Oscar winner Ben Kingsley (THE BOXTROLLS, IRON MAN 3) has joined the cast of John Pogue’s (THE QUIET ONES) action thriller WAKE starring Bruce Willis (DIE HARD film franchise), and produced by Michael Benaroya (LAWLESS, MARGIN CALL), Tobin Armbrust (A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES, BEGIN AGAIN), David Alpert (upcoming AMERICAN ULTRA, AMC’s ‘The Walking Dead’) and Chris Cowles (THE NUMBERS STATION, AUTOBAHN).
International Film Trust (IFT) is handling foreign rights to the film, which they are actively selling at the European Film Market. CAA is representing the domestic sales rights.
“Sir Ben is a truly one of a kind talent, with a unique subtlety to his work. He brings characters to life and charges them with emotion and power at just the right moments. He’s a tremendous addition to this cast, I can’t wait to see what he does with Kole, this film’s powerful antagonist,” said Benaroya.
“Oscar winner Ben is a dynamic addition to our cast who will further elevate the pedigree of our film and help create the unique action hit we’re all excited for,” said Christian de Gallegos, President of IFT.
The screenplay is written by Chris Borrelli (upcoming THE VATICAN TAPES) with revisions made by Pogue.
Set to start shooting in Cleveland on February 16, WAKE tells the story of Red Forrester (Willis), a sociopath with no fear, who returns to his childhood home on a remote island for his brother’s wake. When the island comes under siege, Red must save the very family that banished him from his ancestral home years ago.
Ben Kingsley’s film career spans over 100 films ranging from international box office hits including Oscar nominated THE BOXTROLLS and IRON MAN 3 to award-winning and critically acclaimed films such as Martin Scorsese’s HUGO and SHUTTER ISLAND, Steven Spielberg’s Oscar winner SCHINDLER’S LIST and Isabel Coixet’s ELEGY. Kingsley was nominated for an Oscar for his roles in HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, SEXY BEAST and BUGSY and he won the Oscar for Best Actor in Richard Attenborough’s Oscar winning film GANDHI. He will next be seen in LEARNING TO DRIVE opposite Patricia Clarkson and Terrence Malick’s KNIGHT OF CUPS.
From the producer who brought you THE WOMAN IN BLACK and LET ME IN comes the unnerving tale of THE QUIET ONES. Tucked away in an estate outside of London, Professor Coupland along with a team of university students conduct an “experiment” on Jane Harper, a young girl who harbors unspeakable secrets. What dark forces they uncover are more terrifying than any of them expected.
Prior to the film’s April 25th release, WAMG sat down with Jared Harris, who plays Professor Joseph Coupland, in a small roundtable to discuss horror films, fight scenes, and watching his own movies with an audience. Check it out below.
Inspired by true events, the film stars Jared Harris (Mad Men and Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows), Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), and is directed by John Pogue from a screenplay by Craig Rosenberg and Oren Moverman and John Pogue, and based on a screenplay by Tom de Ville.
Let’s start with your character, where did you gather inspiration from, and did you do any research on the Philip experiment?
JARED HARRIS : Yes. You know, it’s an imaginative exercise when you construct the character. In terms of the look of the character, we looked at a lot of old stuff, pictures, from the 60s, and we figured this guy, this conception of who he was, would have been concretized in the 60s. We sort of settled on Serge Gainsourg, which is the idea behind the suits, and the constant smoking, and the cigarettes. And then he fancied himself as a revolutionary, so there was a hint of Lenin in the beard. So we gave him hints of Lenin in the beard, and stuff like that. And then, in terms of – the Philip Experiment I became aware of it through John Pague, and it was very interesting up until a limited point. What was interesting was what didn’t happen, and the reason why it didn’t happen. The guy who ran that experiment was a responsible human being, and whenever anything sinister or potentially threatening happen, he ceased the sessions and send everybody home. Obviously that is not that good for a horror movie, and the writers essentially saw that experiment – liked the premise of it to prove through scientific method, that there was a different source, a human source for the supernatural, and then use that for the basis for the story. Once they started to – once they said “what if,” and they started to construct the fictional story, they pulled from a lot of different sources. So the other stuff, I looked at just as much, the group psychology experiments that were done in American universities, Stanford and stuff like that. Because there was a strong element of that in a certain point of the story where you start to think “maybe that’s what he’s doing, he’s really fucking with all of these people” and he’s studying their behavior.
When did you first meet director John Pogue?
JARED HARRIS : I met John out here, and got sent the script by Simon Oates. Read it, and then discussed it with him, and then he felt comfortable with some of the suggestions, and my thoughts on the script, and then he put me together with John Pogue. Really what it was – you know the tricky thing about the story being set in the 70s – at that time there are a lot of experiments going on in Paris, psychology departments in universities, it was a legitimate form of study. The problem is that, they seem crazy now. They are largely being discredited, and no one has those departments going in universities. So really it was trying to find a way that we could use that, but it had to seem still relevant or possible. So, we sort of shifted the goal to how he was conduct the experiment, how he was trying to activate, olivia’s character to more of a psychological approach. And it was really – the whole thing was a rewrite of the character to put the whole focus on that.
Do you feel as though your character put obsession over redemption, or was it arrogance?
JARED HARRIS : A vendetta on his part, he believed he could – he believed he was capable of saving his child, and that his wife’s overreliance and belief on a religious aspect and that he was some how he was transgressing in a sacrilegious way is what prevented him from being able to cure the child. So, in a way, he blamed her and he blamed God, it was more of a vendetta that he had been hurt so he wanted to hurt back, he wanted to even the score if you like.
What is it about the supernatural that makes for a great film?
JARED HARRIS : It’s – we don’t know – supernatural stories are normally connected to the idea of there being an afterlife because of their focus on ghosts, and devils, and demons, and sort of religious aspect like that. And we really don’t know, it goes back to our very early primal understanding or questions we would have. It’s a rationale that is adopted about – human beings are naturally disposed of trying to come up with an explanation for everything no matter how sparse the information that you have, to give you an explanation. We have come up with this explanation. It’s on some level encouraging, we don’t want to believe that once we die it’s all over, but at the same time it’s terrifying. I think the appeal of horror movies – I think we as people, as human beings we need to exercise our emotions. I think it is a safe way of exercising terror and fear, without having to risk anything significant. You are going to come out of it alive at the end. To me, it’s like taking a roller coaster ride, it’s two minutes of – it’s fun because you know it’s safe. It’s the difference of knowing being on a roller coaster ride and on a plane that drops 20,000 feet, you know?
Are you a fan of the genre? Do you have any favorites?
JARED HARRIS : Tons of them, tons of them. You know horror is interesting because it covers such a huge spectrum. If you think about it JAWS is a horror movie; Alien is a horror movie; I thought THE OTHERS was a great horror movie. ROSEMARY’S BABY, the [Roman] Polanski films… they’re all horror movies in different ways. It’s a huge, huge banner if you like them. I mean, I love them. You know JAWS. I still… when I go into the ocean, you hear that fucking music. I remember after seeing that movie – when you go into a swimming pool, you still look behind you. You know?
Do you have a favorite in those sub-genres?
JARED HARRIS : I feel that the films that stay with me are the ones that get into your head. Their sort of visceral. I don’t like violence porn. I saw HOSTEL, and I had to take about four showers after, just to get experience – it really upset me so much. I have to say it was brilliantly constructed in terms of script, the way it slowly unpacked the mystery at the heart of it, when you finally get to what it was about, it was just the most disgusting aspect of human depravity. So I take psychological horror films, that’s about my limit.
After you punched Pete Campbell on Mad Men, it was very interesting to see you and Sam get into it.
JARED HARRIS : Yeah! I got him with a right hook. I got Pete with a left I got Sam with a – actually Sam’s was a sucker punch, that was actually a topic of conversation – in the script it said – for it to be completely believable we have to get into one of those things were people are holding you back, otherwise this guy is going to be beat me up. And it is always the guy who – whenever you see these things where two people started to fight the one person who gets in the way of it gets punched, or the person who gets suckered punch, the person who is the pacifier.
Where do you think ‘The Riches’ would have gone had it stayed on air?
JARED HARRIS : Yeah during the writer’s strike. What was supposed to happen, what was explained to me I sort of start something up with Minnie Driver’s character, and take over the group through her, and he comes back, and there is sort of the big confrontation, and he fucks me up. But I was using the kid, and Minnie.
Where did you find the balance in your character, because he makes a few different emotional transitions throughout the film?
JARED HARRIS : Well, I think he was genuine in his belief that he could help her. At the same time I don’t know – once he started to get results out of her, he probably would have kept her in there for a really long time. So it’s kind of a balance between these opposing forces within your nature, within somebody’s nature. There is an altruistic reason behind it. At some point – I read a biography about Robert Oppenhimer, and in the way they were describing the Manhattan experiment, project, one of the things they were discussing was the possibility of once they set the chain reaction off, when would it stop. And there was a huge group of those scientists who thought that the chain reaction would continue until it ripped the atmosphere off the Earth and killed all life. They weren’t sure that it was going to happen, there was the possibility that it could, they still pushed the button, you know. There is a certain element, once your on a train, once your set on one of these goals, I think it’s hard to get off, but I think what happened to him was that initially he believed he could help her and cure her. But once he got these results from her, I don’t think he would have let her be on the train, I think he would let her out. And that’s a question of which things would be appropriate for the audience to see, it’s part of the structure of the story. There is also an element in the script that is still a little bit there, but there is a kind of a you quite weren’t sure if there was a fatherly thing, but there might have been a sexual attraction that he had to her as well, which was obviously a whole other lever of freaky in the script. That is what I liked about it, it was playing on a lot of different feelings, and a lot of different emotions, it was finding different ways of making you uncomfortable.
Regarding the location, and the house you filmed in, was the vibe you felt?
JARED HARRIS : The Victorian house was attached to this business center. The business center had been built in the 60s or 70s, and the whole place had been abandoned for about 50 years. To get to the Victorian house, you had to talk through this really weird sort of business center with this stinky rotting carpet. You kind of walk through – “what did they do here,” and you sort of felt it was some sort of strange scientific part where they done anal experiments. So that was actually a brilliant way of getting yourself into the mood. That went you get yourself onto the set, and open this door, suddenly you’re in this Victorian house that they had attached to the back of it. But once you’re in there, there are about 40 to 50 different people there at one time. But they did a great job in terms of production, set, dressing, art department, and stuff like that. You could find rooms to hide in.
Do you ever watch your own movies on your own with audience, especially for a movie like this.
JARED HARRIS : I’m seeing this tonight. I saw Lincoln with an audience. I saw SHERLOCK HOLMES [GAME OF SHADOWS]. I mean, it all depends. It’s difficult to go to the Cineplex, because you look like your star fucking yourself. It’s just fucking awful. I can’t do that. It’s really just embarrassing. So, that’s pretty awkward. Normally you see the reviews at premieres, and stuff like that. I’m looking forward to see it [THE QUIET ONES] with an audience.
Jane Harper is not the only thing that needs saving in LIONSGATE ‘s new 70’s horror film THE QUIET ONES.
Inspired by true events, THE QUIET ONES tells the story of Professor Joseph Coupland and his team of researchers as they attempt to cure an abandoned foster child named Jane who has been surrounded by strange and alarming behavior her entire life. As their experiments begin to unfold, they recruit a young camera man named Sam to document their findings. What they don’t realize is that they may be dealing with something bigger than mental psychosis. They may be dealing with the supernatural.
Director John Pogue set out to build on the screenplay THE PHILIP EXPERIMENT, written by Tom de Ville, and incorporate the fascination of parapsychology and social scientific research of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s with a horror film.
‘The Philip Experiment was an experiment conducted in Toronto in the 1970’s where researchers set out to prove that the phenomenon of poltergeists are just manifestations of emotional energy. The group of parapsychologists were testing the theory that by combining their thoughts on the idea of Philip, a ghost that they had invented, and concentrating together for long periods of time, they could manifest the make-believe ghost in physical form, or at least spawn his generate his energy for communication purposes. Although the ghost never did appear, they did begin to experience knocking, table shakes, and even the table beginning to hover. Although the documented part of their experiments, no solid proof was found to support or disprove their findings, especially since no real tests were conducted, or controls set. Just a group of researchers huddled over a table. The experiments were deemed inconclusive.
It seems like a great idea to play off of due to the heightened curiosity of the supernatural in the academic world during this time period, along with all of the other various experiments that were being conducted, but somewhere along the way they missed the mark. The film didn’t really have an area of focus, leading to long, dragging moments that were only interrupted by cheap jump scares. They only loosely talk about their experiments, so we’re stuck just watching a silly spinning light as Professor Coupland talks to Jane, or Professor Coupland strapping her down to a table that seems to be electrified. When they all finally come to their senses and realize that the occult, and that there are supernatural forces are at play they briefly touch on the real back story, and within fifteen minutes the movie is over. Talk about the paranormal stuff, or the experiments, or anything else! Pick something and focus on it so we are made to care. Oh, and if you blink you will completely miss the reason why this film is called THE QUIET ONES. Apparently, that was the nickname that the group has obtained on campus because they won’t talk about their research outside of the group. This is brought up in a very quick scene, in passing, and there is no way to figure it out on our own since they are in isolation during the entire film, and have zero scenes where they socialize with others. How do we know they’re quiet about what they do if you don’t show them in a silent situation?
I don’t know if I’ve shared my rant on jump scares in a while, so if you’ve heard it before please indulge me. A jump scare or two in a film is fun. After the scare, it generally makes us all giggle and it lightens the mood allowing for us to go on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. As they say, “You can’t have the good without the bad.” The same goes for the placement of comedy in horror, which is why I tend to gravitate towards the scary movies of the 70’s and 80’s. Having said that, a film that solely relies on jump scares to frighten their audience are terrible. You’re just taking cheap shots at your audience. This usually happens for one of two reasons. Reason 1 : You have a terrible script. You are unable, or just don’t care enough to write a story that has the ability to horrify an audience. Either that, or you only realize during editing that something is seriously missing and decide to fill the void with an abundance of meaningless scares. Reason 2 : You think that horror fans are naive, and this is all we are looking for in a film. Wrong. In the case of this film, I’m leaning towards the theory that they realized that the story was flat, and decided to spice it up. Unfortunately, scaring the shit out of the audience by basically yelling ‘BOO’ at them couldn’t disguise the mundane lag of the story.
Despite a lack of character development in the story, the acting in this film is quite enjoyable. Jared Harris gives a brilliant performance as Professor Joseph Coupland. His character shows a wide range of emotions and depth, and carries the audience through the movie. Olivia Cooke brings a likeablity to her disturbing character of Jane. Although we’ve seen the young girl in the white gown with dark hair a million times in horror films, I think she did a good job of making her character stand out. They did her character, as well as the other characters, an injustice by failing to explore them a bit further. Especially her character though. She does a great job making the audience care about her, despite knowing why. This is certainly more of a muted down role for Sam Claflin than we have seen in the past, and it suited him well. Coming off of movies such as THE HUNGER GAMES : CATCHING FIRE, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN : ON STRANGER TIDES, and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN it was a smart move to pick a role where he took on a different type of character. I just really wish the story complimented all of their hard work.
They shot this film in both 35mm and 16mm, to differentiate between the narrative world, and the real-time world through the eyes of Sam as he filmed it. I actually enjoyed this. Although I think the fake reality horror shake-cam films are a bit played out, the look and feel of this felt true to the time period, and was rather inviting. If they would have stuck to this and beefed up the story without all the cheap scares, and cheesy ending I would be a happy camper. This had the potential to be a great horror film.
I really wanted to like this film, but THE QUIET ONES should really take a cue from its name and keep silent.
From the producer who brought you THE WOMAN IN BLACK and LET ME IN comes the unnerving tale of THE QUIET ONES. Tucked away in an estate outside of London, Professor Coupland along with a team of university students conduct an “experiment” on Jane Harper, a young girl who harbors unspeakable secrets. What dark forces they uncover are more terrifying than any of them expected.
This week, WAMG sat down with Olivia Cooke, who plays the disturbed Jane Harper, in a small roundtable to discuss the supernatural, ‘Bates Motel’, and her upcoming projects. According to Sam Claflin, she also played a bit of a prank on us by telling us a story about Jared Harris and a ‘goblin’ that she completely fabricated. She certainly is a lot of fun! Check it out below.
Inspired by true events, the film stars Jared Harris (Mad Men and Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows), Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), and is directed by John Pogue from a screenplay by Craig Rosenberg and Oren Moverman and John Pogue, and based on a screenplay by Tom de Ville.
Your character Jane is quite an interesting one to play. How did you get yourself in the mood to play such a complex character?
OLIVIA COOKE : It was disturbing how easy it was for me to, sort of, jump into that character for some reason. I was eighteen, and it was my first film, and I don’t really ever remember being method, or anything like that. I kind was like “Well, here it goes!” and the guys, who I was so nervous about working with made me feel so comfortable, and they were, kind of, going to extremes. So, I was like “Oh, well I’ll join the party! I’ll go to extremes as well!” I don’t really remember ever having to work myself into it. I remember jumping about getting the energy, getting the breath up, but that was about it.
Did you feel that it was sort of like playing a bunch of different characters, or did you view it as one character with different facets?
OLIVIA COOKE : I felt like it was a bunch of different characters, but in a host. She was manipulative. She was vulnerable. She’s like a teenage vixen. She’s naive, but she’s also very lovely, and sweet at the same time. It’s all of these different elements that help. That is Jane Harper, or it’s Evie. It just felt like they’re so compartmentalized that I just felt that that is her.
Horror films are generally known to have really fun sets, especially to keep things light. What did you guys do to unwind at the end of the night?
OLIVIA COOKE : I really wanted to make a musical. [Laughs] Me and Rory [Fleck-Byrne], we both started MOULIN ROUGE!, and we filmed it but Rory had his phone stolen. We had it on video. I was like [sings] “We should be lovers” and he was all [sings] “We can’t do that!”… the whole Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman duet. Sam was singing WEST SIDE STORY [sings] “When you’re a jet”…yeah. Then, I think at one point Rory tried to hypnotize Jared [Harris]. Me and Erin [Richards] kind of, there was a latch… Do you know the latch in my door? I’d pop up and go [sings] “Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy” [laughs] and then she would pop up and go “but here’s my number” and we would just do a little Carly Rae Jepsen. Yeah, that and musicals.
Was that lost footage as well, because that should be on a DVD somewhere?
OLIVIA COOKE : Rory sent them to me, but then I got a new phone, and he lost his phone. I’ve got pictures of me and Jared by our trailers jumping into the air, and he actually broke my toe because he was slow on the uptake. Like “Ok. After three” so I would jump on three, and he would jump on about five. So, I was coming down and he was just coming up, and I felt my toes go [with her hands, pushes her fingers up and back]. I mean, I don’t know if it was broken for sure, but it was black and blue, and it was huge. it was a fat toe.
Does pain like that bleed into your performance the next day when you have to be anguished, or anything like that?
OLIVIA COOKE : A bit. Yes. I was wincing a lot, and hobbling. Not really. I mean, you kind of lose it when you’re in that mode. When I was being burned, and when you’re doing all of these fight scenes, it’s only after that you’re like “Oww! I hurt!” In the moment you don’t care. You just go for it.
You and Sam [Claflin] have a really nice chemistry in the movie. Did you guys do anything to bond off-screen? How did that work out for you two?
OLIVIA COOKE : The first time I met Sam, Sam was already attached so he came into my final audition to test a few girls. It was kind of awkward sitting outside of the audition room. He was like “Hi. How are you? I’m… ” and I was like “[Whispers] Oh my god. I know… ” [Laughs] I was like “Oh my god. He’s talking to me!” and then, we went into the room and John was like – after we had done all of the scenes – he was like “Ok. I really want you to just scare him now.” so we did the scene, and I was like “Fuck. How am I going to scare him?” so I had to wait a long moment, and I held this stare, and then just let out this piercing scream, and he jumped about five feet onto this chair, and I was like “Ok. I got the part.” But no, we had two weeks of rehearsals before, so the five of us bonded. Yeah. It just happened. Me and Sam had really good chemistry anyway, so it was very easy. It was very natural.
The horror genre has been around for such a long time. Do you have any specific favorites? Either a favorite genre, or specific films?
OLIVIA COOKE : I love the supernatural ones, like PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. I was convinced – I think I was fourteen or fifteen when I first watched it – and I was convinced that it was real. Two weeks later my friend was like “You know that was actually filmed in LA” and I was like “Oh. Ok.” I love THE WOMAN IN BLACK. I had gotten split up from my friend when we went to watch that at the cinema, and I had my scarf wrapped around my head like a turban. It was the worst, terrible night. It was so scary. What else? INSIDIOUS. I kind of love the theatrical time, like when they go into the other world. I loved all of those characters. It felt very – sort of like a circus.
Do you think you might have those same feelings when you watch this film with an audience at your premiere, or will the fact that you’re watching yourself take you out of it?
OLIVIA COOKE : Well, we had the premiere in London, and I had watched it previously, on my own with my agent, so I was like “Is this scary?” but my agent had his tie wrapped around his head – wrapped around his eyes, so I knew he was scared. I know all the jumps, and what’s going to happen. I’m watching me. I’m watching my performance like “What am I doing? This is awful. Stop doing that with your hand.” but seeing it with an audience and seeing them jumping, and their reactions, their screaming… it reassured me a lot that this is actually working.
Do you like to watch your performances? Jared was saying that he finds it, sometimes, strange. Do you like to watch your movies with an audience?
OLIVIA COOKE : I think, so far, all of the characters that I’ve played have been so far removed from me, like Emma from ‘Bates Motel’. It’s just not me, really. I mean, I’m a bit dorky like her, but what I saw in her I did not see in Jane Harper. I did not recognize myself. Especially the transformation that I went through. It kind feels like you’re watching a really close friend of yours, and you’re just like “Stop doing that! I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” It’s a bit strange, but also I think you need to watch your stuff in order to know “That didn’t quite work. Don’t do that next time.”. That sort of thing. If you do something with your face that you always do, that’s like a habit, then you know to train yourself not to do it.
Did this fall under the timeline of ‘Bates Motel’? Was this before or after? A Hiatus?
OLIVIA COOKE : It was before. This was filmed two years ago, and a month later… Was it a month? It was a month later that I got ‘Bates Motel’. I had just gotten my manager, and agent in America, and they sent me a tape for ‘Bates Motel’ a month later. I just got it offered off of a tape. I sent it over and got it.
Did you get to dig into ‘The Philip Experiment’ or the paranormal studies that this film is influenced by?
OLIVIA COOKE : Yeah. We definitely searched into it, but it’s so loosely inspired on ‘The Philip Experiment’. It just sparked the writers imagination. They took a lot of elements for different experiments of the time, but it’s a movie. You need to imagine all of these things, and you imagine it for yourself. The character of Jane – you see that character all of the time. In every horror movie there’s a girl in a white smock, and she’s got black hair. I wanted her to be as original as possible, even though she looks very non-original.
Jared was saying that the house that you guys filmed in, and the adjoining abandoned office building had this atmosphere like they used to do experiments there. What was the vibe that you got?
OLIVIA COOKE : Definitely. No, I definitely felt it. It had this very odd smell because… You know when you go into a house that’s not been lived in for a year? There’s definitely a bit of a musky smell. This one hadn’t had anyone in it for fifteen years. It kind of felt like a Tardis to me. [Laughs]
Great reference!
OLIVIA COOKE : I know! The front bit was so modern. Well, not modern, but clean, white, pristine with a bit of dust on it. Then, when you went into this other part of the building – The Victorian part – Literally, you were in this 1970’s derelict… It’s rotted, and it’s got dust, and cobwebs everywhere. It’s kind of like you’ve been transported into a completely different era. It was really strange.
You realize that you just picked up a ton of sci-fi fans when they read this?
OLIVIA COOKE : Oh, really? [Laughs]
How was your experience with Sam operating the camera, and taking on a director-type role?
OLIVIA COOKE : You know, for my character personally, because I was so connected with Sam’s character, with him operating the camera, it was really good for me to have that eye-line, and to look like I’m looking into the audiences soul. I found it really handy for my character, from an acting point of view, to have that as a transportation method. I found it really handy.
You say that you’re dorky. What makes you a bit dorky in your personality?
OLIVIA COOKE : I don’t know. I think I just do stupid things, and I’m a bit awkward. I sit a bit awkwardly. Like, I’m in a really nice dress, but I’m, like, hunched over. I should be more ladylike, and things but I think I’m just a bit awkward in myself. Like Emma in ‘Bates Motel’, she’s kind of this way. She’s not fully confident with how she is yet. Kind of a bit like that, I think.
What do you have coming up next?
OLIVIA COOKE : THE SIGNAL, a sci-fi with Laurence Fishburne comes out in June. Another horror movie called OUIJA comes out Halloween this year, and then a film, a comedy! Yeah! We begin shooting in June, in Pittsburg. It’s called ME & EARL & THE DYING GIRL. I play the dying girl. So, there’s an element of self-torture, obviously, but I’m really excited.
Do you tend to gravitate towards more character driven roles as opposed to characters that are a bit more grounded and real?
OLIVIA COOKE : THE SIGNAL, the character in that is pretty real. The one that I’m going to do in June, even though she has leukemia she’s a normal, middle of the spectrum girl. I do tend to gravitate towards character parts more because it’s just so much fun to play. Even playing Emma. It’s such a feast for an actress. Delving into a character… I don’t think there’s ever been character really like her before, so I’m very lucky for them to trust me in playing those characters.
Can you describe your character in OUIJA?
OLIVIA COOKE : She’s the heroine of the story, so she’s not the damsel in distress. She’s the one trying to save, and trying to come to terms, and get to the bottom of things in the story. She’s the one that kind of gets everyone on board, and she’s trying to figure out how, and why all of these things are happening surrounding this Ouija board. I’m the lead. It’s like my face on every frame, which no one really wants to see. Yeah. It’s the first character I’ve ever had where I’m kind of saving the day.
Did you guys screw around with each other on set with the board?
OLIVIA COOKE : Well, there was a guy underneath. It was metal. Not metal. It was magnets, so he was moving it underneath on the board. They made a clap sound, so whenever they needed us to jump, we’d jump. They’d play this stupid freakin’ horn. His head was right where my legs are, so I’d go “Ahh!” and I’d kick him. I’m like “I’m so sorry Sean!”. The injuries sustained whilst operating a Ouija board. That shouldn’t be in his job title. [Laughs]
Between your roles in these films, how would you characterize your own belief in the supernatural?
OLIVIA COOKE : I’m really open-minded. Nothing’s ever happened to me. I’m willing… I’m doing all of these things hoping that something will come to me, but it hasn’t. My dad’s had stuff happen to him. All of these people that I’ve talked to have had things happen to them, and I’m like “Why don’t they come scare me?” So, until that happens I think then I’ll be a firm believer, but maybe it won’t happen. Have you had Jared yet?
Yes.
OLIVIA COOKE : Aww. Damn. I was going to say to ask him about the goblin story!
What’s the goblin story? Now you have to tell us!
OLIVIA COOKE : When he was younger, he was saying that he had a supernatural experience. Apparently when he was younger, like around five, he woke up and he saw, like, a green leprechaun – small goblin thing right on the edge of his bed. The leprechaun sort of woke up and ran to the door, and then looked back, and so little five-year-old Jared chased him, and saw the ol’ leprechaun making his way down the spirally stairs, like, looking up at him, and was sort of like “What was that?” so, I don’t know what that is! I use it to embarrass him, like “So, the goblin…”
From the producer who brought you THE WOMAN IN BLACK and LET ME IN comes the unnerving tale of THE QUIET ONES. Tucked away in an estate outside of London, Professor Coupland along with a team of university students conduct an “experiment” on Jane Harper, a young girl who harbors unspeakable secrets. What dark forces they uncover are more terrifying than any of them expected.
This week WAMG sat down with Director John Pogue in a small roundtable to discuss sound design, the films inspiration, and being attached to the ‘Hammer’ brand. Check it out below.
Inspired by true events, the film stars Jared Harris (Mad Men and Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows), Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), and is directed by John Pogue from a screenplay by Craig Rosenberg and Oren Moverman and John Pogue, and based on a screenplay by Tom de Ville.
It occurred to me throughout the whole movie how important Jared Harris’s voice was. How much did that play a part in your casting, because if he had a voice like… let’s say Woody Allen, it just wouldn’t work?
JOHN POGUE : Right. Right. The voice… the whole Jared package was hugely important. We actually cast Jared before we cast anybody else as, sort of, the anchor of the movie, just because we felt like he brings such experience, such talent, such gravitas, and such a voice to this role, and that we would then, kind of, use him to generate excitement amongst the cast and community, and reel in some others. So, fortunately it worked out that way.
I really liked the sound design throughout the movie, and the way you built tension through various sounds and noises. Was that something that you wanted while filming, or was that something that you guys made sure to enhance in post?
JOHN POGUE : Thank you. It’s something that we definitely planned for. I did not want any genre music in this movie. I felt like this movie was something different from that. I really liked Lucas Vidal’s work. He’s European, and brings an oral aesthetic to the project. I felt like we could do everything with design, and so our plan was to only use practical machinery that was used in the movie as our sound. So, we recorded all of the sounds that the machines make, the EEG machine, all the lights, all the microphones. Everything that made a noise, we recorded in advance before we started shooting the movie, and I sent it here to Lucas, here in LA, and said “Make a sound palette from all of these machines so that we can use that to design the sound, or the score of the movie” which is really just sort of manipulating the sounds and bringing up the pitches, and lowering them, and dirtying them up. All of the sound that you hear, with the exception of the voice, which is the synth sound that the Evie character makes, all of that was practical sound that was recorded from the set.
This is based on a true story – Loosely on ‘The Philip Experiment’. I’m curious, how do you find a balance in draw the audience in with the ‘Based on a True Story’ tagline without making them feel duped?
One of the films inspirations was an experiment conducted in Toronto during the mid-1970’s known as ‘The Phillip Experiment.’ It was conducted under the auspices of Dr. A.R.G. Owen, a British-born mathematician, geneticist and lecturer who wrote several papers on poltergeists and telekinesis. During the experiment, a small team conjured up a ghost named Phillip on paper – drawing his likeness, giving him certain qualities – then attempted to bring him to life using their collective concentration and emotional moods. At first, nothing happened, but soon a series of unnerving happenings – raps and taps and shaking tables – convinced the team that some kind of psychic activity was truly in play. They even made a film, documenting part of the experiment.
JOHN POGUE : That’s a very good question. I don’t like feeling duped as an audience member. In this particular case it’s ‘Inspired by a True Story’. We’re very careful with that wording, as is the Writers Guild. You have to be very specific about that. It’s become a little bit, or a lot of a cliché. I felt like there were enough, sort of, real elements of ‘The Philip Experiment’, as well as the social science experiments of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s that added an extra element of that really happening to our movie. The idea of taking a volunteer, and sort of pushing them to their limit by locking them up, and depriving them with sleep – there were experiments that really did this. Not ‘The Philip Experiment’, but other experiments. So, this movie is really an amalgam of different elements from different true stories that were, kind of, put together ultimately to make the movie. THE PHILIP EXPERIMENT, the original screenplay written by Tom de Ville, was more closely related to ‘The Philip Experiment’, and that was more about an experiment to create a ghost. Long story short, that concept kind of evolved, and transmuted into the script that I was given. In terms of making the audience feel like they weren’t duped, I think that’s a tough one. We’re not representing that this is based on ‘The Philip Experiment’ – at least I’m not. I think, if you’re truthful about it, that’s better, but there are elements that really happened that are reflected in the screenplay. We have a little fun with this concept, obviously, with the very, very end of the movie which is sort of a meta approach to the true story idea, which is kind of – hopefully – meant to be ironic – getting you to think about what this whole true story idea really means, and have that be a discussion. Hopefully, that’s what that idea engenders.
I had a follow-up question to the sound design that you were talking about a moment ago. When it comes to creating all of the jump scares that you have in the movie – When you’re sitting there ‘tweaking the ‘pitches’, as you say, it seems like it’s not good enough to just have a loud sound come out of nowhere. So, did you find that certain pitches have a different effect on the audience, when they follow certain scenes especially?
JOHN POGUE : Sounds that are pitched – pitch wise – that are dissonant – your ear has a hard time processing them, so it subconsciously makes you feel, sort of, icky about it. We would measure, with the jumps, the actual sound and put a pitch to it, and see if the pitch was on key, what key it was on, and can we tweak it to make it off a little bit so that you feel uncomfortable. We also did that with suspense builds, because there are a lot of very subtle… You hear sounds, kind of, coming in. You’re not sure. We did a lot of tweaking the pitch, which is so easy to do now on the computer, just so you feel like it’s a little off. So you feel a little uncomfortable. It’s like listening to a bad note. So, for the big scare we tried to turn them just a little bit. Again, I didn’t want genre music. We were trying not to do genre jump scare sounds, and it’s really hard to do that because they’re a standard. There are 12 standard jump scare tones that you get with your editing package, and so you have to create, and mix, and remix those sounds so that they don’t sound like every other movie that you’ve ever heard. We did our best, but it’s kind of hard to… It’s actually more challenging than you’d think.
Do you have any favorite horror films?
JOHN POGUE : I do. I have a lot of favorite horror films. I really like the original PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. I like that a lot. I’m a huge fan of the classics : THE EXORCISM, THE OMEN… that sort of early 70’s era. I think Kubrick’s THE SHINING, and many of Kubrick’s movies are some of the most horrific movies that I’ve ever seen. JAWS is a great horror movie, in my opinion. I just happen to be someone who happens to like the fear to be created in my mind. That’s why I like the more minimalistic approach. It’s just a taste thing. I’m not as into the blood and guts. Although, when I saw the original SAW, I loved that movie, but then I started to get tired of it. I loved the original because it was fresh, and it was scary, and freaky, and crazy. I can’t say lately I have any huge favorites. Probably the last one was… I liked THE LAST EXORCISM. I thought that was fun in a different way.
So, is it a good thing that the whole ‘violence porn’ genre had its moment, right?
JOHN POGUE : I mean, I do feel like it’s a good thing because it just stretches the genre. Why should we always be doing the same thing. That’s not my taste, but it was certainly entertaining, and effective, and new, and different. Yeah. I don’t get as upset morally about that as many people do because I believe in the audience. They know that you shouldn’t go drill holes in people’s ankles. They know that. I think that was a good thing. Yeah. I’m kind of ok that it’s sort of – not with us quite as much anymore.
Given your appreciation of the genre, and especially the classics, did it mean something extra-special to you that this is under the ‘Hammer’ brand?
JOHN POGUE : Yeah. It was really daunting, and scary because I felt like we had to earn our way onto the ‘Hammer’ shelf, and there are so many great movies in their past, and they have such a great legacy making fantastic movies, and also making a lot of goofy, crazy horror movies. Certainly with LET ME IN and THE WOMAN IN BLACK, making a successful movie in that arena that would live up to the ‘Hammer’ name was really daunting. Especially, because frankly, this is a super low-budget production. It’s not something that many people are aware of, because they go “Oh. They did THE WOMAN IN BLACK, and LET ME IN” but we did this movie for almost nothing. So, to do something for almost night, but to also hit the achievement in terms of it being the next ‘Hammer’ was a real challenge. It was kind of terrifying, and wonderful at the same time.
You shoot with the handheld camera from the 70’s for the majority of the film. I’m curious if introducing that into the movie allowed for more improv on set, or was it completely scripted?
JOHN POGUE : That’s a great question. This movie, obviously, is kind of a hybrid. It’s omniscient – sort of a narrative 35mm storytelling with a found footage element, but the found footage element is real-time. There’s sort of a psychological hurdle that could have been a problem because you’re actually watching something in real-time as it’s really happening, but you’re watching it as if it’s already processed. The movie’s a little bit strange in that way, and a little bit weird. I kind of liked that about it, but it was also a challenge because we were worried, at least I was worried, that the jumping back and forth between the omniscient footage and the found footage was going to throw you out of the movie. So, to your question, my cinematographer and I spent quite a bit of time in preproduction trying to create a visual strategy, and a visual grammar so that the movement between the narrative and the 16mm footage in Sam’s point of view to immerse the audience into his character, rather than throwing you out of it. We wanted the audience to be as scared as possible, and we wanted the audience to fall in love with Olivia Cooke’s character. We’re doing this, looking through a camera lens, so how do you make that immersive rather than distant was sort of the question. The answer was we tried to help the audience by explaining to the audience ‘Look. Be comfortable with this point of view.” There are certain moments – for example, after Olivia Cooke screams “Help me!”, where we go to Olivia and we’re in the 16mm point of view so that the audience will hopefully feel like Brian looking at her, and then we go to Brian McNeil, Sam’s character, and we’re in the 35mm point of view, so we’re in the narrative storytelling, and then we go back to Olivia in the 16. So, what we’re trying to do is say “Don’t worry what format you’re in. Just enjoy the story, and be a filmmaker with Sam’s character, audience, along with Sam.” We’re hoping that the audience feels like they’re making the movie with Sam, and that they’re not really paying attention to the format shifting. It was very, very deliberate, and very, very planned out. On the other hand, the found footage element allowed us to do a lot of fun things on set that we weren’t expecting. For example, Sam spent so much time learning how to be a filmmaker that we had him shoot certain sections of the movie. In the scene where they do the corium photography, and Olivia’s character is lying down, and she hands the camera the doll – us, the audience, Sam – he shot that whole scene with the Alexa camera. This giant camera. It was kind of cool to see a guy like Sam shot this, and see how he set up the shot. I didn’t tell him how to shoot it. I said “You tell me. You’re the director.” A number of times he shot the movie, and it gave sort of a raw, visceral, excitement, at least for me, to the image because it wasn’t perfect. It was him trying to go for those emotional moments. He catches Copeland impatient as we’re trying to catch the drama of what’s going on. It was fun for me to have Sam be the filmmaker.
Did you find a camera that was actually used back then?
JOHN POGUE : Oh, yeah! The camera that he’s carting around is a 16mm documentary camera that would have been used in that era by someone of his socioeconomic background, and it was a real camera. It was super heavy. It was really heavy, and it had a light on it, and it had an internal battery pack, which is why he doesn’t have the battery pack around his waist. It had internal sound, and it was considered one of the most efficient all-in-one cameras that we could find that was real to the period – that would keep him from being loaded down like a mule with sound equipment, and lighting, and batteries, and that sort of thing. That’s all period.
Do you feel that there is a certain sort of romanticism to having that equipment? I can’t imagine in twenty years, when they do retro films about today, that they’ll just be holding up cell phones… It just doesn’t seem to have the same feel.
JOHN POGUE : Yes. We felt there was a certain – yeah, ‘romantic’ I think is the word for it – I mean, because obviously things are so different. It’s definitely part of his quest – a weapon as part of his quest. So, yes.
Lionsgate and the legendary house of horror, Hammer Films, have released this intense new trailer for their upcoming film, THE QUIET ONES. For those with a stout heart, this “inspired by true events” scarefest should be right up your alley when the movie creeps into theaters on April 25th.
From the producer who brought you THE WOMAN IN BLACK and LET ME IN comes the unnerving tale of THE QUIET ONES.
Tucked away in an estate outside of London, Professor Coupland along with a team of university students conduct an “experiment” on Jane Harper, a young girl who harbors unspeakable secrets. What dark forces they uncover are more terrifying than any of them expected.
The film stars Jared Harris (Mad Men and Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows), Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), and is directed by John Pogue from a screenplay by Craig Rosenberg and Oren Moverman and John Pogue, and based on a screenplay by Tom de Ville.
Ready for more Hammer Films scares? Check out the first teaser for the deliciously creepy THE QUIET ONES.
It was announced in May that Lionsgate had acquired North American distribution rights from Exclusive Media to the supernatural thriller.
The film will be in theaters April 11, 2014.
Inspired by true events, THE QUIET ONES tells the story of an unorthodox professor (played by ‘Mad Men’s Jared Harris) who uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment: to create a poltergeist.
Based on the theory that paranormal activity is caused by human negative energy, the rogue scientists perform a series of tests on a young patient, pushing her to the edge of sanity.
As frightening occurrences begin to take place with shocking and gruesome consequences, the group quickly realizes they have triggered a force more terrifying and evil than they ever could have imagined.
Directed by John Pogue, the film also stars Sam Claflin (THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE), Erin Richards (‘Breaking In’, ‘Being Human’), Olivia Cooke (‘The Secret of Crickley Hall’, ‘The Fuse’) and West End theater actor Rory Fleck-Byrne.
THE QUIET ONES marks Hammer’s next production after the worldwide box office hit, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, starring Daniel Radcliffe. In the works is THE WOMAN IN BLACK: ANGELS OF DEATH. Directed by Tom Harper, the next installment will continue the story four decades later. Seized by the government during World War II, the sudden arrival of a group of evacuated children at Eel Marsh House awakens its darkest inhabitant.
Simon Oakes, Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media and President & CEO of Hammer announced today that Hammer, an Exclusive Media Company, begins principal photography on The Quiet Ones, thesupernatural thriller/horror which will shoot on location in Oxfordshire.
Starring Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,‘Mad Men’) and Sam Claflin (Snow White and the Huntsman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), The Quiet Ones will be directed by John Pogue (Quarantine 2: Terminal). Joining the cast are Erin Richards (‘Breaking In’, ‘Being Human’), Olivia Cooke (‘The Secret of Crickley Hall’, ‘The Fuse’) and West End theater actor Rory Fleck-Byrne. With the story and original screenplay by Tom DeVille, revisions by Craig Rosenberg, Oren Moverman and most recently John Pogue, the film is produced by James Gay-Rees (Senna, Exit Through The Gift Shop) and Ben Holden in association with TPSC Films.
Inspired by true events, The Quiet Ones tells the story of an unorthodox, but charismatic Professor (Harris) who uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment: to create a poltergeist from negative human energy.
The film’s creative team includes the cult favorite genre editor Glenn Galrand (Grindhouse, Rob Zombie’s Halloween series), award winning cinematographer Matyas Erdely (Miss Bala); costume designer Camille Benda (Junkhearts, The Holding) and production designer Matthew Gant (Hush).
Exclusive Media’s President of Worldwide Production & Acquisitions, Tobin Armbrust, is overseeing production alongside Head of Physical Production, Jillian Longnecker. TPSC Film’s President, Steven Chester Prince, is a producer on the project for the newly formed independent film division of The Traveling Picture Show Company. Sales are being handled by Alex Walton, Exclusive Media’s President of International Sales and Distribution.
The Quiet Onesmarks Hammer’s next production after the worldwide box office hit, The Woman in Black, starring Daniel Radcliffe, which has taken over $130 million at the box-office worldwide to date.
Other Hammer productions in the works includeThe Woman In Black: Angels Of Death, to be produced with Talisman, Cross Creek Pictures and Alliance Films; Boneshaker to be produced with Cross Creek Pictures; Gaslight written by newcomer Ian Fried and the newly announced The Winchester Mystery House to be produced with Imagination Design Works (IDW) and Nine/8 Entertainment.
Exclusive Media is a major force in the production and international distribution arena. Its current production slate include: the recently announced Cameron Diaz and Benicio Del Toro action comedy Agent: Century 21 to be directed by Adam Hashemi and the thriller Still Of Night to be directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Michelle Monaghan and Susan Sarandon; Ron Howard’s epic Rush starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl and produced with production partners Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Working Title, Brian Grazer, and Revolution Films to be released in the US through Universal; End of Watch starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera set for release through Open Road Films on September 28; So Undercover starring Miley Cyrus; Snitch starring Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon in post-production and to be released in the US through Summit Entertainment.
Guy East and Nigel Sinclair, Co-Chairmen of Exclusive Media and Simon Oakes, Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media and President & CEO of Hammer announced today that Hammer’s latest supernatural thriller/horror, The Quiet Ones, will be presented for the first time at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM).
Written and to be directed by John Pogue (Quarantine 2) and produced by James Gay-Rees (Senna, Exit Through The Gift Shop) The Quiet Ones marks Hammer’s follow up to Daniel Radcliffe starrer The Woman in Black, which was released last weekend in the US on 3,000 screens grossing an outstanding $21M.
Inspired by true events, The Quiet Ones tells the story of an unorthodox professor who uses controversial methods and leads his best students off the grid to take part in a dangerous experiment: to create a poltergeist. Based on the theory that paranormal activity is caused by human negative energy, the rogue scientists perform a series of tests on a young patient, pushing her to the edge of sanity. As frightening occurrences begin to take place with shocking and gruesome consequences, the group quickly realizes they have triggered a force more terrifying and evil than they ever could have imagined.
Exclusive Media’s President of Worldwide Production & Acquisitions, Tobin Armbrust, will oversee production alongside Director of Development, Shira Rockowitz. Nancy Nayor has commenced casting on the film which is currently in pre-production and will start shooting in May 2012 inSouth Africa.
Alex Walton, President of International Sales and Distribution, will handle the international sales at EFM.
John Pogue said: “The Quiet Ones will take its audience on a thrilling ride of jumps, scares and eerie tingles which combined with set-pieces of unbearable tension will propel them through the shadowy chambers that imprison the tortured mind. It’s a dark and claustrophobic picture which will portray how human desire can become trapped in an insidious world of its own creation and how you should always…be careful what you wish for.”
Simon Oakes, President & CEO of Hammer and Vice Chairman of Exclusive Media said: “We can’t wait to showcase The Quiet Ones at EFM. It’s an incredibly chilling and sinister picture that we are proud to be a part of.”
Exclusive Media is a major force in the production and international distribution arena. Other recent production titles include George Clooney’s THE IDES OF MARCH produced by Smokehouse Pictures and co-produced by Exclusive Media with Cross Creek Pictures, the newly announced CAN A SONG SAVE YOUR LIFE? starring Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo, Ron Howard’s epic RUSH starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl and produced with production partners Cross Creek Pictures, Revolution Films, Imagine and Working Title; END OF WATCH starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick and America Ferrera; SO UNDERCOVER starring Miley Cyrus; SNITCH starring Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon in post production; and BONESHAKER to be produced with Cross Creek Pictures.
