8 minute read
Interview: Style of Wight speaks
ON LOCATION:
Action! The Beast Must Die crew member Jasmine Orrey loading the clapper behind-the-scenes with BritBox UK
By Emma Elobeid Pictures Gareth Gatrell
Style of Wight speaks exclusively to ‘The Beast Must Die’ Director Dome Karukoski and Executive Producers Nathaniel Parker and Ed Rubin
Filming at Yarmouth Harbour: Island waters play a big part in The Beast Must Die’s storyline
When screenwriter Gaby Chiappe began looking at relocation options for her TV adaptation of 1938 murder mystery novel ‘The Beast Must Die’ by Nicholas Blake (crime fiction pseudonym of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis), the brief was simple: somewhere distinctive and dramatic but not often used as a filming location. During a conversation with Bob and Carol Bridgestock – who were working as police storyline advisors and had lived and worked on the Island for several years – Gaby mentioned she wanted somewhere where sailing didn’t feel like the preserve of the rich alone, as the story features boats and water work. They immediately suggested the Isle of Wight, and the scene was set. A five-part revenge thriller, The Beast Must Die will be the first original drama series for subscription streaming service BritBox UK, produced by New Regency Television and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Films and directed by Dome Karukoski. The project features an impressive all-star cast; from Cush Jumbo OBE (The Good Wife) to BAFTA award-winning and Golden Globe & Emmy nominated Jared Harris (Chernobyl, The Crown) and more – including Billy Howle, Nathaniel Parker, Geraldine James and Maeve Dermody. Landmark moments abound as the Island takes up its role in the history of British Television. Not only is the series a first for BritBox UK and New Regency Media, but for Nathaniel Parker (yes, the Nathaniel Parker, Shakespeare and Inspector Lynley fans) the project is also his first as
Shape-shifting cliffs and definition-defying downs provide elemental inspiration
an Executive Producer. Working on a ‘series of firsts’ “brings great excitement and harmony to the project,” he says. “I really hope that we can be a great flag bearer for BritBox. It is such a strong show and the cast is superb, so – along with the return of the ground-breaking Spitting Image – I think we shall do them proud.” Island iconography and four-season weather The story showcases a real variety of incredible landscapes and locations on the Island” says Executive Producer Ed Rubin. Over eleven weeks, filming has taken place in Yarmouth and Wootton, Bembridge and Cowes; and even – for several squally October days – on the coastal path beneath Style of Wight’s Ventnor office. Nathaniel speaks of his envy witnessing the cast and crew in so many gorgeous locations, as he spent the first few weeks watching the ‘rushes’ (raw footage of a day’s shooting) from afar. His first day on set – at the Needles – did not disappoint: “Almost every place I’ve stayed has had a picture somewhere on the wall of the Needles. That day took us through all the seasons in one day: heat, cloud, drizzle, wind, pelting rain and hail! I saw dolphins frolicking around a sail boat and a rainbow the size of Cincinnati coming out of the sea.” Director Dome Karukoski was similarly taken aback by the sweeping South Western solitude of Brook Bay, used for filming during their first week: “There was a small gorge that was totally unexpected – I didn’t expect to see something like that, and it has really stuck with me.” In true British style, the weather became a recurring anecdote amongst the crew who, working long days outdoors, often found themselves at the mercy of the Island’s more tropical microclimatic tendencies. Luckily, the storyline is suited to bouts of pathetic fallacy; although, Island rain being uniquely unpredictable, that hasn’t negated the need for a rain machine on set.
According to Nathaniel, the weather took a turn for the worse when he arrived on set, leading Jared (Harris) to affectionately refer to him as The Albatross – the ancient sailor’s symbol of bad luck. “I laughed when I watched the rushes for a summer picnic beach scene,” he says. “We had to start it with the immortal (and now commonly used!) ‘Island Weather’ disclaimer.”
Executive Producer Ed Rubin is no stranger to the kind of gloriously Gothic aesthetic that only a beautifully bleak cliff face can provide; his most recent TV credit being The Woman in White. “It’s been terrific filming The Beast Must Die on the Isle of Wight,” he says, “despite the challenges of filming four seasons in a day!” For Director Dome Karukoski too, the Island’s elemental nature has had a lasting impact: “One moment you can feel like the rain is going to wash your sins away and a second after that, the sun is opening its smile to you; shedding light into your despair while walking on a white cliff that the sea is shaping again and again. Today the wind was blowing so hard I could’ve flown away if I’d had any kind of wings.” Understandably, filming during the time of Covid has not been without its challenges. Ed explains the twiceweekly tests, bubbles, and daily temperature checks, saying, “we’ve got into a routine with it and we’re lucky to have an amazing cast and crew, so at the moment we’re on schedule.”
All agree that the Isle of Wight has augmented the intensity of the storyline: “The Island is very visual, and interacts with our characters” Dome explains, “On the Island, inspiration comes from the beauty and harshness of nature, and it’s very present.”
Director profile: Dome Karukoski
Finnish Director Dome Karukoski talks style, solitude, and storytelling
In a quote taken directly from the subject of his most recent film – Tolkien, starring Nicholas Hoult – Dome describes himself as a “wanderer, who’s sometimes lost”. Being lost, he says, is “a great sensation, and an experience that you easily get addicted to. That’s why I wander. The Isle of Wight was a new place for me, the great unknown. So even though I sometimes fear it, I embrace it. I think it’s a special kind of peace and solitude that I’ve found here. It’s been a place where being alone hasn’t bothered me. And that is a great find.” Dome comes from a family of truthseekers and storytellers. With a journalist mother and a father (who he didn’t meet until he was 14) who was an American poet and actor there is a sense of creative inevitability to his filmmaking talent. “As a child I would come up with stories of who my father was or what he did,” he explains. “So, even when he wasn’t there, he did guide me into becoming who I am, and we became very close when I grew up and then he became an inspiration for me. Perhaps our future is already written in our blood.” What does Style mean to you? In a visual medium, the small choices we make – from what kind of coffee mug a character uses to the style of pillows on their bed – tell us a lot about them, and informs our expectation of how the person behaves in the next scene. Being a Director is the cumulative work of thousands of small and big choices. What is your own personal sense of Style? A mixture of chaos, haste and handcraft. If I have time – and I’m not using my brain’s bandwidth on a project – I like to find something handcrafted, often something second-hand – items with carvings and markings of its previous life and owners, full of the stories and history of people who’ve touched that piece. If I don’t have time, I walk into a shop and pick the first one that I like. Or as the old joke goes: a man in Hollywood walked into a car dealer shop and says “Give me your best car that has a full tank. I’m on my way to meet Zsa Zsa Gabor.”
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