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NYX: Did you see anything or were influenced by anyone to become a writer/actor?
NL: My family, for sure. No one worked in film. Not even close, but both my Mum and Dad were captivating storytellers. My favourite memories are walking with my Dad as he would rift these amazing narratives, or being inspired by my mum to write down my ideas. She was such a beautiful writer, and never one to miss the opportunity to spin a tall tale herself. My brother and I fell in love with film, on a horrendously nerdy level. Some of our most heartfelt and poignant moments in life have been spoken in movie quotes. In terms of filmmakers, I was lucky to have grown up through the 90’s. An incredible decade of movies with the emergence of some of today's most important filmmakers. I loved twisting narratives. David Fincher’s The Game, Fight Club and Seven. Clever thrillers like The Usual Suspects and contained masterpieces like Misery. If I had to summarise the answer with one film and one actor though, I’d offer up the following. Film - Alien. Arguably the most perfect example of a film that hits every single story beat, exactly when it’s supposed to. Perfectly cast, masterfully directed and scary as f*ck. Actor - Kurt Russell. There is literally nothing he can’t do and nothing I wouldn’t watch him in. His Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China is my spirit animal. Haha.
NYX: Where did the idea for Little Bone Lodge come from?
NL: A lack of a good therapist. Haha. But for real, I think it came from a simple conversation with Matthias (the director) mid covid lock down in 2020. I had made a couple of short films that had performed well on the festival circuit and won a few decent trinkets here and there. Both of the films were thrillers, set in one location, with just one actor. Me. Partly as a performance vehicle for me, and partly because the films were self funded and I was free. Ha ha. Matthias had seen them and reached out. We started chatting about films in a post covid world. Creating a ‘covid friendly’ production with minimal cast and crew that could be shot in a single location over minimal days might be an attractive route to production. We kicked around some top line ideas, and one of them was LBL. I have always been fascinated by themes of family and parental responsibility. And as a sleep deprived new parent myself at the time, I spent my zombified evenings developing the basic plot structure that became the film. None of the characters are a direct representation of anyone in my life obviously, but I feel there is a piece of me in all of them. For better or worse. Haha.
NYX: Was it written with a cast in mind?
NL: It wasn’t written with specific actors in mind, no. But, I took inspiration from performances that felt tonally in the right space. Taking Matty for instance. He was a character that needed to feel vulnerable and likeable, but also be capable of unpredictable volatility. I perhaps imagined his physicality to be small and meek, but when we found 6’4 Harry Cadby, and watched in awe as he deftly balanced empathy and menace, we knew we had struck gold dust. There aren’t many actors that can walk that line, so we were lucky to find him. I think we all expected Maisy to be the hardest role to cast. Ultimately she is the emotional anchor of the film, and the only true innocent. You need to feel the conflict and tragedy within her. Ironically, Sadie Soverall was the first actor to be cast in the whole project. She blew everybody away with her casting tape. Her innocence masking a strong willed and determined spirit. Her energy and enthusiasm everyday on set was such a joy to be around, and it helped to forge a character that we all loved and willed to succeed.
NYX: This is your first full length script, what lessons did you learn in preparation for you next one?
NL: Good question. You know, from a structural point of view, I think I developed a good blueprint on how to approach writing a screenplay on LBL. I’ve taken that approach and found it useful on my next few projects, so there were definitely valuable lessons there. I think most of all it’s helped me develop a confidence in pitching my ideas and instilled a confidence that I can write a 90 page story. That in itself is a daunting task the first time around.
NYX: Did budget restrict your vision for the piece?
NL: I think in many respects it actually helped. We (kinda) knew the budget going into the pitch, so I was always planning on writing the film to a brief. It’s actually quite a liberating experience to have boundaries when you’re creating something, as odd as that sounds. It meant that I knew I had a structure within which the story had to exist, so I needed to challenge myself to write complex characters that could hold interest in a single space. It forces you to keep the narrative tight and tense, and build suspense through characterisation as opposed to set pieces. Given that the story is contained, I never really felt the need to want to leave our central characters, and I think in fairness doing that would actually hurt the pacing of the film.
NYX: Was it all shot on location?
NL: Yeah! Although the film is set in the Scottish Highlands, the main shoot and farm is in sunny ol’ Kent. To be fair, we filmed in February and it pissed with rain the whole time, so it wasn’t hard to feel a sense of place though. Ha ha. Matthias, wearing one of his many hats on this film, also went up to Scotland with his drone a few days after the shoot and got the beautiful landscapes that really sell the location. So, we’ve his drone piloting to thank for that one.
NYX: The small cast are electric together, did they have much rehearsal time?
NL: Almost none. Timings were so tight, with just 20 days. We were shooting 5+ pages a day, so just getting through the coverage was a testament, not only to our brilliant production team, but to the cast that came to set everyday completely prepared and ready to work. We had a table read a week or so before the shoot, but once into production, time was scarce. Matthias and our brilliant DOP, Job Reineke, would rough out the scenes with the actors and then we would get to work, refining as we went. I don’t think it would have possible had the cast not been so committed to their work and ready to throw themselves into it. Joely, for instance, is such a generous performer. I learned so much from watching her work and was inspired by her attitude towards creating the best film we could. We all built a strong unit of trust together. Roger, Sharon, Euan, Jamie, Clifford and Cameron coming in and out was always such a great source of fresh energy too, so everyday felt exciting and required you to be on your game.
NYX: What’s it like acting your own words, if you know what I mean?
NL: It helps I think. Because the character already exists so prominently in your head. The voice, the cadence of speech. I still had to do the prep work, and really explore what was not on the page to hopefully make Jack feel three dimensional and fully formed. But, being able to originate that inner monologue did so much of the early work for me. That said, I needed to be flexible and open to notes and collaboration with Matthias. You can’t just lock into one way of playing the scene. Actively listening and responding to the other actors often meant that scenes wouldn’t play out the way they might’ve in my head at the writing stage. But that’s the beautiful thing about working with talented people and being receptive to their creativity. It’s such a collective effort, and it was a lot of fun to explore together.
NYX: What’s Matthias Hoene like as a director as he’s been behind some amazing movies, and would you work with him again?
NL: Matthias and I worked very really well together. We are both a couple of grafters. And I think we respect that about one another. We’re passionate about our ideas, and share a dogged belief that you can just get sh*t done if you don’t just stop at the first, (second or third) hurdle. That carried us through many challenging moments of production. An implicit trust that each of us was fully committed to the project and making the film the very best thing we each could. Outside of that, as a creative collaborator, his energy and positivity constantly lifted me. It was Matthias that encouraged me to write the script and believed in me being the right person to play Jack. On set I knew that Matthias was guiding the project to his vision and felt that he understood how to get the best out of me. We have a few projects that we are developing together, so I have no doubt that we’ll find more opportunities to work together again.
NYX: Do you prefer acting to writing or the other way around?
NL: I don’t know. Honestly I just love creating things and being around inspiring people. If a project feels creatively exciting to me, I’m not sure I’d care if I was playing the lead role or making the sandwiches. It was a beautiful experience to be able to play a role that I had created. I had the opportunity to lean into the things that I felt best suited me as a performer. That said, I’ve recently written things that aren’t for me to play that I’ve enjoyed immensely, and played parts in other peoples films that have been so liberating to dive into and then delete from my brain. It honestly all comes down to the material.
NYX: Will you be nervous when it’s shown at FrightFest Glasgow?
NL: Of course. Anytime you make something and put it into a public space, you open yourself up to heartbreak. Ha ha. There will be people that don’t like the film. There will be people that are indifferent to it. I only hope that there are people that love it too. I’ll sit in the screening like some kind of sweaty dribbling mess, but I hope to chat to some people that liked it afterwards, and that will be enough for me.
NYX: How would you describe the movie and is it a horror or a thriller or both?
NL: I think, gun to head, I would call it a psychological thriller. I love films that misdirect and keep you on your toes. That’s what I hoped to achieve with Little Bone Lodge.
NYX: So, what are you working on at the moment?
NL: It’s been busy to be fair. I have three feature projects in development with production companies, so it’s a case of seeing what goes first. I’d love to direct one myself. I also shot a role in an action franchise which should also see me back for the next instalment too. And then a brilliantly twisted horror film called Bagman with Sam Claflin, Antonia Thomas and one of my movie heroes, William Hope for Lionsgate. It’s directed by Colm McCarthy who was a joy to work with, despite his advancing years. There’s always irons in the fire and if LBL has taught me anything, it’s that I don’t need to wait for permission to get my ideas out there. So, watch this space.
NYX: Neil Linpow, thank you very much.
