 while watching a documentary about the Long Island Serial Killer [who I hope doesn’t come after me looking for royalties]. It was one of those terrific moments of inspiration where everything came together quite quickly. I tapped out everything that came into my head and the movie mapped itself out on the screen in front of me. A lot of it changed along the way but surprisingly the original core of Georgia, Matt, and Fox and most of their journey really isn’t very different from the version you see on the screen now, give or take a panther or two.”
“Although the movie is set in the incredibly rugged and unforgiving moorland of Exmoor, we actually ended up shooting 99.9% of the movie in Northern Ireland because being attacked by wild panthers wasn’t covered by our insurance,” states Luke Hyams. “If I was to list out all the challenges we faced along the way it would probably require you to bulk up your web hosting capabilities as they were aplenty and by no means lessened by the weather in northern Ireland in November / December. The important thing is that we overcame any and all obstacles, and cast and crew alike worked hard so that we’d come out the other end with a finished product we could all be proud of.” The story takes place in a night time setting. “I always felt like the film needed to be incredibly dark to create the maximum level of fear. Establishing in the script that the moon was ‘almost full’ was a good way to excuse some light and having characters pointing torches and headlights at each other for the rest of it also helped quite a bit.”
“With the cast it was important that they felt as if they understood and empathised with the decisions their characters were making to make sure that they could play them effectively,” remarks Hyams. “As we shot the movie out of sequence we also spent a great deal of time before each scene thinking about where they were on their emotional journey to make sure their behaviour was consistent with what came before and went after. Before the shoot I mainly warned them to wrap up warm as we were going to freeze our bolex off. Crew discussions mainly consisted of me trying to inspire them to work more hours than they were being paid for and to stretch their department budget from here to the moon so we could get the best stuff possible on the screen. I didn’t need to worry. The crew I worked with in Northern Ireland were exceptionally hard working and remained positive on endless freezing night shoots which isn’t an easy ask. The crew I brought across from England weren’t half bad either.”
“Melia had a confidence and a worldliness that I thought important for the actress who played Georgia,” states Luke Hyams. “Melia impressed me with the attention to detail she exhibited when working through the script with me, sharing my desire for the character to realistically disintegrate emotionally as the story wore on. When Nick Blood [Spike Island] read for the part of Matt I recognised a rare mixture of likability and assuredness that I thought would be great for the character; he had the ability to play something so much more than a doomed goofy horror movie love interest and really caught our attention during the audition process. For the character of Fox I needed an actor who could keep the audience guessing. The character needed to be agreeable on the surface with a powder keg of mystery and emotion bubbling underneath. I was unsure of whether we’d find anyone who could carry this off until Mark Bonnar came in for an audition and took possession of the character in an instant.”
“The audition came through to my agent, I had just finished filming Guardians of the Galaxy [2014] and we thought this would be fun to try out for,” recalls Melia Kreiling. “Auditions are awkward most of the time, but trying to really imagine the things I was acting for Xmoor in a tiny room in Soho was just plain difficult. I had to really become a child again and play, and that was a great reminder.” Mark Bonnar notes, “Auditions for most projects tend to follow the same blueprint. You receive the script a couple of days before the meeting [a week is luxury!] with a couple of scenes to learn, then you meet one or a combination of casting director/ director/ producer. When I met Luke for Xmoor, we got on really well straight from the off. It’s always a good sign when you begin to work well with someone in an audition, and we fired well off each other. I kept my fingers crossed after that.” Clarity was not an issue. “Luke was incredibly verbal and straightforward about his vision,” states Kreiling. “Luke understood how out of the ordinary some things were and would use everything he could to put us in that mental state of complete and utter horror.” Bonnar remarks, “What you end up seeing on screen is always a combination of instinct, research and play combined with the director’s notes, observations and instincts. There is always [or should always] be space for creative input, otherwise, what is the point?! Luke’s directorial style was getting in there with us and articulating how he saw the scene or what possible solutions might be to things that weren’t quite working. Luke would sometimes sidle up quietly beside you and mention something that you hadn’t tried or thought of which was great.”
“For starters it was November in Northern Ireland,” remarks Melia Kreiling who brave the natural elements during the principle photography. “The weather is as fickle as it gets, but always freezing. With 99% of it outdoors at night I remember massaging my jaw in order to get it to relax enough so I could say my lines! We were all ill, a lot of the time. Of course, the amazing Irish crew kept showing us [actors] up by being perfectly relaxed and unyielding to the temperature!” Mark Bonnar concurs with his co-star. “Complications when filming in a remote and rugged landscape like the beautiful Northern Irish moors or forests are mostly logistical and technical. Thankfully, we were blessed with the most incredible and resourceful crew in Xmoor. Us namby pamby actors just turn up when all the hard works been done! I have no idea how me Nick and Melia built our chemistry together. We spent a lot of time in a very small caravan. Maybe that helped.” Kreiling adds, “We just got on with it, ran our lines, and kept each other alert. It was pretty easy with those two. They played Olo on their iPads a lot, made me laugh nonstop and taught me stinky boy jokes. It was a bonding experience throughout!”
As for what it would be like to meet Georgia, Melia Kreiling states, “Well, I guess the way I made her – ambitious, slightly tomboyish, and relentless; she’d probably find a way to go too far with most things, landing herself some trouble.” It was important to establish the right tone for the role of the female lead. “The script did that to begin with. My only job as far as tone was concerned was to find the fillers; I needed to find her pace. It’s a plot driven script and the characters were written in a way that they either ran ahead of the story or a step behind- but always running, and that’s what makes the story exciting for me.” Mark Bonnar describes Fox as being quiet and ready. “It’s all in the script. Obviously, there are discussions regarding the finer details so you can play moments appropriately, but the tone comes from a combination of whatever is in Luke’s head and what he saw in mine.” Kreiling reveals, “My main concern with a script that starts at a peak, almost immediately, was where to go from there? Keeping that peak and going even higher. It was technical a lot of the times, and it needed Luke’s consent that it was ok to go ‘even bigger’. First time horror chick, you see!” Fox had to appear to be tough which was challenging for Bonnar. “I stood up straight and tried to stare everyone out.”
“The biggest challenge was undoubtedly just trying to keep everyone warm and motivated,” says Luke Hyams. “I was living my dream so I was OK but with everyone else there was the risk of them feeling like they had signed up to a miserable job working nights in the freezing cold. I was genuinely excited by each scene coming to life and hoped my enthusiasm could keep everything moving in the right direction. Having the trained panther we were working with escape while shooting pick up shots in Devon also presented a bit of a challenge as we hadn’t quite shot everything we needed with him yet. Nobody’s been eaten by it as far as I know but I hear the sheep are beside themselves and have vowed to boycott the movie.” There were many happy surprises. “The performances of Sophie Harkness, Olivia Popica, and Jemma O’Brien standout as pleasant surprises because they were all quite new to acting; each brought a lot of energy and passion to their roles for which I was grateful.”
“There’s a moment where I’m running through the woods after something, with the camera on a vehicle at the side, and it was a full out sprint for my energy levels at that stage,” remembers Melia Krieling. “It was a great release to weave through the trees and jump over things.” Mark Bonnar recalls, “I had been mucking about in between takes doing selfies looking straight up into the tree canopy because I liked the effect. I showed Luke who an hour later said that he was going to use the same idea for a shot of me pausing by a tree. I was made up!” Krieling views Xmoor as being a distinct creation. “It’s a 100% horror movie. Every element you are looking for is there. Luke is a huge fan of the genre and he went all out to make what he imagined and prepared.” Bonnar agrees. “It pulls the genre carpet from under your feet.” Hyams concludes, “I hope people consume the movie in all its various forms and enjoy Xmoor because I have a plot for a sequel that is keeping me up at night!”
Melia Kreiling photo credit Tassos Vrettos
Many thanks to Luke Hyams, Melia Kreiling and Mark Bonnar for taking the time to be interviewed.
To learn more visit Twitter for Xmoor, Luke Hyams, Melia Kreiling, and Mark Bonnar.
Xmoor leaps onto screens on August 25, 2014 with a World Premiere at this year’s FILM4 FrightFest.
Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada.
