The film also just received 2 BIFA nominatons for best Newcomer for Tom Cullen and Best British Production.
When you meet filmmakers or hear of other reviewers having met filmmakers you only hear the horror stories, the director who is too opinionated or does not want to be found out if they mention a certain film as an influence, or the vain star who spends too much time looking out the window instead of at the person interviewing them. Which makes it so refreshing to meet three young men who have together made a film that is both refreshing, original and entertaining.
Chris New (extrovert Glen) sits sandwiched between Tom Cullen (reserved Russell) and the director, Andrew Haigh. We start off by asking about the response to the film in America.
AH: 'Yeah, well it is all about timing. We weren't ready in time for Sundance, yet we were for South by Southwest (SXSW in Austin, Texas - where the film won the Audience Award), and yes it was positive out there but there is sometimes a willingness for the praise to end, and you think that is alright the bubble will burst. But then we get picked up by a distributor in America, and then we open in New York and we get fully booked houses, so you become aware that maybe we have not just got a gay niche film but something for a wider audience, especially one who pays to go see it already.'
The shoot took 17 days in Nottingham, how did that go?
TC: 'It was the most pleasurable experience I can remember having in a working environment, because of the journey all three of us took together helped.'
AH: 'It helped that I had two good actors, because too often directors don't trust actors they've cast.'
CN: 'I've had experiences when you suggest something to a director, who will say no thanks. And then 10 minutes later will come back and suggest what you just told him.'
TC: 'And the script helped but it was an ongoing thing, because there was room to improvise such as I said a line about Russell kissing my chest and then my hand. I got the script and then saw that was in there'.
AH: ' I was constantly re-writing and re-writing the script.'
CN: 'That's what happened with the chocolate rolls. I read for Glen with someone else before Tom was cast and he bought chocolate rolls to the read'.
AH: ' So we were always adding to the script throughout, but the most important thing was to keep this film honest and not make it about aesthetics.'
Andrew your experience has been in Hollywood editing for Ridley Scott in Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, was that a deliberate act to not be over aesthetic on this occasion.
AH: 'I think people are liable to over-edit to death, on this occasion it was always my intention to let the film unfold in the moment, allow there to be a freedom for the audience as well to engage and invest their time more with a natural flow and create their own relationship as well.
CN: 'And the more specific you make the story, in this case about two men - nevermind the fact they are gay - the more universal it becomes.'
When you were reading the script, where you aware that is was a relationship movie and not just an addition to queer cinema.
TC: 'As I was reading the script it became less important what their sexuality was, and it read like two men talking and arguing and it was more a character study'.
CN: 'I liked the fact that it was romantic and dramatic at the same time, and that you could relate to these two characters as men, not just gay men'.
I asked the cast and director if they felt that gay men on British film is still a taboo subject, seeing as the film has been granted a 18 certificate.
AH: 'The rating does not bother me, because that was always the plan to aim for that and with this subject matter it was expected. However what bothers me is the writing afterwards, where in the box it says "Hard Sex, Hard Drug use" which I think is a false representation of the film itself. The drug use is in one scene and the sex scenes...
TC: ' It's not Trainspotting is it'.
CN: 'If anything, the sex scenes are quite intimate and realistic'.
AH: 'And tender I thought. The rating and wording of their description makes it sound like a porno. A gay porno, which is not what we have made.'
But don't you worry that people may think you are making a political statement?
AH: 'But we aren't. We are telling realistic and naturalistic love story between two men'.
CN: ' When you are gay, the politics of the age overshadows your life and becomes part of your life. It is a shame because I thought we were living in a post-censorship age when clearly we are not'.
With that our time is up, to clarify there are two sex scenes in the film between the two central characters. Neither is graphic, they are shot realistically and with affection and care for the characters - unfortunately there is still this repression in British society surrounding gay men and their sexuality. Weekend is not ground breaking in its portrayal of gay men, but you will have to go a long way to find a film that is both intellectually mature and ultimately entertaining.
Weekend is released on Friday 4 November from Peccadillo Pictures, so do seek it out and support new British cinema. Read my review of the film here
Follow Peccadillo Pictures on twitter @peccapics and the film itself @weekendmovie
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