SLOW WEST

Interview with John Maclean, nominated for SLOW WEST

 

John Maclean

What is your film about and what makes it unique?

SLOW WEST is about a 16-year-old kid who travels from the cold shoulder in Scotland to the baking heart of America to find his love … this happens to be the Wild West, 1870, a land of lawless men, bounty hunters, guns and horses, it’s a Western …
This is the beauty of cinema – it is possible to make a Western in 2015 and make it unique, because of contemporary influences, an understanding of the history of the subject and of the genre, and the personality of the author.

What was the most challenging aspect while shooting the film?

I can’t complain about anything because we had such a fantastic time shooting this film – the weather was on our side, the cast and crew were amazing … the challenges were all in the writing and the editing – and those challenges were purely how to tell the story in the most economical way.

 

After this first feature film experience: What do you most love / most hate about filmmaking?

I most love the pre-production and the shoot, when the collaborations really begin, working with costume, production design, actors, producers, all trying to make the best film.
Hate is a strong word, I wouldn’t be doing it if hate was involved … erm … the dark days of writing when you almost lose the story before finding it again, the dark days of editing when you almost lose the film before finding it again.

 

Who do you consider your cinematographic influences?

Carl Th. Dreyer, Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman , Martin Scorsese, John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, Billy Wilder, Charles Laughton, Roman Polanski, Andrei Tarkovsky and many more.

 

How important is the EFA Discovery Award for you as a young filmmaker and what do you expect from the nomination?

It’s incredible to be nominated, everyone starts somewhere, and in an age now when there are so many great films from all over Europe more accessible than ever to find and watch, to be noticed is enough of an honour.

 

How do you see your future as a filmmaker? What’s next?

Hopefully another feature film. I’m writing again so I never have a grand plan, I’ll see where the pen leads me …

 

How did you manage to cast Michael Fassbender? And how intimidating is it as a debut director to work with a star like him?

I met Michael about six years ago through his agent. He had seen some of my ‘music videos’ (crazy short films starring my mates put to music…) on YouTube and liked them. He offered a day of his time and I shot a short with him, which was a great experience so we shot another short, then this feature.
It was a great collaborative experience. By the time we were on set it felt very natural to be working with him. It was far from intimidating – his skill and experience helped make the shoot even more fantastic.

 

Before being a filmmaker, you were a band member, first of “Beta Band”, then “The Aliens”. How did that background and experience as a rock musician influence your work as a filmmaker?

Before The Beta Band I was at art school studying drawing and painting, so I was always coming from a visual background. Making the music videos for the bands was my film school. The music making helped me understand music use in film, but I think on a more subtle level, understanding rhythm really helped in the edit, even when there was no music, the rhythm of the cuts.

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