GBH: Director Simon Phillips Interview

8th October 2012

GBH is a film. Simon Phillips is its’ director. I spoke to him the other day.

GBH – What’s it all about?

GBH is set against the civil unrest in the London 2011 riots. We follow the complex Damien, a uniformed officer dealing with a range of social unrest issues – which crawls too far into his own personal relationships. Damien is essentially a good guy, but caught in very bad circumstances.

Where did you get the idea for GBH?

The film itself was born out of experiencing the riots first hand. But the idea for the characters and the arc that they go through is all down to the wonderful writing by James Crow. I merely executed his vision.

As you’ve watched the script play out did you make any changes?

I worked alot with the actors to bring out the realism of the situation and their characters, but we sticked closely to the script as it was such a good story. I let the actors re-phrase things so the lines sound right in their speech patterns – but those are just minor tweaks.

What were the greatest challenges on set?

Time. It’s always the biggest challenge on an independent film. Some scenes take longer for the performances to be just right, and for the actors to feel a sense of satisfaction that they delivered what I need. We had a very dramatic sexual assault scene to film late one night and only three hours to get it, but it was important for me to work closely with the two actors involved so that the scene has the eventual dramatic impact needed. It requires, in these situations, a great deal of trust from the actors that the way we film/stage the scene is going to be just right for the audiences – as we don’t get many shots at it.

What are you hoping for when it’s out?

For people to see it, and it’s out now, and debate over the actions of the central character Damien. It’s not quite clear cut who the bad guys and good guys are in this story, and my hope is that it would give people the idea that the London Riots were young people on the streets just lashing out at the social pressures that they live on today – recession, unemployment and a general lack of aspiration. It should hopefully be thought provoking to anyone that was in London at this time, and a far cry from the image we tried to present that world in the recent olympic games.

Do you feel GBH has an underlying message?

Yes. That not every situation is clean cut. It’s easy to see news footage of youths looting shops and destroying buildings and just say we need to be tougher on this anti-social behaviour, but in actual fact these are complicated issues and therefore a solution must be equally complex. Any oppression on social issues tends only to lead to violent outbursts from a youthful population – it is often the only way they know how to be heard.

How hard it is to have a film made today?

Very. It requires not only talent but a level business head to understand the ever-evolving entertainment industry in this country. A feature film today, must be moving, entertaining, thrilling and targeted to an audience that you must be sure would be interested in what you have to say. When all those things align you’ll make it to the market, and then you fall under the good luck of positioning, advertising and reviews! Surround yourself with good people.

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