Cast list and interviews
Nick – TOM HOLLANDER
Tim – DOUGLAS HENSHALL
Corinne – CLEMENTINE CELARIE
David – STUART LAING
Leah – JOSEPHINE BUTLER
Judy – ELLIE HADDINGTON
Charlie – SUKIE SMITH
Darren – DOMINIC HALL
Stuart – DAVID COFFEY
Mrs Marsh (Tim’s Mother) – JUNE BARRIE
Mr Marsh – (Tim’s Father) – PETER SYMONDS
Justin – WILL HUNTER
Georgia – JESSICA NAPIER
Michelle – SALLY HURST
Michael – RICHARD CANT
James – BARNEY LARK
Tim’s friend Giles – ALASDAIR CRAIG
Will – HARI DILLON
Chef – JIM McMANUS
Steve (Extra) – HENIE LEWIS
Tara (Dog) – RUBY
Jeweller – ZOE SHIPWAY
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION:
We live in a rational world,
then we find a way to screw it up
Lawless Heart marks the second film from writer/directors Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger. After meeting in the early 90’s, while Neil was casting for actors for a new project, Tom came on board as producer on Neil’s short film, Tell Me No Lies. Liking each other’s work, the pair decided to start collaborating and writing together. “We established we had the same sense of humor and that we liked the same kind of acting,” explains Tom.
Their first feature film together as writer/directors was Boyfriends (1996), in which three gay relationships are tested over one eventful weekend. The film was turned around quickly on a micro budget (£26,000), and went on to receive an enthusiastic reception on its release from audiences worldwide, with theatrical releases in the UK and US, and winning, amongst others, the Best Feature Award at the 1996 Turin Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Proving their ability with this effective and popular film, led to the commission of the script for Lawless Heart.
“Lawless Heart is a human comedy about love,” says Tom. It is a modern love story, where lust, loyalty and courage are put to the test. Set in an English seaside town it follows three characters: Dan (Bill Nighy), Nick (Tom Hollander) and Tim (Douglas Henshall), who feel forced to look at life differently following the death of their mutual friend Stuart, and find themselves daring to take new paths in life and love. The three separate stories happen simultaneously, yet are told one after another—they are linked by events and characters and so the stories intertwine and glance off each other—each story revealing more about the others.
Modern day romance, it seems, involves an assault course of emotional knock-backs, bad timing, impossible choices and chance. Forces that come into play include missed opportunities, indecision and courage or the lack thereof. Tom and Neil wanted to explore our fickle emotions and the rationale behind the choices we make and show that sometimes we get it wrong. They wanted to explore the fact that sometimes we fall in love with people we shouldn’t have.
Expanding on this idea, Neil says, “I had an idea for a film where a gay man falls for a straight woman, but there was suddenly a rash of films with that premise. Also, having just made Boyfriends, which is about gay relationships, we wanted to broaden the story out from sexuality, to encompass different attitudes and reactions to love, sex and relationships. In Lawless Heart, Nick’s story picks up on the idea of a gay man falling for a straight woman. Tim’s story, which is loosely based on an old script, sees a carefree, young man grow-up when he finds the elusive ‘something’ that has been missing in his life, only to lose her.” He continues, “and the third story really came from wanting to have an older character and a story which is rich and emotional but by contrast, nothing seems to happen, which seemed inherently quite comic.”
Drawing on the honesty and truth of situations, shared experience or individual circumstances, Tom and Neil felt that the film’s strength should be in its ability to capture the emotion and human frailty of everyday life, and relationships. Bill Nighy, who plays Dan, enthuses, “one of the things that attracted me to the project was the sophisticated way it deals with emotions, it is a grown-up script.” Adding to Bills sentiments, Clémentine Célarié who plays Corinne says, “I think this movie has a lot of humanity in it, exploring love and relationships, with detailed observations into how people think and look at things. It is a very charming film.”
Tom and Neil had already decided that Nick’s character would be grieving, having just lost his boyfriend, Stuart, but needed a focal point for the film which would link all the stories together. By establishing that this would be Stuart’s funeral and that the film and each of the three stories would open with the funeral, they felt able to explore the different attitudes people have to a particular situation. “You get different focuses on the same event,” Neil elaborates. “Something may be terribly important to one person, but just be in the background of another person’s consciousness. There is no one truth to a situation, it will have different emotional repercussions for different characters.” Tom Hollander who plays Nick agrees. “I think the film is very intelligent about perspective, by showing events in terms of points of view, rather than in one particular way. By depicting events from three angles, even a bowl of sugar breaking on the floor takes on different significance.”
“Initially we didn’t have a structure at all,” comments Neil, “but I remembered seeing the Eric Rohmer film, Rendezvous in Paris, which had three stories and as I watched I kept wanting the first couple to come back. I thought it would be great to have a structure in which they were able to reappear in the background of the second couple’s story, so you learnt more about that relationship. This started off the process of defining our structure for Lawless Heart.”
Through this inventive approach more is learnt about all the characters as events are seen from the three perspectives, giving fresh insight into a scene or a reaction, adding depth to each story and exposing weaknesses and sympathies in each character. “I think the device helps establish the priorities of each character which, as in life, means they often become blinkered to other people’s problems,” says Neil.
Before the roles were fleshed out and the script could take shape, Neil and Tom worked on the motives and triggers for each character’s adventure of the heart. Nick, Dan and Tim are all very different, ranging in age, sexuality, politics and lifestyle, leading very separate lives, but are linked by one man, who was happy and content with life and encouraged his friends to “go for it” and find the lives that they were meant to lead. “One of the overriding themes in the film is regret,” says Neil. “I’m personally prone to regret and I think that many people wonder if the choices they make are the right ones.” For the characters, it is Stuart’s death as well as his attitude to life, which makes them feel that they only have one shot at life, so should make the most of it.
“The characters look for courage in their own lives to ‘go for it’ and take a chance,” Neil continues.“ “The difficulty is to know whether something is the right thing to go for or not. In Tim’s story he decides to propose to Leah and he loses her, so he lost out by going for it. Dan spends half his story procrastinating, then decides to take no action and is probably right to do so. Then there is Nick who is traumatized by his sexual encounter with Charlie (Sukie Smith). Ultimately you don’t know what consequences the choices you make will have, but at least you have had the courage to go for it.”
By combining the characters’ reaction to loss with the arrival of three new people in their lives, Tom and Neil skillfully established a plot that could reflect life’s unpredictability, bringing out the comedy and sadness present in everyday encounters and relationships. “We like to feel in control of our lives,” reflects Neil, “and we generally lead quite rational lives, so it is amusing to show what happens when you disrupt that. Life can be quite lawless and anarchic.”
With the dynamics of the script in place the writers decided to use actor improvisation to develop the script. “We had done the same thing on Boyfriends,” explains Tom, “which was very beneficial for us as writers—but it was also an attempt to make the film more of a collaborative process and give actors more say over their respective roles. I feel that if you use actors well, a project can really be enhanced.” Using actors, and developing dialogue in this way, helped reinforce the naturalness and freshness to the script.
One actor who joined the project at this early stage was veteran stage actor, Bill Nighy. “Tom called and asked if I would go and improvise a script. Then after explaining the story, characters and their relationships, myself and the other actors sat round a kitchen table with lots of coffee, improvising scenes while Tom and Neil made lots of tapes which were used to build up the characters.” The writers were particularly impressed by Bill’s improvisation. “Bill was an incredibly professional and nice person to work with—he was so inventive,” remarks Tom. “His improvisation was striking,” adds Neil, “with lots of rich and detailed ideas, which, although we had Dan’s story, really defined his character.” Martin Pope says, “I remember seeing Bill in The Men’s Room and was absolutely mesmerized. He is a wonderfully intelligent actor and brings something surprising to each moment on screen.”
Although Dan is happily married, a French woman at Stuart’s funeral enraptures him. “We had an idea that when you meet strangers you reveal much more of yourself than you do with people you know,” says Neil. “Dan then finds himself running away from the consequences of this innocent flirtation for the rest of the film. It is a very simple idea but it fit the three story structure well and added a lighter, funnier touch.” Bill Nighy adds, “I think the film is incredibly clever the way the structure has been worked out and very funny. It is very resonant, in that people laugh at sad things and somehow the greatest jokes include pain and in this case there is a nice balance.”
This is echoed by producer Martin Pope, “I think one of the script’s strengths is its humor. The comedy comes from the disparity, the gap between how the characters imagined their lives turning out and the reality.” Neil too recognizes that the cold blast of reality is essential to this type of comedy. “I think people forget that a film like The Full Monty, which is remembered as an upbeat film, works well because underneath it is actually quite bleak and quite truthful.”
Martin Pope became involved in the film after attending a read through at Soho House in London. “I thought the script was great and had worked with a number of the actors before, including Bill Nighy,” says Martin. “While we were looking for financing, Neil and Tom worked extremely hard on the script. They continued to work with the actors and as a result the character development is very organic,” he continues. “They have a good social mix of characters, drawn from life and they use intelligence and wit to play with the audiences’ perception of what they are seeing on the screen. As a team I think Tom and Neil complement each other well, with Tom having a tremendous ear for dialogue and clear sense of what works, combined with Neil’s astute observations of life, they have been able to create a script that is both fresh and very charming.”
Neil and Tom both have a preference for co-writing scripts. “On the whole writing together is great. Its fun and we improvise and get involved in the stories and characters as well as having someone to take your frustration out on!” Says Tom. “I think we bring together different qualities which creates a quite interesting and exciting atmosphere,” adds Neil. “I once worked with someone who was similar to me and it didn’t work at all. Collaborating with someone makes you ask questions a bit harder and pushes you further, so you hopefully end up with something better, that surprises you,” concludes Neil.
Casting the film, “we were very pleased and lucky to get both Tom Hollander for Nick and Douglas Henshall for Tim, to make up our trio of lead actors,” says Tom. “I knew that Tom Hollander could do comedy, but I thought his performance in the television adaptation of Wives and Daughters, was a big emotional step for Tom and thought he had the attributes to play Nick.” Neil adds, “I think he has a lot of the qualities of Nick and has played the character in a very moving way. While playing Nick very seriously, he is able to convey a repressed wryness and a sense of humor within the character.”
“The part appealed to me personally because it is in contrast to a lot of the work I’ve done,” says Tom Hollander. “I’ve done a lot of caricature performances, such as in Maybe Baby, which were wonderful and I’ve played gay parts before, but queeny gay roles. This is a very straight role, it is emotionally naked about a man who is grieving and I have never played someone like that.” Martin Pope comments, “I was delighted when Tom wanted to take on Nick. I think he is a tremendously versatile actor who can range from high comedy in Absolutely Fabulous, to period work on film and television and I think he brings a certain intensity to the part.”
As well as being attracted to the part of Nick, Tom found the script refreshingly honest. “It is a very tender story, written subtly and intelligently about subjects which often aren’t considered sensational enough by a lot of writers. It deals with real issues, which are explored with sensitivity and honesty with no silver lining or trite happy ending, making the film quite un-brit-poppy, and unashamedly emotional.”
Although Nick is gay and his partner’s funeral is at the center of the film, it isn’t a gay film. “I think the film is more about a community,” says the Producer, Martin Pope. “To an extent it shows how much liberal Britain thinks it accepts gay characters but doesn’t. In fact the only one who ‘comes out’ in the film is Dan ‘coming out’ as a homophobe, which is interesting because it is at odds with his friendship and general warmth towards Nick.” Tom Hollander adds, “I think the gay element is done very gently in the film, there is no big political stand, even in terms of what happens to Stuart’s money. What is clever and sophisticated about the script is that it doesn’t label people as villains and heroes, but rather as a series of flawed individuals.” Bill Nighy also enjoyed exploring this element of his character. “I think it is interesting that Dan is portrayed as a likeable and reasonable man without judgment or comment on his homophobia. He is one of those people who have accepted a viewpoint without ever really thinking about it. I think his views would be easily exploded, if the true, loving and important relationship that these two men had was revealed to him.”
Knowing that Bill Nighy was attached to the project was an appealing factor for both Tom Hollander and Douglas Henshall. “I was keen to work with Bill,” says Tom. “I think he is a brilliant actor who defines his own genre in a way. I think he gives a subtle and complex performance, expressing Dan’s lust and self-hatred at the same time and conveys that sense of lost youth brilliantly.” Douglas adds, “I think Bill has a wonderfully eccentric way of playing Dan which is very true to life.”
Pleased to be working with a great ensemble cast and an intelligent script, Douglas Henshall says, “I read the script and said ‘yes’ immediately. I thought that it was really clever and it was refreshing to read such a good script where the dialogue was really well written. The cast also comprised a really nice bunch of actors, quite an eclectic mix of people who gelled well together. It is a great character driven piece and I think the actors have really inhabited their parts.”
Bill is equally enthusiastic about his co-stars. “Tom is a wonderfully original actor and very good about seeing the whole picture, and gives a very individual performance. Douglas is also an original performer and is extremely charismatic, complementing Tim’s gregarious style. He is also an intelligent actor, able to present a character without comment, which is not easy. He is also young and sexy and nauseating! The combination of him and Tom together is very good.”
Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter were excited by the intensity Douglas brought to the part of Tim. “He is not a sentimental actor,” says Tom. “He can be sharp and funny and his intensity worked well for the part of Tim because his story is more serious and has emotional weight in it. There are also moments where his character can be unlikable and Doug doesn’t mind doing that and will always push the boundaries,” he says. “I think Tim doesn’t know where he belongs,” adds Douglas. “He suddenly realizes he’s missed out on eight years and everyone has moved on. His best friend is dead and was gay, which he didn’t know, so he immediately has a lot to cope with. I think that the script develops Tim’s story well—it is funny, but has a nice melancholic sting to it as well.”
Complimenting the main three actors are Sukie Smith playing Charlie, Ellie Haddington playing Dan’s wife Judy, and Josephine Butler as Leah, who were all involved from the improvisational stage together with French actress, Clémentine Célarié who plays Corinne. “Part of the reason Bill Nighy’s character falls for Corinne is that she is French,” says Martin Pope. “As well as Dan feeling he can open up to her because he is unlikely to see her again, her nationality and accent make her attractively mysterious as well as offering a gateway to a more liberal attitude to sex, unburdening Dan of his English prudishness.” Tom Hunsinger explains, “We wanted to have a French actress for this part because the film is very real and natural. This is only Clémetine’s second British film but she was absolutely delightful to work with.” he says. “She is upfront and sexy and the whole crew were completely smitten by her!” Clémentine was happy to be involved in another British production. “I am not motivated by money, nor am I a career actress, but instead like to be moved by a script. I think that Tom and Neil are very gentle and tender and have made a film that will have universal appeal, because it is able to touch people. It is about real people, emotion and has sensitivity and charm, which audiences are moved by and respond to.”
Praising Tom and Neil’s skill as directors, Bill Nighy comments, “they have operated professionally together for some time and have moved into directing very sweetly and neatly. They are very generous and compassionate people and to a large degree I think that sets the tone on a set and they produced a very friendly atmosphere.” The two men operate well as co-directors, often taking on different directorial responsibilities. “Tom is an actor and understands how actors feel and is able to bring out a lot in the cast,” says Neil. “He is also very self-deprecating which is a good quality to have on a set.”
With a relatively short shoot, Tom and Neil were under pressure to keep on schedule. “With a tight schedule it doesn’t give you much time to experiment,” says Tom, “and you are asking the actors to trust your ability and judgment at a very early stage in a shoot, which is quite hard to do, as you want them to feel they have had time to get into their roles.” Martin was impressed with Tom’s skill at coaching actors. “As well as having been an actor himself for a long time, Tom also teaches drama and is very conscious of how to make each beat in the script honest and playable. Each morning he would work with the actors in their trailers, going through scenes, so they were ready to rehearse on set.” Tom Hollander adds, “Tom is the emotional warmth and would spend time preparing the actors. He is very good at exploring a scene and talking through a character’s journey. I haven’t worked with two directors before, but it was interesting and I think they compliment each other well. Neil is very good on a technical level and had a strong vision for the look of the film which included three different filming styles he employed during shooting.”
The directors wanted to reflect the different sensibilities of each character by using three distinct filming techniques. “It was very deliberate to shoot in three different styles,” says Neil. “When we were writing the script we weren’t thinking about styles, but when we came to shoot it we realized the style was in the material, shouting at us! For Tim’s story we wanted a more contemporary edge with a sharper feel and shot it entirely on a hand-held camera. In Nick’s story we wanted to acquire a stillness to reflect his process of grieving and state of mind and chose to shoot with static cameras. For Dan’s story we wanted a more prowling camera to complement his procrastination and indecision and consequently shot it on tracks and dolly.”
To achieve the effects they wanted, the directors and producer brought together a strong crew, which included Director of Photography, Sean Bobbitt. “Sean was the first person we got on board, after seeing the critically acclaimed, Wonderland, which Sean had done for Michael Winterbottom,” says Neil. “We got on with him very well and he liked the script and seemed to have a very good understanding of it and what we were after, particularly that we were keen to use natural and available light sources, which he’d utilized to great effect in Wonderland.” Tom adds, “I think he lights things beautifully and is very decisive and good at breaking scenes down and knowing exactly what is needed.” Sean was pleased to join the production at an early stage, when crucial decisions are being made about style and the look and to build up relationships with the other key crew members and actors. “Being involved early enables you to be more effective but in this case it also gave us extra time to work out the logistics of shooting some of the scenes in the three styles,” says Sean. “I approached the film from a very naturalistic point of view and wanted to create and maintain a sense of reality throughout the film. I thought it was important not to complicate it visually, because of the complexities already within the story.”
Another key contributor was the composer Adrian Johnston, who similarly wanted to complement the film’s themes and lift the emotion into the audience’s consciousness. “You want the audience to care about the characters and recognize and empathize with their predicament, whether it is sad or funny. The music adds light and shade and helps turn the pages for the audience,” says Adrian. With recent scores for the contemporary comedy, About Adam and the period film, The House of Mirth, Adrian has a wealth of experience to draw from. “Music is an important part of keeping the pace going in a film and linking sections together. After discussion with the directors, I developed themes for each character as well as an overall theme which link the sections together,” he continues. “There is a classical element to the score, but I have emphasized the European feel of the film and its contemporary edge.” The film was shot entirely on location in autumn 2000. And after one of the wettest years in history, Sean Bobbitt had anticipated problems with continuity. “In our first week we shot all our exteriors in Essex and had remarkably good weather. I think we were very lucky, ending up with clear blue skies and fantastic light,” says Sean.
The primary locations for the film were familiar to Neil because he grew up in Maldon, Essex and had imagined many of the locations as he and Tom wrote the script. “We were always going to shoot around places I knew,” says Neil, “but as the film became a reality, we had to make some prompt decisions about location options. There is a beautiful causeway leading up to Osea Island, just off the Essex coast, (an amazing place, marooned at high tide), which was very effective.” One location, which was used as Dan and Judy’s home, was the house where Neil grew up. “My father was very curious about the filming and how it all worked,” says Neil. “Filming in the house wasn’t as strange as I thought it was going to be,” says Neil, but Martin Pope comments, “I think the rest of us were much more conscious of shooting in Neil’s old house than he was!”
Warming to the Essex countryside was a new experience for most of the cast. “I was surprised by the beauty of Malden,” says Douglas, “being on location is nice, but when I thought of Essex before I had thought of Chingford or Romford and never of places like this. The countryside is lovely and the skies are very big and cinematic.” Bill Nighy, a regular visitor to Suffolk, was pleased to put this part of the country on the map. “The east side of the country is generally less visited, but it’s easy to get hooked and this is a very beautiful part of Essex. It is a landscape which people aren't that familiar with so it gives the film a particular kind of setting.” adds Bill. The small, rural town and surrounding farmland, which supports a community familiar with one another’s affairs, also effectively mirrors the film, which although fictional, is rooted firmly in reality and Maldon’s natural charm, beauty and diversity, lent itself well to the realities of Lawless Heart.
The other main location for the film was The Isle of Man, where the majority of the film’s interiors were shot. Location manager, Annabel Cannings had the task of matching the two main locations. “The Isle of Man has lots of hills and in most directions you look, you have sea views, so there were various challenges, but the people both in Essex and Isle of Man were very accommodating and we managed to find all of the locations we needed, including Essex-looking houses for Nick and Corinne,” says Annabel.
Supported by Producer Martin Pope and an extremely efficient crew, Neil and Tom were able to realize Lawless Heart, after a long development process. “We had a great team, who just bent over backwards to make things work for us,” says Tom. “Martin has been great and always presented a cheery front,” adds Neil. “He has given us a lot of support and his determination delivered the financing for the project. We had a very happy set, and I think that if you have good actors and the confidence to let the cast and crew just do their jobs, it allows you the creative freedom as directors to be effective and I hope that is what we have done.”