‘Straw Man (A Reckoning)’ – Interview with Leslie Simpson, A.D Barker & Adam Krajczynski
Interview by Nia Edwards-Behi
Straw Man (A Reckoning) is a film that demands to be seen. Not your average low-budget indie project, it’s more Hour of the Wolf than the latest splatter-fest. A film of great quality and great heart, it presents the character of Lone Man as he struggles to survive in a barren, desolate landscape. I chatted with director, A.D Barker, director of photography Adam Krajczynski and star Leslie Simpson about the film.
(Editor’s note – check out Nia’s review of A Reckoning here.)
BAH: How did the project first come about – Andy, I believe you wrote the story back in 2008?
A.D Barker: Well the location came first. It was an abandoned RAF Base which my girlfriend and I just happened upon one afternoon in late 2007. I’ve always loved derelict buildings, patches of waste-ground etc, and I’d already made a couple of short films using those kinds of locations. I find something kind of beautiful in decay.
So anyway, we took a walk round this abandoned base, which had an entire village left rotting in the elements. Even while we were there looking around I said to my girlfriend that it was like a film set. Now I’d always wanted to make a feature, but I knew in order to pull it off I’d have to find a story idea that would be simple enough to shoot relatively simply, but hopefully strong enough to raise it from its budgetary constraints.
The story came from knowing I wanted to use that location, and by the very nature of the place itself, I knew that it could have an apocalyptic feel – something I’ve always loved in movies. But also, I wasn’t in the film business, didn’t know anyone in the film business – I lived in Derby where your ambition is to simply keep your head above water, and the local Quango arts funding body in the East Midlands had never been any help to me, I wasn’t in their inner circle – So anyway, I was just thinking of making this film with friends, which I’d done before on short films. I knew the story had to be simple – simple in terms of shooting anyway, there are big ideas in the film I hope, but nothing that couldn’t be achieved on the kind of no budget I was thinking of. So the first thing that came clear was that the story would be about one man, trapped alone in a world of his own making, which slowly unravels around him. I only wrote in props I thought I could get my hands on, or could be made simply, and wrote situations around the various locations on the RAF Base itself – apart from the final scenes that is.
Narration was another factor. I knew it would be a problem shooting dialogue as, firstly, there was a main road right by the village, and also, there was no water or electricity, so we would have to shoot with a generator blaring away as we shot. Most of the dialogue spoken in the film is in the class room scenes, i.e. inside in a more controlled environment. Narration was the key, but it’s very tricky thing to get right. In post-production the narration was re-written and re-worked constantly to try and get the right amount of information across without spelling out the Lone Man’s feelings. I’ve always enjoyed ambiguity; I don’t get much from stories where they feel they have to spell everything out.
So really this was a story written around a location to suit the limited scope we had to actually make a feature film. On this scale, I don’t see any other way of doing it.
BAH: How did you then go about finding the means to bring it to life as a film?
ADB: Well I was very lucky to find people who were willing to help me bring this film to life, but this situation unfortunately turned very bitter indeed during post-production, which has been the reason for the difficulties in getting this film seen. You hear about it all the time in the film business, particularly on this low-budget scale. I will be eternally grateful to them for what they did initially, but the way Adam and I were treated in post-production is beyond anything I’ve ever come across in my life. I just want to get this film out there in the hope that it gains some interest, but moreover, in the hope that I can get their part of the investment back to them. There has been some quite nasty things said about me, but people don’t really know the truth of situation – I’m just someone who put everything into his first film and wants it to be seen, that’s it. All that matters is the film, not who said or did this or that schoolyard bullshit – everyone worked so hard on this project, most for no money – Adam and I certainly weren’t paid anyway – and for that reason alone it deserves to be out in the world.
BAH: Adam and Leslie, at what stage of the development process did you get involved, and how?
Adam Krajczynski: I quite distinctly remember speaking to Andy over the phone in mid-2008, at the time details were sparse and over a series of days we would exchange several emails in an attempt to nail down our ideas, and our overall understanding as to how the film itself can be constructed and brought to life. It was roughly two weeks before principle photography started that Andy told me we were actually going to make this film!
Leslie Simpson: I think I won the part on a lottery scratch card… The circumstances surrounding Straw Man (A Reckoning) are pretty much a blur now. I don’t actually remember the details other than meeting Andy in a pub in York. He told me that he’d interviewed me the year before at a Horror convention and was making a film. Andy wasn’t convinced that I was right for the part. I agreed with him and we took it from there.
BAH: Were there any particular influences on any of you in making the film – either aesthetically or through performance or story?
LS: I can’t act to save my life, so it was the ideal job for me because there was no acting required. I read the script and thought, “crikey, this is me”, so I used myself as the template. I had just completed a second theatre tour of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt – Gynt is your archetypal poetic weirdo – so I was already in the zone. Peer Gynt reads like an inner monologue with various strange characters drifting in and out of his head and on one level that may be what’s going on in A Reckoning. To this day I haven’t a clue what was going on. Kraj (Adam) pointed the camera and Andy shouted ‘Action’, and I just flapped my arms about and pulled funny faces.
AK: For me the story was always just a framework and my influences, dare I say, were almost entirely my own – it is worth mentioning that I very much am a spiritual graduate of the Werner Herzog school of creativity. The primary focus was to generate a visual engine comprised of various component themes, techniques and ideas that I am passionate about, which I had been exploring and experimenting with throughout my creative development for several years beforehand. These ‘forms’ meshed on-set in a spectacular manner, all of which was made possible thanks to the incredible crew and wonderful location. The atmosphere on set was electric – and I am quite convinced that this tremendous synergy is what fed us constant inspiration throughout the whirlwind two week shoot and through the now notorious post-production phase.
ADB: Adam and I are huge admirers of directors like Terrence Malick and Werner Herzog, filmmakers of unique voices and unwavering originality. Herzog’s philosophies on filmmaking are truly inspiring to us well. He knows there’s no glamour in making a film; it’s hard and sometimes painful – you need a furious drive and ambition to get through it.
BAH: This is a psychologically intense film – how did you all prepare beforehand?
LS: In all honesty I don’t want people to watch the film and say, “Well blow me down, Simpson went to extremes to get into that character! He whistled through his teeth off camera and signed his contract in cuniform Greek letters! He even ate his breakfast every morning with a limp”. Making the film was meant to be difficult for me, that’s the process. Why dislike what I set out to do?
The trade-off is what the audience sees right there and then and has to work out for themselves. Don’t tell the audience what they’re supposed to be watching – that’s manipulation; cheating even. Love the film? Yeehah!! That’s the point. But praise the bloke who pointed the camera, the director, the make-up artist, or the electrician who doctored the camera when it threw a wobbly. Praise the nurse who puts a plaster on your knee when it’s grazed. I’m only pretending to be good at something. I’m a fraud.
The truth is the only real preparation I needed to do for the part was lose all my friends and become a total loner. Given that I drive most people up the wall, everyone was happy to oblige.
AK: I would say we prepared by making sure we all kept our sense of humour. I honestly don’t think I have laughed so much and so hard as I did whilst making this film. There was a constant and palpable creative buzz. No matter how tough the environment, or how intense the scene we were all a solid unit not only comfortable with each other as a team, but confident in each other’s abilities. This was all reflected in how we went about completing our tasks, which in summary would consist of at least 60 internal and external camera and lighting set-ups a day in the worst weather conditions the UK had experienced at the time for 20 years! The level of professionalism, unfaltering dedication and efficiency was exceptionally high for such a young crew; volunteers that banded together becoming Conquistadors on a Great Adventure: to explore a Brave New World of first-time independent feature film making!
BAH: Leslie, this is also a very physically intense part to play. You’ve done very physical roles in the past, did that experience help prepare you for this?
LS: It was bit nippy at times but I wouldn’t say it was physically demanding. Acting is all pretend. Ask me to change a light bulb in real life and I’ll look at you blank faced – seriously. Ask me to change a light bulb but tell me there’s a camera pointing at me and I’ll go *feigns precious voice* “Ooh, which is my good side?”
BAH: The locations used in the film are amazing – can you tell us a bit more about where it was shot?
LS: We built the set on the back lot of Andy’s mansion. You’d never believe it when you see the effect on camera, but most of it was made from foam latex. Kraj and his team did a fantastic job of lighting it. The sequence at the seashore used over 4,000 gallons of synthetic water.
BAH: Given the dilapidated locations, did you ever face any problems during shooting due to the location?
LS: You betcha. Driving there in the morning was a real bugger. It was miles away from my digs! The one thing I genuinely hate about being hired as a film actor is the early mornings. Stage acting is far better because you don’t have to get up till about 3 in the afternoon. You can pretty much take your time getting there too as there’s less traffic on the roads. Saying that, I don’t drive. I’ve just been told.
ADB: Well, apart from the lack of water or electricity, the main factor was the weather. Now knowing that we were going to be shooting in January, I knew that we’d have to be ready for anything – I mean it could have rained every day, and we would still have to shoot. We only had the location for two weeks, plus with all the people involved you have to shoot no matter what. You also have to have your script adaptable as well – if I’d written snow into the story, you just know it wouldn’t have snowed, but I knew shooting at that time of year, there could be a chance. When it did snow – and boy did it! – we just had to embrace it. It made everything twice as difficult and played havoc with our equipment, but in the end I think the film’s better for it.
AK: The location was essentially the ‘other’ main character in the film, and we all treated it with a special reverence and trust. It feels odd to say this, but it definitely reacted to us being there, but in a very positive way. There are all kinds of tales regarding its supposed haunting and on several occasions different members of the crew experienced strange occurrences during our stay. Truthfully, the only real problems we had at the location were technical due to our very limited resources and the punishing weather that we had to endure. This initiated a constant need to improvise and think around problems, which is always an extremely rewarding learning experience.
BAH: Can you tell us a bit about the straw people – how many were there? Were they easy to work with?!
AK: Quite often I would turn a corner to find a straw figure perched up against a wall; that was something that I never got used to. I know for a fact that after we wrapped we left a few at the location. We would occasionally get emails from various individuals who had found the straw people and tracked down their origin, and it would seem that everyone would get the same fright as I did when spotting one in the corner of my eye in a dimly lit corridor. In general, they were pretty harmless and always did what they were told…well, usually…
ADB: They were a pain in the arse, always wanting this and wanting that… but boy, did they love to party!
LS: There were straw people?? Eh? What the..? Wow, I’ve really gotta see this film. When I’m in the zone I’m lost to the world and don’t notice anything. With me it’s all zap, bang, pow! Know what I mean?
BAH: What do you hope people will take from watching the film? It strikes me as more than ‘just’ entertainment…?
LS: I keep being told that film is all about entertainment. It’s the ‘entertainment’ industry. Give ‘em what they want. And because those people are usually bigger than me, have more money than me, and there’s, well, let’s face it, more of them than me, I believe them. So, basically our film is rubbish. Or it’s entertainment.
ADB: I don’t know – we just tried to make the best film we could under difficult circumstances. If it moves you in some way then that’s great – I hope people can see the beauty we tried to capture in its bittersweet sorrow.
AK: We deliberately eschewed convention throughout the making of this film, even with regards to genre it is nestled between Drama and Thriller; something we have since termed ‘Trance’. There is no beginning, no middle and no end just beautiful, surprising and marvellous depths that can be seen from the outset with Leslie Simpson, whose performance resembles that of Klaus Kinski and early Dennis Hopper. We have thrown a hand grenade at traditional storytelling and the Victorian concept of narrative structure, so the substances of the film are carefully chosen situations comprised of symbols and messages. It is more than entertainment, people will take away with them an experience – a journey alongside the Lone Man as he ebbs and flows, doing battle with the irony of his own fate on the dawn of his eschaton.
BAH: What projects do you all have in the pipeline?
LS: Seriously? Who’d hire me? Heck, even if something was written for me I’d go to the audition and get told I don’t look like me. I’m not kidding. Even my parents think I’m a fake son. My epitaph’s going to read, “Who the heck was that?” If anyone out there needs an actor, and you’ve run out of options, then by using your guile contact me and I’ll read your script. If it’s any good then we can talk. No time wasters please. There. Simple. That’s what’s in the pipeline.
AK: In general, I am overwhelmed by the need to be creative in all its various forms. By making this film I have met and become close friends with a group of incredible people that share this passion. We have all been working together is some way shape or form to create new pieces of work and slowly develop new projects and ideas. These projects, such as the behind the scenes ‘making of A Reckoning’ documentary are coming together and will be out there in the world for all the world to see, without hindrance, in the very near future. In the meantime, I am developing what can be best described as an ‘evolving concept’ with a musical genius by the name of Shekhar Raj Dhain and my very close friend, budding musician & on-screen avatar John Paul Clarke. Together, we are creating a trans-media, multi-platform universe going by the codename “Shapeshifter”. It is a creative collaboration that is currently comprised of 12 or so people that work together and experiment with visual form and function on an ultra ‘lo-fi’ scale based on a thematic over-arching story. It is a fantastic chance to explore new territory or play with ideas in a constant attempt to develop and sharpen our creative sensibilities in any way we see fit to express ourselves. It is very much in its infancy, but is still a platform that welcomes everyone that is passionate about creativity and storytelling, and we wholly invite people to seek us out and join us!
ADB: It is very difficult to make a feature film and it consumes your life for years – in the case of this film, it was my life for two years – I’m in no rush to repeat that until I know the fate of this film. I can certainly see why many directors only make a film once every five years or whatever, because it really is a monster undertaking, and some filmmakers just fall by the way side all together. I have several screenplays I’ve co-written with my writing partner Matthew Waldram, one of which I really would love to make, but it needs big money… well, proper money anyway. At the moment I’ve just been concentrating on my writing – I’ve just finished writing a Children’s Book and have already started on my second. That said though, I have many ideas for films, so hopefully someday in the future I’ll get to make another one.
