onsdag den 5. januar 2011

BULLHEAD goes to Berlin!

Matthias Schoenaerts, Michaël R. Roskam, Nicolas Karakatsanis Photo: M. Vanden Abeele

In February of 2008 I read a script by Belgian writer Michaël Roskam called The Fields. I liked it a lot, and Michaël thought the feedback I gave him was useful enough that the production company, Savage Film, took me on as a script consultant.


The following two years proved challenging and enjoyable, and last year the film was shot.
Now called Rundskop (Bullhead) it will be released in Belgium on February 2nd, almost three years after my first involvement.

However, a couple of days ago, Michaël called to tell me that the film has been accepted onto the World Cinema section Panorama at the Berlin Film Festival.

Apart from being very happy for Michaël, I felt a sense of pride that the hard work that we did on the script is paying dividends.

And we needed to work very hard...

Rundskop (Bullhead) is a complex crime story set in the world of illegal growth hormones for cattle, but it is also a moving story about how a traumatic incident in their childhood has put two friends on opposite sides of the law.

The script contains a parallel structure as we follow the present day crime story intercutting with flashbacks from the boys’ childhood. Where and when to make those cuts was discussed, debated and argued about throughout the development process. These cuts were, of course, refined and adjusted in the cutting room, but if Michaël and I hadn’t spent many hours on this challenging problem at the script stage, the editing would have taken much longer and been a much tougher task that it already was. It is also more cost effective to do it at the script stage, which is something I wish more producers would take into consideration more often.

Despite having a clear main character, the script also has more than a dozen large supporting roles. As the film needed to be brought in at around the 2 hour mark, it was essential that all the supporting characters were clearly defined and multilayered as economically as possible – especially considering that some very important characters had such a limited screen time. We brainstormed them all working out how best to make these characters real and avoid cliché and stereotype.

All of the development work we did was via e-mail and most importantly Skype. There was many an evening where we would both sit in the dark in our respective houses in our respective countries talking about how to make the script better. In this digital age it means that people from all over the world can work together, whenever. I think this really helped in this case as Michaël and I worked well together and plan to do so again on Michaël’s next film.

What I am looking forward to now is, finally, at long last, meeting Michaël face to face in Berlin, and getting to see Rundskop on the big screen.


For the international trailer, go to:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZnPqAHd1_4

and for more information on the film, visit the production company’s website.

http://www.savagefilm.be/home/

Happy writing.

6 kommentarer:

  1. Great stuff Phil - looking forward to seeing the movie!

    SvarSlet
  2. thanks nicolas (and happy birthday!)

    SvarSlet
  3. hi paul

    hopefully it will get a UK release - check out your local arthouse later this year. i'll try and keep you posted.

    i think you'll appreciate how the structure is working in its complexities - you know what a stickler i am or structure!!

    phil

    SvarSlet
  4. The script's the key! Congrats! :)

    SvarSlet
  5. never a truer word spoken, caroline.

    its always the starting point, but so often gets forgotten during the course of making a film. i'm not saying that things shouldn't change as filming progresses, they have to because of the fluidity of the collaborative process, but too many films start shooting with a script that isn't ready.

    Zeitgeist Film has been guilty of that in the past, but we have learnt from our mistakes. we would rather spend an extra few months at the script stage than encounter tougher problems later on down the line.

    phil

    SvarSlet