Do you think its lack of obvious heroism will hamper or help its reception in the US?
I think it fits within a tradition — it could be a cowboy film. Like, “Shane” doesn’t — oh wait, he does, he kills everyone and then runs off. But then, that’s a dark ending, right? I don’t think it’s a million miles away from that. And here as well the characters themselves, I kind of like all of them. No one is particularly evil, or sadistic. It’s also like a war movie where you see both sides equally weighted, which is unusual — you never really see that symmetrical a war story.
And eventually there aren’t even any sides, just individuals forming temporary alliances but kind of out for themselves.
Which is a thing that happens in “High Rise” too. You know a lot of the criticism — or analysis — of “High Rise” was that it was the upper class versus the middle class fighting for things, but that’s only the first part. As in the book, the class warfare part of it only lasts for like an act, and the same with this. There are very definite sides but they all end up out for themselves.
You mention the criticism of “High Rise.” Do you think it would have played differently if these projects had gone in a different order, and “High Rise” were out now?
Oh, God knows. I think “High Rise” felt to me ahead of the curve in terms of its politics. We got a lot of stick from people saying “Oh the politics is too on the nose” and “You can’t criticize Thatcher” and all this kind of stuff, but now it doesn’t look like it went far enough.
Now it’s “Ben Wheatley’s Overly Optimistic View Of The Political Future”
Haha! But I take no pleasure in that! In being right, it’s no good. It doesn’t matter anyway, it had to come out at that moment, and “Free Fire” couldn’t have happened without “High Rise” going first.
Speaking of, what’s up next from you? There are several projects rumored…
Yeah, there’s [monster movie] “Freakshift” which we’re still trying to make — probably, hopefully shooting that in June. And I’m writing stuff for Warners at the moment for “Hard Boiled,” the Frank Miller adaptation.
And is that still due to star Tom Hiddleston?
Yes it is. And then “Wages of Fear” is bouncing around too.
Ah, “Wages of Fear,” I absolutely love that movie. Tell me what your approach will be?
Well I had an epiphany.
Really?
Yes, my epiphany is to have MORE TRUCKS.
Ha! “Like the Original but with MORE TRUCKS”
That’s the poster.
It’s also the review. I’ll give it 8/10 trucks.
Heheh. It’s twice as good as the original because there are twice as many trucks! It’s contemporary and set in Africa, so a slightly different take on it. On one hand it’s a real poisoned chalice because the cineastes will be on it like fucking hawks, but then the other side of it is that it just isn’t a film that the general audience will know.
Yes, not even [William Friedkin’s version] “Sorcerer” was widely known before now.
Yeah, I mean “Sorcerer” looms much bigger than it is in retrospect because it was quite a hard film to find until recently. I had a really dodgy copy from Holland, like a 4:3 horror that I couldn’t even watch. But I do like that if I make “Wages of Fear” in the next few years I have the potential to be in cinemas the week before a “Star Wars” movie — the same way that “Sorcerer” got crushed!
Ha, so you’re already preparing to be crushed by the “Star Wars” juggernaut?
Well, there’s something in it — that idea of an adventure movie that is about tension and about people dealing with very definable risks, in a world where everything is so superhero-ey and unrelatable. Even though, obviously I see all those movies and enjoy them immensely, but that’s the breath of fresh air that that movie will bring.
Would you do a big Hollywood superhero movie?
I guess. It’s always funny, it sounds very pompous, like I’ve got a choice! I mean, if I get offered one… there’s no one clamoring at my door to do it. It would depend what it was. And really, they’ve done ’em all! It’s all been done, the characters have been done. I’m a comics collector, I have been since I was a kid, and it’s been throughly filleted.
Unless you have some obscure minor character you’ve always had a passion for.
Not really, but I mean “Hard Boiled” is a comic adaptation, which is great.
And finally, you’re a diehard fan of the show and a director of two excellent episodes, I wonder what’s your response to the news that Peter Capaldi will be finishing up as “Doctor Who” this year?
Really? News to me! I dunno, be interesting to see who they get and how that handover works.
Yeah, I never quite gelled with Capaldi’s Doctor, I must admit.
Who’s your doctor?
Mine? Well I started watching the new iteration who specifically for Christopher Eccleston and then progressively fell for every subsequent doctor until Capaldi. But from my childhood, it’s probably, erm, Peter Davison.
Ah, see mine’s Tom Baker.
Of course, you’re just a little bit…
Older?
I was going to say cooler!
I will say I didn’t like all the love affair shit — all of them, from [David] Tennant onwards, there’s some kind of sexual tension. Which is just bizarre, I mean we all know he’s like an ancient old guy, it’s creepy.
Yeah, he’s this sort of pan-dimensional semi-Godlike being, so it’s a bit weird, all right. But maybe the next one, maybe it’ll be different. A gay Doctor. Or a woman Doctor.
Oh absolutely it should be a woman, really. Fuck knows who to cast, but there’s no excuse for it not to be at this stage.
“Free Fire” opens in the U.S. on April 21st.