Ahead of the Digital release of Howard J Ford’s ESCAPE on September 30 and DARKGAME on Oct 23, the UK’s busiest indie filmmaker reveals his love of exotic locations, the demands and why he secretly wants to run a coffee shop.
Your 10th feature, ESCAPE, coming out on Sept 30, is a female led kidnap revenge thriller, with hints of 70’s exploitation. Did you have fun making it?
Well I wanted Escape to be an absolute blast in every respect as it marked my 10th film out the gate; Sexy - horrific – nail biting – thrilling - and believe it or not, I even fancied a bit of humour! But ultimately it’s about these women in a horrific situation, taking power and fighting back! I absolutely intended to have fun doing it too – the location recce’s were super fun and I had a lovely little team and I believe they had a good laugh – I can’t remember half of it, I was in a bit of a filmy bubble at the time!
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| Ed Westwick and Howard Ford on the set of Darkgame |
DARKGAME, which you made before ESCAPE, unites you with Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick. Tell us a bit about the film and your experience making it.
Ed was honestly super to work with; extremely focussed and with a brilliant energy. His character is very different from Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl and he is up against a sadistic killer played brilliantly by Andrew P Stephen. We had a cracking team and my producing partner, Tom George, was super supportive. It’s deliciously twisted with standout performances.
Notoriously busy, you’ve just completed your 11th film feature, cannibalistic thriller RIVER OF BLOOD, which reunites you with THE DEAD 2: INDIA star Joseph Millson. What was it like working together again?
It was my ambition to take a break, but I still haven’t gotten around to that! Joseph Millson is always great fun and is such a wonderful screen actor – it was tricky filming Kayaking scenes on the rivers and mangroves of Thailand, but it’s such a beautiful place and that really shows on screen and it was an epic journey! It also start Sarah Alexandra Marks and Louis James from Escape and a wonderful cast and crew from Tom Boyle, the writer of my previous film The Ledge.
You rose to prominence, alongside your brother, with The DEAD and THE DEAD 2. Were you surprised with the reaction to both films?
I’ll be honest, Jon and I were very frustrated with all the compromises we had to make because of Malaria, Knifepoint muggings; being held at gunpoint etc – not even making it to location half the time, all of that stuff was quite scarring and we knew the reactions could have been even better had we been able to achieve our original vision. Maybe we’ll get the chance someday but we’re grateful to the fans who support The Dead films and when we finally get the rights back from the distributors who haven’t been paying us we might just make another…
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| Escape |
Looking back as an independent filmmaker, what can you say is your proudest achievement?
Not getting killed! That has nearly happened a fair few times and I’m grateful to still be alive! Never Let Go I felt proud of and it still plays on TV all over the world and it was another tricky shoot that we had to get done incredibly fast in some real tough places. I was proud to have been able to make The Lockdown Hauntings with literally no crew members at all – just me and actors. I feel that the film never got its fair share of exposure for what it was – it got knocked a lot critically on its release with people complaining it didn’t have enough special effects etc etc. It was made in the midst of lockdown by one person! Give me a break! Ha
The choice of locations seems crucial to you. Why is this?
For me location is incredibly important – they are like a character in themselves and I feel I owe it to my audience to take them somewhere different. After all, most people are in a room when they watch a film. I feel I should take them somewhere else. With Escape, I want them to enjoy the desert island locations – like they are going on a sunny holiday. Just with a bit of kidnapping and whatnot!
Your films set out to thrill people. Are you a thriller-seeker?
I think life is short and we need to get out there now and do stuff. Let’s face it, by the time we’re able to make life changing decisions we’re probably only going to get 50 decent summers/winters, whatever. You need to get out and do stuff now!
Did you ever contemplate a career besides filmmaking?
Often. I fantasise about just serving coffee in a quaint shop to pleasant people or doing gardening or something! The film business is ridiculous; it’s heart breaking all the time. We get an intense year or two of work, doing our best on something to make a piece of entertainment; compromising so many aspects of your lives and others to get it done, then the moment it comes out, people can’t wait to jump online and tear it apart. They often pirate (steal) your film and THEN on top of that tell you how bad it is!! I reckon that happens less in coffee shops – and at least if the coffee does turn out bad, you could just quickly brew another!
What would be one crucial piece of advice you would offer an ambitious young filmmaker?
Use what you have. If you know an amazing location – put that in your film. If you have access to an amazing prop – put that in etc. Write down all the striking and interesting things you have access to then get them in! Also, when you finally get to day one of your actual shoot get on with it! Get that first shot and move on. If you don’t get your film done, you won’t get to make many of them.
Finally, what’s next?
I’m hoping to get a little break but I’m attached to another horror and two thrillers so let’s see which one the universe intends to green light first! Thanks to all who watch Escape and DarkGame and everyone involved in bringing these to the screen!
ESCAPE is available to own or rent on digital download from Sept 30 from all main platforms, but it can currently be preordered via AppleTV on:
DARKGAME will be available to own or rent on digital download from October 21st. from all main platofrms including AppleTV, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and SkyStore.