Ant Timpson’s directorial debut feels like a film that’s been long in the making. During all those years of working within genre film as a producer and curator, he must have been incubating this incisive blend of daddy issues, senseless violence, and gross-out humor.
Elijah Wood is Norval, a hipster 30-year-old fraught with nerves and already full of issues when we meet him trying to navigate some very specific instructions in a remote part of Oregon. It seems that Norval and his father Brian have long been estranged, and Norval has received an unexpected invitation begging him to come visit. The stage seems set for a beautiful family reunion, until Norval actually meets Brian, a drunk, rude man who was most certainly not expecting his son to turn up on his doorstep.
――What else came from your life？
Ant Timpson : My dad dropped in front of me, which was rather traumatic. It happened in the film as well. But I wasn’t having a screaming much at that time. It feels like a movie. The Corpse is from the hospital back to the house for a week. My family were busy at the time as well so we spent the days in the house. I go down and watch MTV movies and films. All I did to the corpse is that I felt weird. Then I never had those conversations, so I was like freaked out by the corpse. And it was a very surreal week. Some kiind of beautiful and scary at the same time and then during the day. People come and talk to the corpse, “Hey corpse, How are you doing?” “We’ve seen you for a long time” “I came up from way down country” People talked stories about my dad that I had no idea about like really crazy history which he was still alive. It was really cool and interesting but my brain was took in crazy. I mentioned it in the character.I spent a week with it .I felt like really old as well and I just wanted to talk something in front of me my Dad I should feel like I need to do something. I was gonna make a movie which was inspired by my dad and his corpse and the week. Having working with the co-writer, Toby Harvard, we have a similar sensibilities about daddy issues. Making the structure, we can discuss well like “What about this?” “Wow it makes juicy” but we also have a fight. because I’m gonna pull many idea together and it is really expand story. We talk how it’s gonna work. About the character, although the film is to hang out with the corpse which is my dad, Elijah Wood likes crazy surrealism and agreed with the character. He said that “I love it, let’s do it!”. Then, we come together.
――You have been produced other movies and you’ve been championing other people’s dreams and their work and you’ve been a film programmer are you going to stuff in your whole life and now you’re in 30s and you make your first feature is incredible.
Ant Timpson : I just feel like really energized.
―― Norval was forced into living out there and he was under such circumstances. Is this something that you know feel is the past ? You are always traveling to join the film festival like this, right?
Ant Timpson : I still love showing films to people. I have stocks like short film l program film and produced films. Making film takes a long time. There were a lot of time before I actually get these things up and running so I’m gonna keep busy and I’ve got a really short attention span so I need to keep busy . Toby and I hang out together in London in August that could be a next film. You just got crazy that I started off doing the stuff I like when I was the backyard film maker. I make a film all the time and then it just suddenly got life just is a really depressing story why I stop making films but I’m not going to get into it.
――Could you please tell us the introduction.
Ant Timpson : I really hate the quotes and if in the front of films I find them, I will really anxious. I and Toby set it on the start because we won’t be able to have a fun ride as well so it was like to get into some stuff like that.
――Why did you pick Michael Smiley？
Ant Timpson : I picked him. His career was weird. But he is very interesting person.
――I know that you love movie more than people are supposed. You cast Stephen Mchattie who is the great underappreciated Canadian character actor and then also “Beverly Hills Cop 3”. He’s been in a lot of films like a hundred and fifty. Before I watch his interview of the Toronto film festival online, this character seems intense. But, watching the interview, he is so genuine.
Ant Timpson : He is really smart, He can understand what he needed to do is try the film He is legend. And We get well and often hang out. I was pitching in the film like I’m like really hot selling it’s like I thank you for recognizing . He was like he goes over to accept it so I didn’t look away and he didn’t look away and then I keep waiting for him to say something but you didn’t so we just had this moment and then he goes and he walks away in Jamaica but I was like okay this is going to be great.
――How did you find Garfield Wilson?
Ant Timpson : He was amazing. He was discovered in the audition of Vancouver Island He just stand out because he was a three-way country corporation like New Zealand Canada Island and US. I just felt t his facial expression was nice . I want it in a really like tight outfit. His whole idea to the character playing crazy to all the characters which I feel it like this. We wrote this crazy history of the characters like they met in Bangkok bar. I thought I’d come through but his character have you threw something in front of as well.
text Ryoko Kuwahara
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