Beyond the Pole is a new British movie which I watched yesterday and really enjoyed (my review will come soon) and is scheduled for release on Blu Ray and DVD this coming Monday. We were given the chance to interview a few of the people involved in the movie and the interview for your viewing pleasure is the director, David L. Williams.

If you haven’t already, click here to enter our competition to win Beyond the Pole on Blu Ray.

Did you always want to adapt the radio show to the big screen or did the idea come as a surprise?

Well I loved the radio series and was amazed when I heard the BBC hadn’t optioned it. I jumped in immediately as I knew the writers well, had worked with them many times, and was confident that we could make it work. I was also probably excited by many of the things that turned the BBC off: the extreme environment, the dangers on floating sea ice, the difficulty of turning a 6 x 15 minute episodes into a 90 minute feature. I consider myself very fortunate that the BBC overlooked it and although there were lots of things to overcome on the way it’s a piece of work I am very proud of.

Was it difficult transferring the idea across to a different audience who may not have heard the radio show before seeing the movie?

Well the real difficulty was turning a radio series that worked in one medium into a feature film that could work for cinema. The radio series was a cult hit with “cult” being the operative word. As good as it was, very few people had actually heard of it so the challenge was less about pleasing a pre-existing audience than finding a new one. Knowing this was tremendously helpful because it allowed us to change all kinds of things without being beholden to what had gone before. What surprised Neil (the writer) and I was just how much we had to jettison to make it work. As much as I loved the radio series it’s tone/world was often very silly and unreal. This was fine for radio and the world it created for that medium, but fell foul of one of my golden rules in that the drama had to at all times be real and believable or the comedy just would not work. So it was difficult, although for different reasons, but I think comedy is perhaps the hardest to get right anyway so it was a process I was ready for.

You have a wonderful cast in the movie, did you always know who you wanted to play the different parts or did you go through a long casting process?

We were blessed with the cast we got, and although I thought a long time about it we didn’t actually have auditions as I just drew up a list of the actors I admired and then made offers. The result is we have 3 wonderful double acts in Stephen Mangan and Rhys Thomas; Rosie Cavaliero and Mark Benton; and Alexander Skarsgard and Lars Arentz Hansen and each of them is absolutely crucial to the success of the movie.

That’ the short answer, this is the longer one (please use some if you can!)…

WE CAN!

I loved Stephen in Green Wing and Helen had worked with him in Adrian Mole so we were both set on him. A couple of years previously I was casting a pilot and was looking for comedy talent that could improvise. I saw Rhys Thomas’s reel and despite going with Russell Brand for the pilot always knew that I wanted to work with Rhys. He was so funny and warm and fresh, I just knew we’d get him for something. When I first approached their agents I just said it’s an offer as long as there’s chemistry between these two. So our “audition” was actually a rehearsal where I went right through the script, filmed it, cut it and they were absolutely magic together. Everything just works. Visually, their timing, their ability to go with whatever eachother are doing and make something new. Really, as a director, if you get the casting right, it makes the job MUCH easier as you can largely just run behind these talents picking up their comedy diamonds as you go. These two are huge talents and I really hope they get recognised by BAFTA for their work on this film. Bloody should do – they nearly died!

Our cocky gay Norwegians were recast on the back of an iceberg as due to a last minute clash of dates our original choices weren’t going to work and we were already on the ice! I picked Alexander Skarsgard, who has become this huge US star due to True Blood, because he had been voted Sweden’s sexiest man 5 times so we were sure we could get a sale in Sweden and although he was terrific in Zoolander the Gods were clearly smiling upon us that day. Lars then became our new tough guy (who also proved wonderfully deadpan) and I thought they could believably fancy eachother.

Rosie Cavaliero is absolutely gorgeous and funny and I had watched her career for a long time. We could have changed her performance a thousand times because each and every one of her takes was beautiful, subtle, real and very funny. I love everything she does but the phone sex scene is so rubbish and so great. Really, she’s wonderful. I am sure she’s going to be the next Brenda Blethyn. Pairing her with Mark Benton’s CB radio enthusiast was just a gift as they look great together crammed into their caravan on a hill full of broken old radios and antennae.

Basically these actors are at the top of their game, have been absolutely committed every step of the way to helping this movie being everything it can and to getting it out there, and if the industry doesn’t sit up and beg to hire these actors non-stop for the rest of their lives they are bonkers!

How did you find shooting in the freezing conditions of Greenland?

Tough and incredibly wonderful. There wasn’t a day when I didn’t thank my lucky stars for getting the opportunity to be there. But it was mad. I mean there were practical day to day difficulties that caused…ummm…let’s say pressures. Everything’s frozen so there’s no plumbing for example. So instead of toilets we shared a bucket (some did not but that’s another story..). Days were also very long as we couldn’t afford to be there very long so had to cram a lot in. Luckily it was April and the days were getting longer by half an hour each day so as director/producer I made sure I never wore a watch and we just ploughed on and made sure we finished. I’m proud to say we did not have a single pick up or reshoot from the movie. That’s an incredible testament to the ability of everyone involved. But day to day it was incredibly intense work. You’re working on floating sea ice, at minus 20 and you’re in polar bear country. There’s a great shot in the film after an ice quake of the boys on ice flows floating in different directions with the sea steaming all around them. More than a few times I was aware of how ridiculous the whole thing was as I told the actors we’d go for one more take and I’d watch as they set about their work whilst floating off into the arctic circle!

Obviously the movie is very comical as well as having a serious topic. Where do you stand on the issues of global warming and do you think the movie has helped to get across some of the green ideas?

Honestly, I don’t think we’ve made the slightest bit of difference but I think it’s a drip drip thing and sooner or later, the more of us who try and do something to influence events the sooner we’ll get to a tipping point when politicians will take their balls in their hand and actually stand up and act without needing the approval of a focus group and without one eye on the on whether or not this will help them to get re-elected. I really think half the battle is just putting to one side the overwhelming feeling of impotence and just getting on with it. Global warming is what it says – global. But my belief is we have to act locally first and unfortunately this is a very difficult thing to do because there is the inherent impossibility of seeing the impact of ones contribution to the overall problem. But we just have to break this inertia and crack on. It requires us to overcome pretty much all our evolutionary instincts but I suppose we have to prove ourselves to be more longsighted than neanderthals. Fingers crossed!

The best children’s book of all time, The Lorax, said all this many years ago. But we forget, and ignore and avoid. I loved the Lorax and gave it to Stephen and Rhys when they had their children (with different parners!). The Lorax was my guiding light for this film. It was funny and moving and spoke to it’s audience on a very personal level. And at the end it demanded action in a very lovely, haunting way. I hope our film does the same thing. It’s funny, dark, dramatic, hopeless – it really is an amazing adventure/disaster comedy movie which stands on its own as a drama/comedy in the vein of The Office and Withnail and I and Touching the Void. But it has something to say. I suppose in the end I made it for my children. I hope they will see the spirit in which it was made and not condemn me too much for not doing something more practical with my time!

Did you have any idea the movie would be received so well, and especially be nominated for so many awards at the film festivals?

Listen any filmmaker who says they never expected recognition or awards is a goddam liar! Noone sets out to make a film without thinking that it is the Best Thing Ever! We were just the same except we also believed we were also going to save the planet! Clearly insane but what else is going to carry you through all the heartache and the endless nights and the sheer underpaid poverty that one has to go through to make a film and get it out there. It’s gruelling I promise you and thank god for any morsels we’ve had so far because they are crumbs that keep you going. For better or worse! But let me say there’s nothing like hearing a full cinema laugh and cry at your film. It’ll be interesting to see how the whole dvd release feels. I hope it goes down a storm …but you never know!

What’s next for you?

A good lie down! No, we’ve got a couple of things and I’ve now gone a bit LA and have a manager there and an agent in London so we’ll see where that leads. Helen and I also run Shooting Pictures together and we’re developing a couple of things with writers and investors etc etc It’s really a case of getting interesting people together and seeing if something catches fire. I’ll keep you posted!

Thanks to David for answering all our questions. Beyond the Pole is released on DVD & Blu Ray this Monday, 5th July and I urge you to check it out!