Son Of Rambow: Exclusive Garth Jennings Interview

We spoke to charming British director Garth Jennings as he gave us the scoop on his creative, hart-warming comedy Son Of Rambow. He explains the film's long journey to the silverscreen, his first film crush and where he found the film's two fledgling young stars Bill and Will. Michel Gondry meets Grange Hill? You betcha!

LOVEFiLM: Son Of Rambow is semi-biographical; has it been close to your heart for a while?

Garth Jennings: Well it was eight years ago when we came up with the idea and quite soon after we got a development deal with Film Four; so we started working on it straight away. It's been going on for ages! It took us three years to get the script ready and just as we got it ready, we did Hitchhiker's [Guide To The Galaxy]. When we got back from that it took us ages to get the money for this film 'cos no one wanted to finance it. It was unmarketable. So all the money came from France in the end from a company called Celluloid Dreams. They were marvellous. It had been so frustrating and they came on board and it was a piece of cake. It's all came out great.

When you make a film you just want it to play well; you can't really predict what the box-office is gonna do; it's totally out of my hands. You know, it depends on what the weather is like; it really does make a huge difference and I have no control over these things! Film festivals are great because it was like seeing it play as we wanted it to; that was the most rewarding part of the process.

LF: Why did you choose Hertfordshire for the setting of the film; featuring the Rex cinema inparticular?

GJ: It's beautiful, I couldn't believe my luck. You always wanna get your locations fairly close; but the fact that there's the cinema, the school's behind it, and then you've got the Ashridge park. It was just glorious up there.

LF: Were you surprised that the film was at the centre of such a big bidding war for it's rights at The Sundance Film Festival?

GJ: Oh that was nuts; I still can't quite get over that bit! I really mean this; we'd shot the film in forty days and then we cut it in four weeks. No one had seen it; only myself, Nick [Nick Goldsmith - the producer] and the editor Dom. We finished it a week before it was due to be out there; we were terribly late, and we flew out to Sundance terrified.

We'd watched it [the film] a thousand times and thought we'd really lost sight of it and might have ruined it. When we first saw the rough cut we thought: 'That's it - we've done the film!' But as you start to tart it all up - add the music and this and that -it's like: 'Oh what have we done!' It's very difficult to remain objective.

So we get to Sundance and I'm absolutely terrified. And it's the first public screening so you go from like zero to cloud nine because half way through the film I realised it was going really well; like super well…

LF: What happened?

GJ: It was about ten minutes in - I think someone gets hit by a tennis ball - then there was this big reaction, no one had said a word up to that point, so from that moment people were into it. By the end they were standing on their chairs and stuff. When Joshua gets kicked out of the house, there was people pumping there fists going: 'Yeah!' It was nuts. It was phenomenal to follow, not only did it work, but then there was this bidding war for this crazy little British film; it was amazing.

LF: Do you think that word of mouth will be important to the success of the film?

GJ: Well I hope so because we've got no stars to hang it on or anything really; just a ludicrous title that not many people understand! That was the thing; when we played it to people it worked.

LF: The two young leads - Bill Milner and Will Poulter - both pull off brilliant performances. Where did you find them?

GJ: They are incredible; they really are the thing that makes it. If we hadn't got that bit right it wouldn't have mattered how good we'd done everything else; we would have failed.

It's really hard to find good child actors, especially for the kind of thing we were doing; they really needed to be genuinely charming and confident enough not to feel self-conscious. They had never done anything before; I think one of them was a munchkin in a school production of the Wizard of Oz; that was literally it! They had no intention of having a career in it.

The casting director Susie went to all these schools; and it took five months to find them. Right at the very end - when we almost had to stop looking - Bill Milner walks in and we were like: 'That's the kid! Please, please God let him act!' And he was just amazing. When they're laughing in the film you know they are genuinely finding it hysterical.

LF: The 80s influenced costume and set is great. Did you have an influence in that?

GJ: I've known our costume designer for years and she lives the 80's! She hasn't actually moved on yet. She keeps everything, it's unbelievable. So she just brought it all in and dressed the kids. I didn't write that much into the script in regards to the details of the design, except for the 6th form common room scene as we were using the props as gags. Suddenly a scene that I thought was a serious one; everyone starts laughing. I'd never intended to make so many jokes at the expense of the 80s, but it was ludicrous; it was a very garish and stupid age and it's nice to play around with it.

LF: What are the films that have inspired you in the past?

GJ: Well obviously [Rambo] First Blood. That was the thing that kicked me off in the first place as I wanted to make a film like that. Then very much the Spielberg and Lucas films; which goes for almost everyone in that generation. Past that I got really into Billy Wilder films. I was very young when I started watching Some Like It Hot and would watch it repeatedly. I still can watch that film - it's perfect!

LF: ...and of course Some Like it Hot stars Marilyn Monroe?

GJ: Stunning. I think that was the first time I had a crush on someone in a film. And still to this day when you see it; it's extraordinary! She's like wobbling along like 'Jello on springs!'

Hal Ashby I came onto quite late. When I saw Harold And Maude; I thought this is pretty much as good as it gets. I was older then. You know I thought that was just perfect and Being There I really liked as well. Modern films I've not been as passionate about; maybe it's because I'm a bit older now.

LF: People are already reviewing the film on the LOVEFiLM website. One reviewer said the film was a case of 'Gondry meets Grange Hill'; how do you feel about that?

GJ: Gondry meets Grange Hill? I like that; I think that's quite funny. I don't know him but I think he's a genius. I think he's so clever though; I don't think I've got anything in common with him in that respect!

But there's definitely a generation out there that sort of feels like it's all up for grabs. You don't have to use CGI or be the puppet king; you can just do whatever feels right and there's a more inventive approach to the storytelling. That is always encouraged in music videos. I think we have a playful approach in common but I feel a bit weird comparing myself to him cos he's like a guru!

LF: What do you hope an audience can take away from watching Son of Rambow?

GJ: I really hope that they feel better for having seen it. I mean, I hope there are lots of things that people enjoy about it, but it was always one of those films to make you feel good at the end.

Some people don't like that; people don't like things being wrapped up neatly sometimes. We tried to catch the feeling of being that age and I just hope that that for most people it's a lovely feeling they're left with. That's why I like that Billy Wilder film; I always feel better after having seen it.

Helen Cowley