The Beast In The Jungle - Pilot
I have been working with Simon Field and Keith Griffith of Illuminations Films and Hans De Wolf at Keyfilm (NL) prepping and shooting a pilot film for their up coming feature film adaptation of Henry James's 1903 novella The Beast In The Jungle which they have in development with the BFI and the Netherlands film fund.
Clara Van Gool is directing the project which she has been writing with poet Glyn Maxwell and designing with choreographer Kim Brandstrup. She brought over her DOP and regular collaborater from NL, Nils Post, but otherwise has been working with the UK team over here. Clara's films are all beautiful visual stories expressed through dance, mise en scène and montage and create a bridge between art and feature films. This will be her first narrative drama and she will use all these methods to tell John Marcher's unusual story. Shooting the pilot has given her lots to think about and will really help others to understand how these elements will be brought together to create a compelling film. The film contained scenes from the 40s and the 60s which were brought to life with Crocodile's Holly Fowles-Pazdro's hair and make-up skills and Bernadette Corsten's for Camilla Rutherford's costumes (starring as May Bartram) and Sinead O'Sullivan's costumes for Joseph Millson (who played John Marcher).
The rehearsals and shoot were a real collaboration between Clara and Kim and were shot in the drizzly but romantic backdrop of Hampstead Heath's pergola for the 40s scenes and the Southbanks's Queen Elizabeth Hall for the 60s scenes.
As well as research for the performances, dialogues and movement, we were able to spend a couple of days recceing the wide-ranging locations that will be needed for the feature when it is fully funded.
We were a very small crew. I thank them all for their excellent hard work including Jack Boniface who is a true gem and a great find and who helped Nils achieve the impossible!!
Find out more
We're in production and development so things are always changing. Ohna will be keeping the news page and Twitter feed up to date. But if you want to know more please do get in touch!
