The Interview: John Maclean – Slow West | Film

From the very beginning of Slow West you can tell that you’re going to get something quite unconventional. Indicated by the slightly narrower aspect ratio and Scottish accent of protagonist Jay Cavendish it’s a Western that refuses to fit within the traditional paradigm of the genre. Instead Slow West blazes a new trail effortlessly moving between dark idiosyncratic comedy, raging action and bitter suspense. While this may be John Maclean’s debut feature you can tell throughout the flowing narrative that this is not his first time at the rodeo.

Having made his name as a musician in The Beta Band and The Aliens, Maclean became the go-to Director of music videos for both bands. However, he tells us he soon “started enjoying making the videos more than being in the studio.” After The Aliens disbanded Maclean turned to narrative filmmaking and started a longstanding collaboration with Michael Fassbender who starred in his first short, Man on a Motorcycle, which was shot on a smart phone. In talking with Maclean you get the sense that he comes from the DIY school of filmmaking noting “restrictions are a good thing and you learn that early on that you can just use restriction to your advantage.”

So how does his background as a musician assist with his filmmaking? “The edit is where you start thinking a lot about rhythm. The edit felt a bit more like the process of making music and you’re really trying to make something that’s a lot to do with pacing”. Running at 84 minutes with a tight contained narrative Slow West doesn’t outstay its welcome showing that Maclean gets the pacing spot on.

Today, Maclean sits down with Hunger to discuss his debut feature, moving from music to filmmaking, his relationship with Michael Fassbender and the conventions of the Western genre.

Slow West is very unconventional as a Western particularly because the protagonist is Scottish. Did you always intend to make an atypical genre film or did it happen throughout the writing process?

I think the reason for even choosing the Western in the first place is perhaps travelling America and speaking to people who would always say “my great grandfather was Scottish” or “my great grand mother was Irish.” Thinking about the migration at the time and watching Westerns and mainly being full of Americans and just thinking it’d be quite nice to come from that angle really. So that was one of the first thoughts even before writing the film. Then I can add an element of truth really because I was that young boy romanticising America and seeing it for the first time without all the violence.

The tone of Slow West feels very much like an absurdist piece of theatre similar to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Was this intentional?

A lot of that is just my personality and my love for cinema, which goes all the way from a so-called serious film like Bergman made through to Planes, Trains and Automobiles. So tone to me has never been something that you should contain to just one thing. I love a film like Fargo for the same reason. I really feel that you can use it as a powerful tool to mix tone and keep people guessing in that way. It was more just a case of not feeling that my hands were tied in the script. Like real life the most serious hefty things can seem absurd really.

Visually the film has a quirkiness in the vein of the Coen Brothers. Were they a particular point of reference for you and who else influenced the film?

There’s a whole heap. The Coen Brothers are definitely up there as one of my favourite directors, for sure so they’re definitely a huge influence. I’m probably influenced by all the films that the Coen Brothers are influenced by as well. You look at the history of cinema and, for Slow West, I keep going back to 30s and 40s Japanese cinema to 50s noir to art house to Bresson through to 80s blockbuster cinema like Predator, Die Hard and Spielberg. I love big movies but they can be of any genre and of any price range.

Working with Michael Fassbender has been a long standing collaboration between the two of you. How did it differ directing Michael this time around?

I think each time I worked with him it became slightly more collaborative. So the first time it was very much I had written a script and he came and said the lines. The next time we worked together he had looked at the script and we talked about the character beforehand. The same with Slow West when he had days off from his incredibly busy schedule we’d hook up and we’d talk about the character and we’d talk about some scenes. An on going collaboration really.

One of your first shorts was Man on a Motorcycle that was shot on an iPhone and starred Michael Fassbender. How did this come together?

Pre-iPhone actually. It was a Nokia. iPhones hadn’t been born. He had seen the short film music videos, crazy little films, that I had been doing with The Beta Band. I’d become friends with Michael’s agent actually and Michael’s agent showed Michael these films. Then a couple of weeks later I met Michael and Michael offered his services “I’ve got a day off if you wanna shoot something?” I wrote Man on a Motorcycle specifically for him in order to shoot for one day and make something.

What would your advice be towards emerging filmmakers? Would it be to go out and make something like you did with Man on a Motorcycle?

Yeah go and find Michael Fassbender [laughs].

I think, yes absolutely. I’d made about 30 little films even before Man on a Motorcycle that were just little animations or two minute samurai films or alien films or car chases. All that became useful even for Slow West. When someone would say “there’s a problem here, we don’t have this” and I could say “we can just shoot it from this angle – we’ll be fine.” That all comes from the experience of not having anything and making do. Restrictions are a good thing and you learn that early on that you can just use restriction to your advantage.

Were there any restrictions on Slow West that you felt bred creativity?

Yeah there was. It was usually lack of location or lack of things. There are things where I would say “well that wasn’t there”. I mean we didn’t have CGI budget so we filmed from certain angles to make it look as if it is there. Lots of little tricks all the way through the film actually.

Tell us about the location, as we understand that you shot the film in New Zealand. What made you want to shoot a thoroughly American narrative in New Zealand?

Practicalities to begin with. The film was green lit and Michael was available and it was going to be shot in November/December where it would be summer in New Zealand versus winter in America. Colorado is bigger than the UK so the practicalities on basing a road movie there where you’re using lots of different landscapes just seemed a lot easier to do in New Zealand where the scale is more manageable.

Practicalities and then going down and recceing there and meeting the crew. The crews there are fantastic. If they’re not shooting for Peter Jackson then you’ve got all these great guys for a job.

What went into the decision to have the aspect ratio of the film as 1:66:1 as opposed to the widescreen we see mostly?

Thinking about coming from Jay’s eyes the film felt European. The more films that I watch that were 4:3 and 1:66 the more I’ve started to like that ratio. Then just to try and get away from the whole Sergio Leone look and I’ve got the ultimate respect for those films. I wasn’t even thinking on being influenced by that. If you got widescreen you can’t help yourself. I was thinking on being influenced by European cinema with the Western to give it a fairy-tale off-kilter dream-like quality. Then you’re shooting in New Zealand and you don’t want to shoot too much of the landscape. So that kind of helps as well to close it in a bit.

How did your musical background assist with your filmmaking?

When I was in The Beta Band any time off I had I would just start writing and the scripts were pretty bad to begin with. Then just making narrative music videos for the band.

Shooting is just a different beast altogether. It’s something that I can’t really compare to anything in music really. Once production starts you can’t really stop it. It’s like a live show that last seven weeks.

Then really the edit is where you start thinking a lot about rhythm. The edit felt a bit more like the process of making music and you’re really trying to make something that’s a lot to do with pacing which songs and albums do as well.

What prompted your move into filmmaking? Was there a defining moment or was it a natural evolution?

I started enjoying making the videos more than being in the studio. I came from a visual background of art school so I was always more comfortable being in that world. When The Beta Band split up I was in another band for a wee bit called The Aliens. When these bands you split up I wasn’t really the kind of person who would think “right, I’m going to be a section musician now.” I’m not good enough for any instrument. It was just a decision to say “this is what I’ve always wanted to do so I’m going to go for it.”

What did you learn from your first feature as opposed to directing shorts?

The only way of learning how to make a film is just to make one. Start with nothing and by the end of it you’ve climbed Everest really. It’s such a long project and everything has to be thorough from the writing of the script to the writing of the costumes and the production and the pre-production to the shooting of the actors right the way through to the editing and the sound.

What I’ve learned now is that you can’t take your foot off the gas. It’s a long term full on thing. You live and breathe for three or four years what people are going to be watching for two hours.

How involved do you get in other departments?

I think that’s the best thing about directing. You’ve got to know what you want so that when the costume person says “this jacket or this jacket” then you’ve got an answer. It’s very much knowing what you want but at the same time being surprised at people turning up with something beyond your expectation which happened a lot during Slow West. I can’t imagine trying to control that because you’d end up with something worse really than if you let these people flourish. But at the same time think you can’t just go “I’m not sure, you do it.”

What are some of your favourite westerns?

I’ve got favourite films of all genres. When we talk about Westerns I would say Shane and High Noon and My Darling Clementine and Red River, Rio Bravo. Then films like The Wild Bunch, McCabe and Mrs Miller, through to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West. A lot of the classics really.

Slow West is released in cinemas today.