Interview with Lindy Heymann and Leigh Campbell

28 Oct 2009

We speak to the director and writer of Kicks

Kicks is one of the most striking British features in this year’s programme. Telling the story of two Liverpudlian teenagers besotted with the same star footballer, what starts as a witty drama soon veers into darker territory, as the pair take drastic action to stay close to their idol. We caught up with the film’s director Lindy Heymann (pictured above) and screenwriter Leigh Campbell, both of whom are nominated for the Festival’s brand new Best British Newcomer award.

Could you talk about how you came to work together, and the role the Digital Departures project played in that?

Leigh Campbell: Digital Departures was a budget filmmaking initiative that was run as part of the Capital of Culture project in Liverpool. Initially the producer Andy Stebbing approached me, then we both got Lindy on board, and we all clicked quite quickly.

Lindy Heymann: The good thing was that there was very much a deadline to deliver the film. So from treatment to screen we had a year, which is pretty unusual, but it forced us to rise to that challenge.

LC: It was quite energising actually, the fact there was no time for the project to languish in development. People talk about development hell and this was nothing like that.

The screenplay was based on an existing script by Laurence Coriat – how does your version differ?

LC: I think it’s really different. I read it and thought it was the most amazing script, but I was quite conscious not to read it again whilst I was writing.

LH: Also it was written ten years ago, and set in Manchester, so it was very different to the world we were describing. It’s amazing the difference 10 years makes.

How central is Liverpool to the finished product, and could you have set the film anywhere else?

LH: When you look at bigger cities like London, the idea of fancying a football or some other celebrity and actually meeting them is almost impossible because the places they go are very specific. In Liverpool everyone goes out to the same places, and the reality is you could quite easily cross paths, and end up spending an evening together. A lot of the footballers are local lads who have stayed put.

This is one of three Liverpool-set features in this year’s Festival programme (the others being Nowhere Boy and Don’t Worry About Me). Do you think its time has come as a cinematic location?

LH: It’s an amazing city to film in. The impression I had when I arrived with a view to making a film there was how cinematic it feels. The horizon’s low and the sky’s big. In some ways that’s what we struggle with in the UK, to get cinematic locations that aren’t just the obvious landmarks. I’d love to go back there and make another film.

LC: The thing that Lindy did which was really good was that she didn’t go into the Liverpool clichés at all visually. It looks and feels quite special.

It’s been several years since your debut feature Showboy, what have you been up to in that time?

LH: Well I’m a music video director, so I’ve been keeping busy! But Showboy was such an extraordinary, strange thing to happen. We won a BIFA and it was so unexpected. And then suddenly I was a filmmaker! The thing that was very disconcerting was that everyone wanted to know what my next project was, and I hadn’t even thought about it. In a sense I came from nowhere. That film was made with a friend in America, and we hadn’t come through the system at all, so no one knew me. So the last few years have partly been about proving to people that I’m not this crazy woman who went off with a camera to Vegas! Also Showboy was quite unique – it was a faux documentary, it didn’t have a conventional script, it used real people. So in part I needed to get people to trust me before they’d let me make a drama.

Did you have any cinematic points of reference? The film straddles a couple of genres.

LH: We knew what we didn’t want it to be. We were determined that we weren’t going to do kitchen sink or social realism. We were also conscious of Liverpool being used a lot in television, so we wanted to avoid that kind of look. This is kind of ridiculous, and I’m a bit embarrassed to say it, but I gave everyone in the crew a copy of Kieslowski’s Blue. I’m not saying there’s anything to compare, but in terms of ambition, that was a great reference point. Another film we loved is La Niña Santa. I was thinking about Jim Jarmusch at points as well. In terms of genre we didn’t necessarily want to pin ourselves down, which can be a dangerous thing when you’re making a British film. But certainly we didn’t want to restrict ourselves by saying we were making a thriller or a teen movie.

The film is obviously a satire of WAG culture to a certain extent – what’s your take on this phenomenon?

LC: I think it’s just got a new name and a new hook. Girls have always had massive crushes and obsessions with pop stars, and in the olden days with poets! It may just be the latest manifestation of that. But the WAG thing specifically relates to this idea of instant celebrity that some people perhaps think they’re entitled to these days. You can go on Big Brother or The X Factor and take that shortcut. But then there’s always been that to an extent – being the sidekick of somebody famous and basking in the reflected glory.

How have you enjoyed your Festival experience?

LC: I’ve really enjoyed this festival, it’s been very non-claustrophobic. The way they’ve positioned our film has been great. And we’ve watched so many films! We’ve been made to feel very welcome and involved.

LH: Some industry people had said to me this was a very corporate festival, there’s no centre to it, that it’s hard to meet people. But we’ve had the total opposite experience! So at the moment I’m feeling really British and proud, and incredibly well supported.

Paul O'Callaghan

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