Welcome Adam and thank you for this interview, it’s a real pleasure to have you

among us and I hope not to bother you too much with my questions.

1. One easy to kick off. You know that we loved BLOOD RIVER, but there’s
something that really fascinates me: What the hell is doing a Cambridge
licensed in the London International Film School) born director filming in the arid
and deserted landscapes of BLOOD RIVER? Passion for the westerns, maybe?

Its been a long journey - 12 years to get to this point, a struggle. Countless
disappointments. Downs, downs and more downs. And ‘this point’ aint that impressive
trust me, especially from where I’m standing.

Blood River was a basic story about life I’d been wanting to tell for a long time.

Ultimately it ended up coming to fruition at a time in my own life where that story of guilt
and consequence had gone full circle and became very personal to me for various
reasons I’m not going to go into here. So that was kind of handy when it came to
summoning up the passion and need within myself to make it.

As for why Blood River is set in the desert -- well, I guess it’s more to do with what the
desert represents to me personally – which is a whole lot of different things. On an
obvious level it is nature at its most opressive, so bleak and stark. But I also love the
idea of the overbearing sun casting an all seeing light down, devouring shadow. A man
can stand in the middle of the desert and be seen from all sides, like an ant under a
magnifying glass getting burnt alive.

So, that fitted nicely into the central ideas behind Blood River, that all seeing eye
shining down upon poor, misfortunate Clark.

Also – the desert is the polar opposite of where I grew up in rainy Cambridgeshire… so
I was always fascinated by it, as it was so alien to me. Rewind back when I was 23 - I
started spending many years in South Africa. Once there, I found myself very drawn to
the Great Karoo and the mythology of the desert out there. There is something very
spiritual out there. Dark and enlightening at the same time. Supremely powerful stuff.
Once you experience it, its hard to put it out of your mind.

The original script Simon and I wrote for Blood River was called ‘Summer Of Love’ and
was set in Namibia. It focussed around two sisters, one of which it transpired has done
something terrible and was getting made to pay for it. Joseph was in it but it wasn’t very
subtle. As I remember, he walked into town and headbutted the one sister… But it was
essentially the same story.

Over time, however, it became very apparent that the desert itself needed to be one of
the main characters, and that had to be the American desert, as a lot of the secondry
themes in the script focus around the corruption behind capitalism, and the duality
inherant in the modern western hero. Superman if you like.

Which, incidentally, is where Clark got his name from – Clark Kent.

So all that inspired me to make the movie. A bunch of life, mainly bad times, then ‘the
good the bad and the ugly’ and ‘once upon a time in the west’.

2. Both BLOOD RIVER and BROKEN has characters pushed to unbearable

situations of pain and suffer, why are you so interested in human suffering?
I never know how candid to be about this subject, because it takes me into personal
territory. But its something that I feel the need to explain because I’m forvever getting
accused of various things, from being a psychopath, like most of the protagonists in my
movies, to being a mysoginist.

All that grates me because it’s so far from the truth. The truth being that I always write
from the perspective of the victim.

When I was growing up, I was constantly in situations where people would offer me
their trust and then throw it back violently in my face. From friends at school to various
adults - a lot of the key people in my life treated me very badly indeed.

I also led an isolated childhood by most people’s standards. I’m an only child and I
spent the first ten years of my life in a village with just five houses in it. Not a lot of
other kids around. In some ways it was a very idyllic up bringing. I had a lot of animals
around me, and they were my friends. But it was definitely very lonely, and as a result
I’m bad at being around lots of people (which is ironic given what I do for a living).

Then I got taken out of school when I was 8 for being ‘stupid’ and had to go to a private
tutor, which isolated me even more. It turned out I was dsylexic, which unlike now was
a dirty word back in the 80’s, not like now where it’s almost a badge of honor. Over
time I was able to be taught, and figured out my own system for learning that I still use
to this day.

But by the time I finally reentered the school system I was seen as being different and
got terribly bullied for years.

A lot of the violent things I went through, some of which were really insane, caused me
to form a sadly warped view of the world. When the people you trust constantly screw
you over, it makes you start to question people full stop. And when that’s happening to
you at a young age, its very hard to try and re-wire your brain to interpret things any
differently as you get older.

As a result I’ve always felt very alone in the world, and I still find it very hard to trust
people to this day.

Anyway – poor me. But my point is this is why I think consequently, in my work, I’ve
always identified with the victim.

Broken is essentially a completely nihlistic view of the world, of how I think we are all
essentially ‘owned’ by someone else. It is about the absence of any real ‘hope’ in life.
But how regardless of that we never seem to give up…About how in the end, no matter
how you may choose to want it to be, when it comes is going to be a nailbomb in your
face.

We’re brought up to believe in happy endings, but that is so far from reality, from how
things end up.

So that’s Broken for you – Not a lot of subtelty to it, but I was very angry at the world at
the time I made it, and I think that shows.

By the time I got to Devils Chair I was thinking a lot about duality. About fakeness and
the masks that people wear. I’ve always felt like two people – the side I show people
and then a much darker side. People are all manipulative, whether you care to
acknowledge that or not. The truth is that people all weak masks. I consider myself to
be a ‘good’ person, yet there’s still a lot I hide from view.

Other people, however, I don’t think are ‘good’ at all. They just creep around behind
their mask of choice, pretending to be a nice person.

Most people I grew up with were like that, and my experiences as an adult haven’t
been much different to be honest, although I’ve managed to surround myself with a lot
of very good people now. But they are so few and far between it’s depressing.

Devils Chair to me, is about the fantasy world that most people live in, and how reality,
once in a while, comes in and completely undermines it like a slap to the face.

My life descended into complete and utter chaos during the making of that film. It was
the end of one chapter and the beginning of another, for better or worse. But that film
was made during the eye of the storm.

While I was making it, the film was the only thing I had, and in a way it was like therapy
to me.

Consequently I can’t watch it now without cringing, although I am immensly proud of it.

When I watch any of my films I can see a perfect snapshot of the person I was when I
made it, for better or worse. And I was the worst version of myself when I made Devil’s
Chair.

Blood River was really an extension of the themes present in Devils Chair. A much
more grown up look at duality and the whole mask thing I was just talking about. I feel
like I wasn’t really a very ‘grown up’ (whatever that means) person up until I’d been
through the shake up that occurred during Devil’s Chair… and I got spat out of the
other end of that a very different person. Much more in control of myself and more
aware of who I really am.

As Simon and I were writing Blood River, it became very cahtartic too. Because in that
film, I can relate to all three characters, whereas in Broken I was Hope, and Devils
Chair I was the cartoon bunch of inept students.

With Blood River I realized that I was innocence, corruption and truth all wrapped up in
one person. Like most people are. And I think the film is much more balanced as a
result.

All this stuff I’m saying sounds quite pretentious I suppose. And in a way it is, like a
whiny kid complaining about themselves. But when I’m making my films, I don’t really
see it in those terms, its all very organic. One idea leads to the next and over time it
forms a whole. I don’t set out thinking ‘I want to make a film about how most people
wear masks’ or ‘next I want to make a film about duality’. Most of the time it’s only
afterwards I can look back and see how the way I’ve been feeling in my day to day life
have wormed their way into the films themselves. It’s pretty interesting. I’m sure a
shrink would have a field day with my last three films.

After Blood River I felt like I’d got a lot of the darker stuff out of my system, so Luster
was a more lighthearted, more on the nose version of that same thing. It’s a completely
transparant, and pretty funny look at duality and causality. It’s the clown in all of us
being confronted with your darker, smarter side. What happens when your
manipulative shadow decides enoughs enough and takes over.
Its funny – everytime I’m writing something new with Simon, and I think maybe its
something different, some new themes – the same old shit always comes back around!
We’re doing it right now with a movie about a blind girl. I’m not sure how its going to
end up but I can tell you now its going to be about the truth being buried beneath a
mound of lies!

Pig is a little bit outside of the fold as far as my work goes, as that was as much
Andrew’s as it was mine. The improvised style it was born under gave it a mad life of
it’s own. As a result, when I watch it I don’t feel like it’s a part of me. It’s more like
driving past a car crash that you caused! A weird feeling. Goulish almost. Andrew and I
made that film out of desperation and instinct, and I think it shows. I won’t be watching
it again, but I’ll defend it to the death.

My manager has been pulling his hair out these last few years, always begging me to
write and direct something featuring a down-the-line, straightforward hero who gets
fucked over and saves the day. I guess cause he just wants me to make money and be
happy. But I just can’t. Not now anyway. It’s impossible when everything you’ve
experienced in life tells you that underneath their mask, the good guy is as bad, if not
worse than their nemesis.

Everytime I try and write something straightforward, I just feel like a phony and have to
stop…or I start and it ends up going back to more of the same. Simon and I have been
writing more straightforward Hollywood fare recently, and seem to have a talent for it,
but I definitely feel as if I’m only doing it for the riches and not at all from my heart.

This seems to be a very long winded way of explaining that I find it easiest to express
my view of the world through writing it down, then getting a bunch of actors together
and acting it out. Absurd really, but for whatever reason, I find it really cathartic. And I
think I’m getting better at it.

Broken was a blunt instrument. Devils Chair was a manaic of a film. Blood River finally
got right what I had been wanting to say, and then Luster is the next step on from that.
And Pig is some runt that sits at the back brooding and causing trouble.

I do worry that once I lose the drive to keep showing this same thing over and over in a
different context, I’ll be dried up with nothing left to say! But I guess we’ll see.

3. I read somewhere that the budget restrictions prompted that BROKEN ended
up really different from the starting idea, is that true?

Yeah – but the end result was essentially the same as the original script, thematically
at least.

We made Broken with literally no money, so a lot of the things we wanted to do were
too much for our limited means. Simple things like electricity were always a huge
problem, day to day because we couldn’t afford a generator. Consequently we had to
always be within 200 metres of a plug socket! Which was very limiting if you think about
it.

As the shoot we went on, and although we only had three lights to play with, it soon
became apparent that we had to use them in every shot or it started looking a lot like a
student film. Personally I think the best thing about that film is the lighting, which is a
testement to Erik Wilson cause we only had three lights!
That film ended up creating its own rulebook, if you like. A list of what worked and what
didn’t, of what we could achieve and what we couldn’t.

And in a sense all those restrictions were the things that ended up making the film,
because it just is what it is… very simple. Very to the point. Its all about the script and
the performances, which is how it should be really. Most low budget movies that
succeed follow that very basic model – stuff like the company of men, primer,
following…. All very simple.

I think a lot of young horror directors think they’ve gotta make Evil Dead as their first
film, then wonder why everyone thinks its shit.

The answer being – ‘you’re probably not Sam Raimi, asshole’

4. Which role did the supernatural element plays in your movies? In BLOOD
RIVER is quite present, but, sometimes remains diluted by the psychological
horror that you subdue to the main characters. It’s just a show?, or, like a proper
british, you’ve a dark side that sometimes takes control when you’re writing the
script?

I don’t believe in the supernatural. I wish I did because it would confirm an afterlife to
me. I believe that all ‘evil’ is inherant, deep inside all of us. And that said, I don’t even
believe in evil really. I think we are all selfish and greedy and those two characteristics
are our demons, are our monsters.

There is nothing to me more terrifying, than myself when I look in the mirror, looking
back at me. And I don’t mean looks wise…

5. You take part in all of your scripts, along with Simon Boyes, so, do you feel
the need to control everything related to the project?, from the beginning to the
final stages?. Do you ever consider the possibility of filming someone else’s
script?

Every time I’ve tried to get excited about someone elses script, and theres been
hundreds of times over the years, I just can’t. I think it might be to do with being
dyslexic actually, because I just can’t see it in my head like I can with my own stuff.

I just like telling my little story, over and over again! I’m sure once that drive has died
away, as it has been in recent years, I’ll start looking for other stuff to do, but I very
much doubt it will be in film…

6. When I see your movies I can´t find any influences, can you name me some?
Which are your main influences in the horror genre? Do you like the current
films?

Nothing really comes to mind. I think part of growing older is that you emerge as your
own person and stop trying to copy the peopl who inspired and influenced you.

There’s nothing around now that gets me excited. In the old days – sure, but I wonder
now how much that was to do with my age at the time of seeing them.

Recenty – I’m just really into stories… good stories. So that movie ‘Evil’ I loved. District
9 I loved. Moon I loved. Triangle I loved. But honestly I don’t remember the last time I
saw a movie and thought ‘I gotta get that on blu ray’.
I get excited when I hear angel heart is coming out, or seven, jacobs ladder or
irreversible…. But like I said – it might just have been my age at the time I saw them.

I think films only ever properly work once anyway.. you can never repeat that first
experience, like all good things in life…

7. “The most unpleasant, nasty and sadistically cruel movie I have ever seen. It
should be banned.” This is a common sentence that follows every comment
about PIG? Is that true? Do you think that you can offer something different in
this hackneyed slasher/torture-porn genre?

Well I pretty much share those initial sentiments. I don’t think a film like Pig should
really be availible, just because its such utter nonsence. Which isn’t to say I’m not
proud of it, because from an acting standpoint I’m incredibly proud of it, and from a
technical standpoint I’m incredibly proud of it – but as far as what it’s actually saying, I
think its pretty ludicrious.

Andrew and I made it as a reaction to our lives last year, and the way we’ve been
treated by the industry. So it’s a valid statement. But it’s a loathsome film, made out of
utter spite. Put it this way – I wouldn’t recommend it to any of my family or friends, and I
honesty would not give a shit if no one ever saw it.

But saying that - I think its brave work from all of us involved. It was a mad experiment
and its now got a life of its own, seeing as it’s outthere.

Back in the day it would have caused a huge moral outrage. These days, more
disturbing than the film is the fact that no one really bats an eyelid – and that it can
been seen by anyone, for free on the internet.

That is way more disturbing than the film, which is purile and loathsome at best, abeit
well done.

8. Is it true that this savagery and cruelty in PIG it’s cos’ your frustation with
movie business?

Yeah. You gotta understand that I’ve made almost nothing out of the movies I’ve made.
And its been 12 years now.

So when you see your stuff coming out, and having an impact of one kind or another –
to start with that’s thrilling. But sooner or later, as you are watching the other people
around you getting richer and richer and you are getting poorer and poorer – you start
to think about it….and wonder what the point is.

And I’m not really sure what that is anymore. I’m probably going to make one more film
and then stop. I’m pretty sick of it to be honest.

9. We all now very few details about LUSTER, only something related to fight back the
dark side of someone with double personality, please, can you give us more details?

10. And after LUSTER? I heard something about a Ray “The Man”Winstone
movie called RED SNOW? Is that true that it’s based on a short movie of yours?

Good luck to them. I know almost nothing about it. It looks good on my resume right
now I guess.
I read the script for it years ago and hated it. But I look forward to getting paid for it if it
happens.