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Gareth Evans, wearing dressed-down jeans & t-shirt with a schoolboy smile, is all Welsh. He may have earned his movie-making stripes in Indonesia, but his humour is wholly Hirwaun. And now he’s back in Wales, he’s vowed to help the Welsh (and British) film and TV scene find it’s rightful place on the world entertainment map. Jon Sutton caught up with Gareth at the Welsh BAFTA screening of his latest film, Apostle out on October 12th on Netflix.
The very opening chord of your latest film Apostle smacks of Nicholas Winding Refn’s work. Is this intentional?
Yes. I’ve always loved his work, since the first Pusher came out. He’s monumental. A powerhouse. I’ve taken influences from him and lots of others.
Such as Refn’s head-stomping, ultra-violent action style?
Definitely. Some influences are fairly obvious but others you’d have to look for [laughs]. There’s actually a reference to Enter the Dragon in this film. It’s quite subtle.
How did Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen get involved? Did you have them in mind?
I never write the first few drafts thinking of anyone. Because you’ll end up writing in their speech rhythms and you might not end up getting them. I didn’t see Downton Abbey but I loved Dan in The Guest and we had a shared history because he’d lived in Brecon for a while. So we met for a beer and talked about this project and he loved it. He loved the absurdity of it. So once we landed him, we approached Michael. We had dinner in Port Talbot. And he helped me with the character development of the bad guys in the village. His biggest note was making them each serve a different purpose. It brought them to life.
The Raid [Evans breakthrough martial arts movie] changed the way that action scenes are shot. Hollywood now often demands that same gritty realism from its fight scenes. Can you take credit for this shift?
[Embarassed] That’s not for me to say. I definitely see DNA of shots though.
But is it fair to say that you like to use organic moves, real effects and a little distance for the characters to show the actual technique – instead of just showing fists flashing in front of camera – and that’s caught on?
Yes I suppose so, but everything we’re doing has been done before. Sam Peckinpah, Jackie Chan and John Woo were doing this as far back as the sixties. The way John Woo moves his camera is amazing – it’s not enough for him to just move it around and say “look, it’s fast and kinetic”- everything he does has to be in service of the action. Perhaps Hollywood just forgot how good that real footage looked for a while.
Perhaps they’d also forgotten how good British horror could look. Apostle has a flavour of Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs – set in Cornwall – and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man – set in Scotland. Does this complete a Celtic trio of intelligent, unforgiving, cerebral horror?
And now Wales, yes. Perhaps the connection is oppression? Although Apostle is actually more to do with the corruption of religion for political gain. But yeah, the aesthetic of these films, and of Ben Wheatley’s films (Kill List, A Field in England), the way they look and sound, the behavioural traits of the characters, it fascinates me. There’s something askew about them. I’ve always been more afraid of humans than demons. I don’t believe in ghosts but I do believe in the horrors that humans are capable of.
The horrors in the film speak for themselves. Did you have any trouble convincing Netflix to back the project? Bearing in mind you’re previously known for action movies?
Absolutely none. They were brilliant. Prior to working with them I’d always worked with my wife. So 99% of the time there was no one to disagree with my decisions. And in the 1% of times that she did disagree it was because she was right! I wasn’t sure how this would work with Netflix but they backed the vision from go. Even off a script that wasn’t quite ready at that point. And they gave creative notes without ever being intrusive. To have that kind of support, I really couldn’t complain.
Is it fair to say your style lends itself to genre-jumping, since you are more interested in the relationships and the drama at the core of the films, rather than the delivery mechanism?
Yes I think so. The brothers from The Raid for example, or the brother & sister from The Raid 2, we hint at their back story and explore their relationships. But those action films are adrenalised in a way that makes audience participation OK. You want to cheer. Apostle is different. It’s designed to shock. I want to root you to your seat.
In some ways though, you have done horror before. The Raid was essentially a contained horror/thriller in the Monster In The House mould.
Yes but the tone is completely different in Apostle. For example, if I watch a horror movie such as Wrong Turn, I can enjoy it for the thrills. But if I watch The Texas Chain saw Massacre it’s not enjoyable at all. It’s an endurance. It’s a torment. A pervasive sense of dread. I personally get more from that feeling of inescapable dread than I do from a quick scare. And that’s what I’m trying to achieve with this film.
You certainly achieved it. Will the film set a precedent? What’s next?
Next is Gangs of London, a new series for Sky/HBO. I’ve written one episode to be shot in Wales so that will give me more time back here. But Ed [Tafarn, producer of Apostle] and I want to make more films together here in Wales, yes. I’m living back here now and plan to start setting more things up. And if the future allows, we’d like to provide opportunities for up-and-coming filmmakers in Wales. The talent and the infrastructure is already here. And even if things aren’t set in Wales they can still be made in Wales because the locations we have are amazing. Afterall, The Martian wasn’t shot on Mars! The thing that makes a film Welsh is the people who are making it.
Apostle is released on 12th October on Netflix.