film news

I gather you were indebted to a group of fishermen for the origins of Monsters...

Gareth Edwards: Allegedly. They're not going to get any of the back-end profits, though! It's funny because what happens is you say something in one interview, and then you don't want to contradict yourself, so you end up saying the same thing in the next one. And after a while I was like: "Was that really the first time I'd ever thought about it?" Funnily enough, I was having this exact same conversation with my girlfriend last night. She remembers that moment. It's basically the first time I can put a date on it, because I remember saying it out loud, like: "Watch these fishermen... Imagine there was a creature on their boat and watch how they behave. It would be totally realistic." And she said, "Yeah, it would." So, that was the first time I can definitely put a date on it. But my graduation film, which was in 1996, was a monster movie, so I wanted to do monster movies back then.

So why the fascination with creatures back then?

Gareth Edwards: Well initially, I saw Jurassic Park, like everybody, and my only disappointment... what I thought Jurassic Park was going to do when I was reading the book was that I was hoping [the dinosaurs] would get on to the mainland. I was hoping they'd affect suburbia, and your homes and towns and stuff. Obviously, [the action] stays on the tropical island, and so I was thinking to myself that I wanted to do a monster movie that took place in our back yard... like it's in the place I live in and you live in. And so that's what I did in my graduation film. It's terrible. You wouldn't ever want to watch it. I'd burn every copy of it if I could. But it was a monster movie set in suburbia.

But it's taken a long time to get Monsters realised...

Gareth Edwards: Well, then what happened is, movies come along like War Of The Worlds and you think: "Well, that's not going to be special anymore." So then my biggest problem was, if I shoot a low-budget film, it was going to look low-budget as I'd have to shoot on video, so, I thought: "Why don't I embrace that like [The] Blair Witch [Project] did?" So I went ahead and wrote up a document about this, and even wrote on the front "Blair Witch meets War Of The Worlds", and I was about to go and try and do it and the Cloverfield trailer hit the internet and I was like: "OK, so let's forget that, I can't do that, let's move it on!" [Laughs]

And then what happened?

Gareth Edwards: The next thing I thought to myself was... if Cloverfield was like September 11, the logical progression from there is Afghanistan, so let's do a film - a monster movie - where it's years later, where it's a war going on somewhere on the other side of the world, and no one cares. But in the middle of filming, while we're in Mexico, District 9's announced, and the vague text that we read on the Internet felt like it could be similar, but we weren't sure. But it gets to the point where if you worry about every other film everyone else is making, you'd never make anything. And so, all you can really do is make the film that's in your head that you think you'd enjoy watching, and just cross your fingers that other people are like you.

One review of Monsters said that they could imagine you at the helm of a huge special effects-laden blockbuster. Is that something that would interest you if it were offered?

Gareth Edwards: I tell you what I've learned on this film... you can make a film for nothing, or you can make a film for 10 grand, 10 million, whatever you want. We're very lucky in the UK that Monsters is getting a big push from Vertigo, but in the US, unless you spend 20 million on advertising, no one will have heard of your film outside the industry. I was there at the weekend, and there were Skyline posters everywhere it was Skyline, Skyline, Skyline... And it became like a self-fulfilling prophecy. I may be wrong, but on its opening weekend, Skyline made $15m, because it was everywhere. So, that's the thing that would be heartbreaking: if you tried to make a really good film that's popular and artistic, and all those things you wanted to balance, and no one's heard of it... I'll be honest, that's not what I'd want. A lot of people will say: "I don't care if no one likes it..." But I really do care! I want everyone to like it, and I want everyone to see it. That's got to be what your goal is if you make films. But only studios can afford to do that kind of crazy marketing campaign. So, at some point, if you want that career where you make movies, then you've got to have a 20, 30 million-dollar PR campaign behind you, and if you have that, then no matter how much you spent making your film, that's a big risk. So, then you get into that realm of: "Woah, we're spending a lot of money here, Gareth, should you really have your character doing that?" Or: "We think you should have an ending more like this..."

The reaction to Monsters has been incredibly positive. So, what's been your favourite reaction to it so far?

Gareth Edwards: I think what makes my day is that I've managed to get it in front of a couple of my heroes. There's a few things that have happened but in terms of the people I've met, my favourite one was a screening in LA, and they said: "Oh, you may as well come down and introduce it." So I went in, and I was really nervous because I knew a few important people would be there. And I was like: "Hi, I'm Gareth and thanks for coming because I know you're really busy." But as I was saying this, I noticed Quentin Tarantino in the middle of the cinema and I was like: "Oh f***ing hell!" I got really nervous and left but then I was looking through the projection booth, kind of spotting his head: "Does he look like he's interested? Does he hate it?"