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Bright sparks of the big screen
Hollywood stars are queuing up to feature in the movies of little-known Kentish Town film-makers Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger, writes Simon Wroe
HOLLYWOOD actresses are pretty thin on the ground in Kentish Town, and scarcer still in low-budget British films. Not so though for Camden writer/director duo Neil Hunter and Tom Hunsinger, whose rigorous and inventive approach to film-making has big-name stars from both sides of the pond clamouring for parts.
Sparkle, the pair’s third feature together, lists Academy Award nominee Stockard Channing, Bob Hoskins, Leslie Manville and Anthony Head among its players – a stellar cast for what looks at first glance to be a fuzzy romantic comedy about a charming young schemer (Shaun Evans) who moves to London to make his name but falls into a love affair (set against a Kentish Town backdrop) that turns everything on its head.
The pitch may sound familiar, but Neil and Tom are convinced the unusual collaborative method of their work produces unique results, as demonstrated by their critically praised previous film, The Lawless Heart.
“We workshop extensively with the actors before we write anything,” explains Gospel Oak resident Neil.
“We have a fundamental idea when we go in, but we pick the actors we want and improvise with them; then we write the role for the character. It’s a good way to get away from the tyranny of the story. Doors open through improvising – you end up with recognisable modern characters that are quirky and real.”
Ironically, the duo’s improv-heavy methods meant they had to audition 125 young actors for the lead role before they found one “who they wanted to write a film about”, but had no problem attracting well-established performers Hoskins and Channing, both eager to flex their creative muscles.
American actress Channing may be in danger of becoming a north London icon if her career choices continue in the same vein.
The Emmy-winning actress, known for her roles in Six Degrees of Separation and The West Wing, is currently performing to rave reviews as the Jewish matriarch in Clifford Odet’s Awake and Sing at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, and she brings the same fire to a very different character as glitzy PR guru Sheila in Sparkle.
She says: “Sometimes you have a script you love, but you don’t know what you can bring to it. I responded to the character (of Sheila) and felt I could make a contribution. I had a sense of who Sheila was.
“She meets a young man who is the spine of the film and they have a thing.
“She represents London to him – sophisticated and cosmopolitan. They have a sexual relationship but it’s very even and has an equilibrium that can’t be tipped either way too much, though of course eventually it ends.”
After just one meeting with the directors, Channing was keen to join the project, flying over from the States to shoot her scenes in between seasons of The West Wing.
“Stockard is a startlingly intelligent woman,” admits Neil. “She is committed to getting it right. I learned a lot working with her – she keeps you on your toes.”
Hoskins, star of Mona Lisa and The Long Good Friday, also leapt at the chance of working on the film, even though his character, Vince, is a far cry from the hardman gangsters he is famed for playing.
He says: “I’m not known for my mildness. If I wasn’t an actor I would be a bank robber or a serial killer. I didn’t plan to make Vince mild. I first planned to make him a little dangerous and Tom said, “he is a very nice man”. And I thought, ‘Oh dear, How do you play nice?’ It grew between Tom, Neil and myself.”
Hoskins was cast at the 11th hour when Bill Nighy, who had created the character of Vince in Neil and Tom’s workshops, was caught up in other commitments.
Neil and Tom’s initial anxieties at the late switch were quickly assuaged by what they describe as Hoskins’s “fantastic professionalism”.
“Bob has a very different way of thinking about the role,” says Neil, “so casting him was a mental leap for us. It was a huge relief on the first day of rehearsal when it became clear very quickly that Bob really understood Vince; and what he wanted to do with Vince was what we wanted to do. From then on it was easy.”
The gamut of stars does not end there. Leslie Manville, currently in All About My Mother at the Old Vic, features while Anthony Head (Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) plays the heroine’s sardonic gay uncle.
Neil and Tom have made three films in their 15 years working together. Neil puts the slow output down to a number of factors.
He says: “We share a pace and we want the same thing from a scene. Our workshop process takes more time and funding can be a difficult thing to get hold of, but that’s the nature of it.
“Funding is a fitful animal that comes and goes. I don’t know why we expect more from it. Complaining about funding is like complaining about the weather. Plus I’ve never minded the waiting game, we always have projects on the go.”
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