Director interview: Paul Andrew Williams

Paul Andrew Williams, the director of London to Brighton (EIFF 2006), talks about making the gritty realistic thriller Cherry Tree Lane, which received a World Premiere at this year’s Fest

Heroes are extraordinary so as far as Williams is concerned, they have no place in an authentic thriller. The same goes for redemption, ‘in real time scenario there’s no character arc, there’s not the nice family that we care about; they’re just normal people.’

The same attitude is extended to the gang members who invade the home of Mike and Christine after their son Sebastian becomes involved in drugs, ‘they are bad kids but they’re not big monsters walking through the door which I think is what a lot of people assume.’

The behaviour of Rian and Asad – which veers between violence to reproving comments towards their affluent victims depending on who is present – is perceptive, showing them not just as thugs but as easily influenced teenagers, ‘even though these guys are doing these horrible things, I think that’s exactly what they’d do, they’d adapt to the scenario. Trying to be friendly, not getting the fact that what they are doing is so horrible and wrong.’

In keeping with the realism of the film, he developed backstories with the actors and made sure the cast socialised together. Aside from being one of his favourite parts of the process, this bonding pays dividends when it comes to dynamics: ‘Relationships are weird. A lot of times in movies they are shown in very black and white ways. Family relationships are different just because you can get away with a lot more in terms of what gets talked about.’

Much of the on- and off-screen violence comes from complex emotional ties, but where is the line between grit and sensationalism? ‘We’re all in the privileged position of not being in that situation. We can make assumptions about what we might do without going through trauma. I don’t like seeing violence. However, it depends on the point you’re trying to get across. If you’re trying to make a point about violence then it’s important what you do with it.’

Cherry Tree Lane has already had an impact, nominated for the Michael Powell Award, how does Williams feel about being considered ‘best of British’? ‘It’s nice to be considered. If you don’t win it doesn’t make you the worst, if you do win it doesn’t make you the best.’

Williams is equally measured when considering future projects, he has two films in mind, one a ‘nice story about old people’ and the other ‘has a bit of killing in it’. The bottom line: ‘it’s about what you can get finance for. Do I want to make another tense, stuck-in, scary movie? Ideally I wouldn’t want to rightaway unless they go, ‘we’re going to pay your mortgage for you.”

London to Brighton

British director Paul Andrew Williams’s latest film, Cherry Tree Lane, will premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival this year where it has been nominated for the Michael Powell Award. In preparation for this, here’s a look back at first feature-length film London to Brighton which premiered at EIFF in 2006.

Tea time: a rare smile in Brighton

As a woman, with her eye swollen shut, wipes garish make up off a young girl in a graffitied station toilet before locking her in the cubicle while she searches for chips, we know, like them, that we are in for a rough ride. Kelly has been asked by her pimp (Derek) to procure a girl for a millionaire with condemnable tastes and Joanne, a homeless eleven year-old smoker and tough-talker appears suitably exploitable.

Williams’s elegant splitting and shifting of chronology lends an ideal balance of suspense and pace, encouraging the viewer to question the motivations of silent but brutal men and desperate women until the closing scenes. The violence of the film is effective for its restraint and blood is reserved only for the most reprehensible of characters.

Not without sympathy, Kelly’s initial actions are mitigated by her fiercely protective treatment of Joanne, she denies her nothing because spoiling her with cigarettes and food is all she can offer. Her body may be a commodity but she also uses it for charity as she knows there is only one way she will earn a train fare.

When Joanne names a teddy bear after her mother or is framed by the serene horizon behind Brighton Pier, the girl who sticks a cigarette behind her ear and demands the readies seems ridiculous but not inconsistent. Other characters speak far beyond their dialogue; Derek’s lackey is not a brawn-bound lover of carnage but someone as short on luck and opportunity as Kelly.

The millionaire’s son is inscrutable, his thick-lipped sneer and poise promises violence but he is defined by passivity. He watches his father bleed to death in the austere white walls of his bedroom, he talks harshly to an inconsolable Joanne but does not act until he has heard the full story, ensuring people dig their own graves.

London to Brighton is taut, chilling and draining. Beautifully executed it is a seamless thriller; gritty, unflinching and entirely believable but without an edge of humane black humour.

Sinister: This character is all the more dark for the fact he looks like the evil twin of the very cheerful Robert Webb