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Wall of death
Newcastle-bred director Neil Marshall decided to rebuild Hadrians Wall to contain a deadly virus in his latest movie, Doomsday.
He talks to Steve Pratt
NEIL Marshall is the man who rebuilt
Hadrians Wall. Only on film, but his
upbringing in the North-East caused
the writer-director of hit horror movies
Dog Soldiers and The Ascent to turn
his thoughts to the Roman wall.
Growing up in Newcastle and then living in
Carlisle meant I did a lot of driving back and forth
between the two places along the old line of
Hadrians Wall, he recalls.
At some point it occured to me what situation
could exist to make a future government rebuild the
wall?, he says.
The reason that the film-maker decided on was
simple C a virus. With England under threat from
a deadly epidemic sweeping through Scotland, the
powers-that-be decide the best form of protection is
to seal off the North from the rest of the country.
Because this 21st Century wall follows the line of
the original Hadrians Wall rather than the border
between present day England and
Scotland, Marshalls home city of
Newcastle ends up on the other
side of the new barrier made of
reinforced steel and with remote
sentry guns.
The movie, Doomsday, is a $28m
action thriller thats not only his
biggest film to date but one that
marks a move away from the
horror pictures with which he
made his name, the werewolf
shocker Dog Soldiers and The
Ascent, in which female potholers
are attacked by mysterious
creatures underground.
But theres still plenty of action,
blood and gory violence in his new
movie as a team of soldiers, led by
tough girl Rhona Mitra, are sent
over the border in Scottish no
mans land to find the person said
to hold the cure to the virus.
Doomsday started well before
I made The Ascent. I came up with
the idea in 2000/2001. I had a fivepage
treatment sitting on the shelf
and was then optioned to do
something with it, says Marshall.
I took it to Rogue Pictures, told
them the story and they said write
a script. And thats pretty much what you see on
screen, pretty much what Id imagined.
He wasnt pleased when 28 Weeks Later, another
British film about a virus threatening mankind, hit
the screens. They did steal our thunder a little bit,
he admits.
But our film is so different, although they share
a few things in common. Our people with the virus
dont turn into zombies, which is quite difficult to
get across to people. Its almost unwritten law they
turn into zombies in movies. Virus equals zombies,
they become living dead or mutants. But my virus
kills people.
With star names Bob Hoskins and Malcolm
McDowell in the cast, Marshall didnt neglect the
repertory company of North-East actors whove
featured in his previous feature films and now have
roles in Doomsday, although not what people who
know them might expect. The whole idea of
working with people Ive worked
with before is never to repeat
ourselves. It has to be interesting
for all of us, he says.
I wanted to give Craig Conway
the role of the villain, or at least
one of the villains, because I
knew what he was capable of.
With Les Simpson, whos been in
all my movies, I wanted to try
something new and fresh. So he
plays a mean guy instead of a
nice guy.
Previous collaborators Darren
Morfitt, Sean Pertwee, Chris
Robson, Emma Cleasby, Myanna
Buring and Nora-Jane Noone
have all been found a places in the
cast, too.
The role of the tough major
who leads the do-or-die mission
over the border goes to Mitra,
another tough woman following
Marshalls female-heavy cast for
The Ascent.
We auditioned a whole bunch
of people and narrowed it down
pretty quickly. Rhona stood out
because she looked mean and like
she could slug someone and carry
it off. The character couldnt be so
pretty you wouldnt buy what shes doing, says
Marshall.
Although set in London and Scotland, most of the
movie was shot in South Africa for economic
reasons. Its about a third of doing anything in the
UK, which was the primary reason for going there.
But it is a fantastic place, he reports.
Doomsdaylooks a much more expensive movie,
than its $28m ticket, perhaps because Marshall was
determined to put every single penny on screen.
We did a budget for the UK and that came out at
60 to 70 million dollars. We simply didnt have that
money. Some of the South Africa location was
doubling for the Scottish Highlands, which I know
well, and if we hadnt found somewhere that looked
right, we wouldnt have gone there, he says.
The final lengthy car sequence in which the
soldiers are chased by gangs on bikes and in cars
as they try to escape back to England took three
weeks to shoot, with Marshall determined to use
old-fashioned stunt work in preference to
computer-generated effects.
For one scene we drove a Bentley car through
the side of a bus at 100mph. Every day shooting the
car chase there was some stunt man putting his life
on the line, he says.
THE actors did as much of the action as they
could. Darren Morfitt improvised a stunt
that had him hanging out of the side of a
speeding car with his head only a couple of inches
off the road. He wasnt on a safety wire or
anything.
Hes finding it strange that Doomsday isnt
having its world premiere in this country like his
previous two features. The film has already opened
in the US and other countries around the world.
Reaction has been pretty mixed, he says. Its
a film that divides opinion C its either very positive
or very negative. Id rather have a film like that than
one that gets no reaction at all. But its getting some
very loyal fans out there.
His next project is undecided, although he has
several in development, including one that would
be shot in Los Angeles.
His first two films were British-backed.
Doomsday had money from a variety of places
although it was an entirely British cast,
substantially British crew and there was some
British investment.
So far, theres no sign of him returning to film in
Newcastle. I would love to, but it depends which
projects go ahead. I did have a scene in Newcastle
in Doomsday, because technically its across the
border.
ö Doomsday (18) is now showing in cinemas.
9:44am Saturday 10th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Dan Osman, Gateshead on 5:48pm Mon 12 May 08
Good article but do your research, his other cinematic success was "[bold]The Descent[/bold] " not "The Ascent"!
Good article but do your research, his other cinematic success was "
The Descent " not "The Ascent"!
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