Hello Carter has its world premiere at the 57th London Film Festival this week and I caught up with debut director Anthony Wilcox for a quick run down of this romantic comedy.
Your debut film is having its premier at the London Film Festival, how does that feel as a British director ?
It’s very exciting, it’s my home festival. For my first film it’s an honour and privilege.
When you were writing Hello Carter did you draw from your own life?
Probably some, not consciously but yeah I guess when you’re writing you do draw from personal experiences.
How was filming on location in London?
Filming in London is always tricky. luckily I have has experience as an assistant director in London, so I knew some of the pros and cons. You know the advantages. Things like the tube were tough, we spent 12 hours on the central line just going up and down filming a dialogue scene. I don’t think I’ll be writing one of those again ( laughs). But we had the opportunity to shoot on a fake carriage, but we made the decision to not use that and go for the much less friendly on the schedule and budget, but it gave a better atmosphere. To get that sort of atmosphere and the feel of the train we felt it was something we couldn’t fake. We tried to carry that trough to other locations throughout the shoot.
You have some great names in the cast; Charlie Cox, Jodie Whittaker to make a few, were they your first choices?
Yeah, we just got so lucky with the cast. You always aim high and expect them all to say no, but we got lucky and they all said yes. It was a privilege to work with such talent.