SARAH MEGAN THOMAS | INTERVIEW
Carl Marsh had a chat with the lead actress, producer and writer of brand new World War II-era espionage drama A Call To Spy.
As a World War II history buff, I feel somewhat ashamed that I didn’t know the story of the women on which A Call To Spy is based. The film depicts three female spies who train in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) before being enlisted to go to France, spy on what the Germans were planning, conduct sabotage and build a resistance. It’s a film about women that stars women, and was directed, written and produced by women.
What was the impetus for writing the screenplay to this factually-set WW2 drama?
Each film is four years of your life. So it’s a labour of love, and we do it for people to enjoy it. My mission as a filmmaker is really to tell untold stories of women in commercial genres that frankly, I think can sell and make my investors money so that I can make more movies. My last film was the first female-driven Wall Street movie, Equity. I knew I wanted to do another movie, and I knew I wanted to do a spy film, as I love James Bond films just for what they are. But, with the women in spy films, whether it’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, or Charlotte Gray – great movies, but they are just romance at the heart of them.
I was very interested in exploring the nitty-gritty of women spies, who put their lives on the line for freedom. So I went to Williams College in the States, studied World War II history extensively, and got to know all about these women spies in Churchill’s secret army. I found out there were 39 of them in France.
I settled on Virginia [Hall, played by Thomas herself] because she was American and this was an American-made film, and eventually chose the three [Hall, Vera Atkins and Noor Inayat Khan] because they were firsts in their field; I thought it was an excellent opportunity to take three women from different nationalities, different backgrounds. Yet they are united for a common cause, and they were firsts. So Virginia was the first female field agent, Vera was the first and only spy mistress who found these women, and Noor was the first female wireless.
As well as playing the lead, you wrote the screenplay and produced it. Was it difficult to wear all three hats?
You know, it wasn’t easy, but it’s my third time doing those three hats, so in this one I had a little knowledge from the past – in terms of, you know, don’t take this so seriously! With writing and producing, you have to plan very much, do your research, be one step ahead of the game. And as an actress, you have to be in the moment – you can’t be planning, or your performance is not as strong.
So that was challenging, going from writer to producer to actress – on a movie, especially an independent low budget period film, you might be dealing with any number of problems that have to be solved. Then you have to go and do your take, and know how to get in the moment. For me there are a number of ways – I do yoga, I do breathing, but five minutes before a five-minute call I would listen to Churchill speeches. It just got me in the time period, the seriousness of the moment, and it took out the modern world.
Did you encounter any difficulties getting this film made?
It was very hard to raise the money for this film. I think it’s tough to raise the money for any film. With my last film, I was lucky enough to make a profit, and so I did have a core group come back, but this had a bigger budget, so I had to find new ambassadors, which wasn’t easy. I’m not allowed to disclose the budget, but it was lower than it maybe looks.
We had to find creative ways and places to shoot. So for example, the spies historically trained in the stately homes in Scotland, because the Nazis wouldn’t know it was a spy training facility. I found a place called Ardrossan in Pennsylvania, which is the home of the family that inspired The Philadelphia Story and is an exact replica of their Scottish mansion. It is fully furnished with period furniture, and they let us shoot there – we just had to pay the location fee. Then we shot exteriors in Budapest, to get the look of World War II France.
Did you have any input into A Call To Spy’s casting, or was that the director’s choice?
I did, yes. Radhika [Apte] was our first choice for Noor; I saw her in a movie called Parched, and I was speaking with its director, Leena Yadav, who recommended her. I told Lydia [Dean Pilcher, director of A Call To Spy] I’d like to cast Radhika, around the same time Lydia had given Radhika an award at the Tribeca Film Festival, so they already knew each other. Radhika said yes, right away, and that never happens on an indie film [laughs]. It was very important to me for the role of Noor Khan that we had authentic casting.
Stana Katic [Vera Atkins] and I share an entertainment lawyer, who pitched her to me, and our team loved Stana. Linus [Roache] was suggested by Lydia and Rossif [Sutherland] came through Heidi Levitt, our fantastic casting director. We couldn’t have done this movie without Heidi, because this must be one of the most challenging casting jobs ever – she had to find actors in Pennsylvania that were British, French and German, and she did it!
A Call To Spy is out now in cinemas and on Digital HD; on DVD on Mon 2 Nov. info: www.acalltospy.com
words CARL MARSH