Frank Perry (Cox) is an institutionalized convict twelve years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined he make peace with her before it's too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists - misfits with a mutual dislike for one other but united by their desire to escape their hell hole of an existence. Much of the action takes place within the tunnels, sewers and underground rivers of subterranean London.
- IMDb.com

Frank Perry (Brian Cox) is a lifer: in prison for the rest of his natural-born days. And he’s been perfectly willing to accept that...until now. A letter informs him his daughter is critically ill following an overdose. He must see her before it is too late and concocts a plan, but he needs help. He assembles a motley crew of unlikely companions to help with his intricate scheme. A fatal encounter puts the escape in jeopardy, and Frank must lead the group on a truly hair-raising escape.

What is so great about The Escapist is that it functions as both a classic prison-break film and an existential puzzle and is thoroughly enjoyable either way. The film is meticulously crafted, and filled with minute details of place and plot. Director Rupert Wyatt subtly melds story and visuals to fashion an exhilarating ride through the prison milieu and the internal workings of the characters. His insightful mix of frenetic and static camerawork prompts a visceral reaction that amplifies the speed and urgency of the escape.

Cox delivers a tour-de-force performance, reminiscent of classic screen heroes, that is impressive both physically and emotionally. When the puzzle is finally complete, we see Frank’s journey for what it really is: a passage not just from confinement to freedom but toward redemption for a tormented soul. 
–Sundance Film Guide

ExP: Brian Cox, Tristan Whalley
Pr: Alan Moloney, Adrian Sturges
Ci: Philipp Blaubach
Ed: Joe Walker

Sundance 2008 Interview: Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist)

IONCINEMA.com is proud to feature the rookie and veteran filmmakers showcased and nurtured at the 2008 edition of the Sundance Film Festival. This is part of collection of emailer interviews conducted prior to the festival - we would like to thank the filmmakers for their time and the hardworking publicists for making this possible.]

Rupert Wyatt

Can you discuss (in a nutshell) your filmmaking/directing background (your previous short film experiences) that have led you to where you are today...
I've made about fifteen short Films, all varying in budget, length and outcome. Some I'm very proud of, others I would consider very good training ground but nothing more. Writing, setting up and finding finance for all of the Shorts was predictably hard but tt was the best and possibly only way I was able to cut my teeth in directing drama on a regular basis. Back in 1997 I set up a Film production collective called Picture Farm for this very reason. As I was finding it very hard to break into Television Drama and Advertizing. My partners include the actor and producer Damian Lewis, fellow writer / directors Marc Singer and Gareth Lewis and Producers Adrian Sturges and Ben Freedman. We've all gone on to make Features within and produced by the company so it's proved to be a success and a very worthwhile business endeavor, not to mention a fantastic way to nurture and develop one's own work from script to screen and retain that all important creative control.
 
Can you discuss the genesis of this project - how did the initial idea come about, Daniel Hardy's participation and how did this become a story you wanted to tell?
I've always loved Prison Films: LE TROU / PAPILLON / THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION / BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ / LONELINESS OF A LONG DISTANCE RUNNER / COOL HAND LUKE...There's so many and there's something about the restricted landscape of the genre and how it invariably pits human beings against one another as well as against their environment and the system itself in such a dramatic and scaled down way. I think the genre also taps into my love of the 'lonely man' stories which were so common in the heyday of 70's American Cinema. Films like THE CONVERSATION, THE PARALLAX VIEW, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEXT. Great movies with great protagonists who invariably fail in their 'rage against the machine' but provide for great drama in their efforts. So the inspiration those stories provided, combined with an incredible opportunity to work with the actor Brian Cox again after we'd
successfully collaborated on a Short Film called GET THE PICTURE got me thinking about the possibility of making my first Film within the contained environment of prison and with a very strong but emotionally spare protagonist, which a consummate and nuanced actor like Brian is perfect for. Brian and I had always spoken about our mutual love of the brawny, stripped-back acting styles of the likes of Spencer Tracey, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando etc. and so I set to work writing the first draft of THE ESCAPIST solely with him in mind as FRANK PERRY. I had no idea whether he'd respond to it but thank God he did! Daniel Hardy my co-writer came on board soon after the initial pass. We'd worked together before and he's an
extraordinary collaborator as besides a common taste in Films and Literature and music we both I think respect one another's opinions enough to know when something is working or not. Very rarely have we reached an impasse when writing a script together as we know that if one of us isn't happy with something then there's something wrong. The other extraordinary strength Daniel has is in his structural ability. Whereas I'd written the initial pass of the script with various scenes in mind that I was wedded to purely
from a visual point of view, he was able to ruthlessly and very effectively cull and reshape the Film so that it ultimately became a script which was getting a unanimously positive response. That, combined with dogged perseverance, and the ability and tenacity of my two producers Adrian Sturges and Alan Maloney got us through the four times the Film fell apart and ultimately it's what bullied the Film into production.
 As far as the story is concerned. The inspiration came from a short story written in the 19th Century by Ambrose Bierce which narratively is completely different (it's set during the American Civil War) but it was the first narrative to use a structural technique that is the bedrock of our two parallel time lines. (JACOB'S LADDER also drew from this source, I'm sure)  

Can you elaborate on what kind of work went into the pre-production process (how long you've been working on this project prior to pre-production and what specifically you did to prepare, and were there specific people involved in this process that are worth signaling out?
The first draft of the script was written just under two years before we went into production which is relatively swift, especially for a first Film, however I'd been working ten years prior to that on numerous other projects which fell apart! This one just happened to stick. The window presented itself and with Brian's support and then the other cast from the lead ensemble we managed to assemble a group of very loyal actors who stuck by the project and if nothing else I'm very proud of the fact that their faith in me and the Film paid off. Adrian Sturges ands Alan Maloney were also the two principle stalwarts behind the production. Adrian I've worked with as a partner in Picture Farm and we've collaborated on three short Films as well. Alan we met on a recce trip to Dublin when we were scouting Kilmainham Gaol which ultimately became our master location. I could tell from the first time I met Alan that he has the guts and wherewithall to go after something he likes and he knows what he likes! As such as he makes Films rather than talking about making them, which is rare. I think Adrian and I can safely say that without him we wouldn't have necessarily made it into production last January. As always, getting that elusive greenlight was fraught with tension, especially when 2 of the attached cast who were quite big names
dropped out at the 11th hour. Both Alan and Adrian did a huge amount of financial juggling and risk-taking during the pre-production process and for me I was exceedingly lucky to be shielded from the majority of it and allowed to concentrate on making the Film.

How did you manage to get such a wonderful array of acting talent? What was the consensus feedback that you got from the actors that made it a priority to join the project?
 Well as I said, Brian boarded from first draft stage. Steve Mackintosh came soon after and they both stuck by us through a good three or four collapses. They share a US agent - Ilene Feldman - who read the script at an early stage. I remember meeting her in a London hotel. She very flatteringly said that she had the same reaction to it as when she first read the Usual Suspects for her client Benicio Del Toro. She also said that even though I'd written a script which she thought was stellar, I hadn't 'made' it yet and I could still quite easily screw it up! Hopefully that's not the case. Her support and enthusiasm for it created a very important ripple effect and I think other agents started to take notice. I cast Seu Jorge as I'd loved him in City of God. It was a bit of a punt whether we'd actually be able to get him the script but I know a script editor who'd worked on Constant Gardener and she very kindly passed it onto Fernando Merielles who in turn winged it over to him in Sao Paulo. We heard nothing for a good three months but then out of the blue we got a call from his camp with a big thumbs up and after a hilarious first meeting where I joined him on his tour bus from LA to the Coachella Festival near Palm Springs in the desert, we got on wonderfully and he was in. Daniel and I then had the opportunity to mould Viv Batista into a character which fitted him like a glove. My aim was to avoid cliché in the characters as well as the prison and casting a Brazilian actor like Seu Jorge and chucking him in with a rag tag bunch of Escapists and ruthless crims I think achieved just that. Damian Lewis is a partner in Picture Farm but although that might infer he was a definite, that certainly wasn't the case. He's an extraordinary actor and is already a major force to be reckoned and as such he's very careful about the roles he's takes on. Fortunately he felt it would be a good crack to play the Prison's 'Daddy' villain - RIZZA. Joe Fiennes came in, ultimately through Brian. They'd worked together on RUNNING WITH SCISSORS and I remember Brian raving about Joe soon after. I met Joe soon after that Film's Premiere. He read the script, then grilled me very efficiently for about two hours on the phone, asking exactly the sort of questions an actor should ask, especially when considering a low budget
Film. He's a very thoughtful man and I ultimately really enjoyed working with him because of that. He was also quite brave as LENNY DRAKE isn't a particularly likeable soul and he had no qualms about shaving his head and roughing himself up a bit. Liam Cunningham I met through Alan Maloney. They'd worked together and probably done a bit more besides! Liam's an extraordinarily natural and instinctive actor who made my job very easy and what's more he's precisely the kind of guy you want as part of your ensemble. By that I mean he created a wonderful atmosphere on set. Dominic Cooper joined only days before shooting. I'd seen him in HISTORY BOYS. He came into the casting, knocked us flat with a really powerful
improvisation of one of the hardest scenes in the Film to get right which is his character LACEY'S emotional and physical breakdown moments after killing a fellow convict. He was cast purely from that and managed to pull off a very tough character to play who features very heavily within the narrative
and each scene but hardly says a word. Like Liam he's a natural.  Finally Steve Mackintosh. As I said he joined the project very early and stuck by it, as well as enthusiastically dropping 3 stone to play the
drug-addled psychotic TONY who is along with his brother RIZZA - The Escapists nemesis. Steve's one of the best character actors in Britain so to have the opportunity of working with him on one's first Film was just brilliant. I learnt a huge amount from him, not least the cliché of 'less is more' which when tackling a villain like Tony was vital if we were to avoid the pitfalls of pantomime performance. As to why they stuck by the Film through thick and thin, well that's a question only they can answer!

What aesthetic decisions did you make prior to shooting?  
I've always found it immensely helpful to reference photographs and paintings which help to inform the writing as well as the actual making of the Film. Over time I've built up a great library of images and in the weeks leading up to production was able to collate it with my shot lists and story
boards.

My other major aesthetic decision is working with DP Philipp Blaubach and Sound Designer Theo Green! Both are collaborators I've worked with on shorts and we've built up a great short hand. As with Daniel Hardy, we share a mutual taste in Films and although we're all at an early stage of our careers they're phenomenally talented and real craftsmen who don't like to comprimise.
 
If you could name just one - what stands out as your most favorite experience you had during filming?
In all honesty, it was calling a cut at 5am on the final night of shooting when we all emerged literally and figuratively from a very dark and cold train tunnel. That and seeing Brian Cox pushing the Dolly on one of the last set ups with time rapidly running out. You don't get many actors who are prepared to do that!
 
Anatomy of a scene: What was the most difficult sequence during production? 
There were many on an emotional level, not least because dialogue is so sparse and everything needed to be conveyed through nuance and physical gesture. Obviously having my cast really helped that as they instinctively jumped on the opportunity to speak volumes with the twitch of an eyebrow as opposed to a two page monologue. So for me I'd say the hardest scenes to shoot were the ones which required the most in terms of physical interaction with each other, or with their environment. For example, covering
effectively five actors descending a real-life Air sump, without wires, with artificial rain drenching them and the ladder, with a two hundred feet drop onto a concrete below and no stunt co-ordinator through lack of budget, that's hard!

What was the most challenging aspect of the production?
In a nutshell - having to shoot on average 25 set ups a day on a 25 day schedule.
 
What are you hoping that future audiences will take away from this film? 
I really hope we've made a Film which succeeds within it's genre and by that I mean a prison escape story which thrills and intrigues, but also I really hope we reach the audience by way of Frank's story and his 'emotional escape'. 

At what part in the timeline did you consider submitting the film to Sundance?
I think from the word go we always considered submitting it but I for one always considered getting selected to be the longest of long shots. It's really a dream come true to have my first movie given such a brilliant platform. It means we stand a real chance of breaking out into a much larger arena and I think for a low budget British movie that's just great.

The Escapist is part of the Sundance Film Festival's Premieres section section and is currently seeking distribution.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Rupert Wyatt, I'm 35, my past jobs have included bike courier, poster paster, painter and decorator, essentially the kind of jobs which sustain the early days of filmmaking when no one pays you a decent salary but expect you to create cinematic magic on a dime. By contrast I was educated at Winchester College in England which is a great place to get an education, and most of my contemporaries now appear to be running the country. I grew up in England. I studied at University in Paris and I then went to live in New York for a few years. I now live in Venice Beach in Los Angeles.

What initially attracted you to filmmaking? What other creative outlets do you explore?

I've always loved telling stories but I'm not particularly articulate. I tend to waffle. So writing proved to be the perfect outlet for me. I find it a great challenge to write in a very precise and spare style, regardless of the complexities of the plot, so I fell into screenwriting which by its nature embraces that kind of blue print. Novel writing terrifies me, but I'd love to give it a crack one day. I think if I hadn't been bitten by the filmmaking bug then I would have gravitated towards photography. I find it enormously helpful and inspirational to reference still images, either from other films, painting or photography from the point of writing a first draft right in to production.

Have you made other films, and how did you learn filmmaking?

I've made about fifteen or so short films. Varying in budget, length, subject matter... and quality. Some don't deserve to see the light of day, others I'm very proud of, but all have been worthwhile in terms of learning on the job and building a very strong working relationship with various members of "The Escapist" team such as Director of Photography Philipp Blaubach, Sound Designer Theo Green, Co-writer Daniel Hardy, and my Producer Adrian Sturges. It's hard to get short films made when you're talking about shooting with a budget and working with professional crews and cast. The simple reason is that they don't make much money back for their investors, but the learning experience for the filmmakers is worth its weight in gold and that's why public funding programmes such as the UK Film Council Cinema Extreme Fund, which I was fortunate enough to be supported by, are vital.

Back in the 1960s you had great British filmmakers like Ken Russell and John Schlesinger coming out of the BBC Monitor documentary series where they were given the opportunity to cut their teeth on countless short films and docs and mini featurettes, then in the 1970s and 1980s you had the boom in advertizing which spawned the likes of Ridley and Tony Scott and Alan Parker, but for the current generation those routes in appear to have been marginalized, and so it's fantastically important, especially for the British Film Industry which doesn't have the bucks and diverse opportunity of Hollywood, to keep those programmes running. I doff my cap to those people who currently run them.

Rupert Wyatt, director of "The Escapist." Image courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival.

What prompted the idea for this film and how did it evolve?

The origins of "The Escapist" lie in a short film I made called "Get The Picture." It was the first ten pages of a feature screenplay I've written ("Fourth Wall") and I therefore intended it to be different from previous short films I'd made by functioning not only as a stand alone short 'story' but also a teaser by which I could perhaps raise finance for the remainder of the film. "Fourth Wall" couldn't be more different than "The Escapist" - it's a very ambitious film set around the world of a war photographer - the protagonist, and a London based print journalist - the antagonist.

I seem to remember thinking of that plan after seeing the great 'making of a movie' comedy "Living in Oblivion" and reading somewhere that it had been initially shot as a short and then completed as feature in the same way. In short my short did alright, won an award or two but we still didn't get the feature off the ground, something to do with not being able to snare Colin Farrell... However, by way of an introduction made by a wonderful veteran producer called Simon Relph I was able to get the script of the short to Brian Cox who read it, liked it, had a few days to spare, and to his horror found himself signing up to shoot on a building site in rain-sodden East London, having just come off "Troy". Against all the odds, we became very good friends, and the experience regardless of weather and schedule was a magical one. Not long after completing the film I had dinner with him in LA and was moaning about not being able to get anyone interested in the Feature version, how no one was willing to put $10 million behind an unknown first time feature director with grandiose visions of making an epic as his first film, such is the delusion of first timers! He suggested writing something more contained with a very strong central character that he could play. Well, it's not every day a director gets an offer like that from an actor of his stature. So I drove home, racking my brains for an idea, something manageable and which I could get finance for.

To be honest, it was that straightforward and ulterior. Having said that I also knew you only make your first film once, and if I were to get something off the ground then I wanted it to be a story I fell in love with, it couldn't be any old dross, not least because I knew Brian wouldn't sign on to a piece of crap. Like many first time filmmakers I had numerous previous ideas, scenes, full scripts all lying around after years of development, but never made. I could have dusted something off, tarted it up a bit and sent it to Brian but I didn't want to regurgitate something from the past. I felt the golden opportunity required a completely fresh start - an idea and a setting which when it came to me would sing its potential from the rooftops. Brian and I had had numerous conversations about our mutual passion for the lean understated acting style of such Hollywood greats as Spencer Tracey, Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando and filmmakers like John Ford and early Lindsay Anderson, and so I started thinking in terms of genre and the prison genre I've always been a huge fan of. What's more, you can't get a lot more contained than a prison environment! The structure of the film's plot was inspired by a well known short story written in the late 19th century by Ambrose Pierce called "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge."

That story's denouement hinges on the fact that a hanged man's apparently miraculous escape is suddenly exposed as one long hallucination occurring in the short drop and cut short by the snapping tight of the noose around his neck. Consider me morbid but it's a story I've always really liked as in many ways it's our hopes and dreams within our life span, but all distilled into the briefest of moments. The device is nothing new though. Films like "The Sixth Sense" and "Memento" have also drawn on the source but I like to think there's plenty of room to achieve something on a par with those Films yet manages to hit separate notes.

Please elaborate a bit on your approach to making the film.

Make it on time, make it on budget and make it good. That way you get to make another one.

Please tell us about how you secured distribition and the challenges you may have faced in doing so.

We have UK and Irish distribution in place with a great outfit called Vertigo. They signed on after reading the script and us securing our cast. Our production financiers required them to sign on before we got the green light from them so their involvement prior to production was vital. They love the movie which certainly helps as now it's down to them putting as much money behind it as possible so that we stand a chance of competing with the major movie releases that 9 times out of 10 crush the independents with the sheer size of their P&A. They also have a great reputation for marketing films through internet and other guerrilla-style outlets. Their films get seen and talked about. It's what makes them so successful.

What are your specific goals for the Sundance Film Festival?

Aside from watching as many films as I can, I just want to soak up the experience. It's my first major festival. It's my first major film, and who knows what comes next, so seeing as friends, family and so many of the team from the film are going to be there it's going to be a brilliant and very fitting climax to a real labor of love for us all. I also hear the skiing is great!

What are your thoughts on the state of independent film today.

If "independent film" is defined by those working outside of the Hollywood studio system, then I'd say the fact that the Hollywood studio system has been so keen to take over the independent film scene says just about everything anyone needs to know.

What are some of your all-time favorites films?

"The Battle of Algiers," "Harold and Maude," "Sorcerer," "12 Angry Men," "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," "The Samourai," "La Haine," "Being There," "Don't Look Now," "Dog Day Afternoon," "Le Trou," "Cool Hand Luke," "The Parallax View," "All The President's Men," "Once Upon a Time in the West," "L'Armee des Ombres," "The Navigator," "This Sporting Life," "Sexy Beast" and "The Stunt Man."

How do you define success as a filmmaker?

The opportunity to pick and choose. It's only when you love something that you can make it shine.

What are your personal goals as a filmmaker going forward?

To continue working and learning how to make better Films with the same team of collaborators.

Please tell us about any upcoming projects?

That might be tempting fate!