After two fugitive brothers Jack and Matty stumble upon an isolated lodge and meet the mysterious Mama, events quickly escalate out of control in a way that neither of them could have ever predicted! As well as writing the brilliant script for Little Bone Lodge, actor Neil Linpow took on the frustrated character of Jack! STARBURST talks with Neil to discuss his horror feature film idea and the layered main characters that dare to live within it…

STARBURST: How did the idea for Little Bone Lodge come about? 

I’d made a couple of short films that were all set in one location, with one actor, and they were primarily because I wanted to create something that was a bit of a vehicle for me as an actor but also something that could be shot cheaply, quickly, and economically. Matthias had seen these couple of short films and approached me when we were in lockdown to say that he thought it would be a really good idea to try and look at how features might be made post-COVID. Stuff that could be shot quickly with minimal cast and crew in one location, and how that would be attractive to production companies, and given the fact that I had made these couple of shorts that were all thriller sort of esq, and set in one place, did I have any ideas for a feature. And I suppose, for me, it was about “How do you create drama when you can’t go anywhere?” It has to come through characterisation, right? And how can you keep an audience entertained for 90 minutes when the characters, for the most part, don’t even leave two rooms? So it became about that being the brief and thinking what sort of stories can fit into that. So that’s where I started from, really, and then it became about developing who these people were, and I’ve always enjoyed films that have twists and turns that keep the audience on their toes. I think films that operate out of misdirection can usually be some of the most rewarding films to watch. I tried to do that and create characters that defy the sort of traditional expectations or stereotypes, and that was it really.

As a writer, this is your first full-length movie, right? So how exciting was that for you, and also, how did you approach working on something with this kind of runtime? 

I had written a lot of short films before, well I say a lot, I had written a few short films before. For me the process of doing it was about getting the story out first before I wrote, to sit down and write “Int, Farm House, page one” I think would have been an absolute disaster. So I had actually written out a pretty detailed forty-page treatment as to where the story went, and that’s what we actually used in the first place to send to the UK production company, to say, “Look, this is the story, this is what happened?” and it is pretty much beat per beat, it’s almost the way that like Cormac Mccarthy might write a novel, where it just sort of flows, and drives through the story. So anybody that read it, would have known whether they didn’t like it, whether they weren’t interested. Obviously, having never written a screenplay before, there was still an element of “Could I do it” so as much as people would have liked the treatment or thought that there was merit in the story, they still needed to see how the script would come about, before they would want to get on board with it. But for me, having that blueprint, you are basically just going back into the scenes and adding dialogue, and a little bit of flavour and colour, because your scenes are already there. I’ve written a few things since then, and I’ve approached it the same way, and I’ve found that it’s pretty useful.

Did you always want to play Jack? Was that something you had in mind when writing the script?

It’s the only reason I wrote the script. I was basically at a point in my career where I had pretty much stepped away from acting. It became this thing where I realised that if I wanted to go back to it, I had to be proactive and do something myself, and waiting for that call from my agent, “Spielberg is on the phone; he wants you to come and read…” that ship had long sailed, so if I wanted to create an opportunity for myself, I had to create it myself. One of the most rewarding things about making it was knowing that my flag was very firmly in the ground, we make it with me playing Jack, or we don’t make it at all. I always had that stance. Had there ever been a situation where someone had come around and said, “Well, we can make it, but you can’t do it; we have to cast X actor” I would say “Well, we just won’t do it!” So, that was a good thing to have because I could fall on my sword for something that was really important to me.

And, can you elaborate on what it’s been like to work with Matthias? Because there’s an interesting dynamic there, where you’re acting in the movie, and Matthias is directing with your writing style in mind? 

Yeah! That in itself was interesting for me because it was the first time that I had ever written anything that somebody else has directed. All be it, the short films I’ve made have been made for absolutely nothing. But it is interesting when you write something. Then somebody else interprets it, but what’s amazing about making a film is that I had this question asked to me a few times on set, where people would be like, “What’s it like seeing your vision come to life?” and the reality is, that the minute you populate the film with other people’s creativity, it’s not your vision any more, it becomes a collective vision, and that only makes the project stronger. So as soon as you cast Maisy, Matty, or Mama, those actors are bringing their own personalities, their own ideas into that character, so, certain scenes, even in the way that scenes played with Jack, when I was writing stuff, I might have had a very clear idea of how a scene would play, or how I would play that scene. Then you get into the room with the other actor, and you’re listening and responding to them. You’re listening and responding to the way that Matthias is wanting to shape the scene, and you realise, “Well, I can’t go in with that locked idea of how I thought that it read in my head”. You have to play it in the moment. There were definitely things that weren’t as I had seen them in my head, and that in itself, it does take a minute. The reality is that it does take a minute for you to sit back and go, “OK, well, this isn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be” but that doesn’t mean that it’s not stronger or more interesting, because you have these talented people around you. It makes the process more enjoyable, I think.

Perfect! So, digging into the acting side of the movie a bit further, how would you personally describe the character of Jack on a surface level? As a viewer, it feels like he is just always on the edge of losing it! Like, he would be that way even if he wasn’t in this situation. 

I mean, he is definitely desperate. On a surface level, I’d say that he is somebody that’s been thrust into responsibility all of his life that he didn’t want and that he is not really equipped to deal with it. He is walking this line where he is wanting to have a sense of his own identity and a sense of possibility for himself, but knowing that he has this albatross around his neck. This burden of responsibility that he can’t give up, and he doesn’t want to, whether he realises that or not. Having been abandoned, the only thing that he and Matty have are each other, and he needs Matty as much as Matty needs him. But it’s this being able to blame everything, all of his shortcomings on Matty, on something else, is like the armour he wears. So I’d say that on a surface level, that’s it. Scratching beneath the surface, I think the hardest thing with a character like Jack is when you write that character, you can’t write him to be vanilla because ultimately, I guess he is the character that I hope by the end of the film the audience needs to have some sympathy for. If the film works, he is supposed to be presented as the antagonist, and as the film goes on, he kind of flips to being the protagonist in many respects. You turn the character on the head. If you don’t give a shit about what happens to him at the end, it’s less effective than if you do. So it’s quite a hard roll. You can’t go into it making him too nice and wishy-washy at the start. Otherwise, you won’t care about him, and then you can’t have him too deplorable because then you won’t be able to warm to him. It is a fine balance between finding those tender moments between him and Matty, where the audience can see that there is something more going on with him. He isn’t your out-and-out kind of bad guy, but then you need to have those moments of darkness, and spite, and sort of the sense that he could do something horrible.

Matthias said that you were in character while on set. How fun was that for you, and what do you think it brought to how we see Jack on-screen? 

I mean, I don’t think I was in character. I think it would have been pretty hard to direct with me if I was in character on set. I think that there were a lot of big emotional moments in the film, and you know, my character has to go through quite a plethora of hard things to do. So for me, when you’re working and you’re on set. I think it’s better to try and stay in a head space which allows you to do that. I’m not the sort of actor that can go from banter and jokes to action, and then be horrible, and be emotional, or whatever. But you can’t play drunk and be drunk because you can’t take direction. You can’t be an abrasive, hard-to-reach character and then take direction.

You share a ton of great scenes with Joely Richardson, can you tell us about what she was like to work with, and maybe what you think that she brought to the movie? 

As an actor, she’s incredibly generous as a performer and collaborative. I think that it was very clear to me, from the beginning, that she was involved in the film because she saw some potential in the script and in the character. This is not a film that she had to do; this is a film that was a gamble for her. She’s already a very established talent, so to come and make a small British Film. it’s a gamble. She came into it with the mindset that she was going to make this the very best thing that it could be, and she cared very deeply about the material, about the character. The reason why things were happening on the page. As an actor there are other actors that would try to make the film about themselves at the detriment of the film. In contrast, Joely was almost the other way around, where there were scenes where she was helping the younger actors to open themselves up to get more coverage. As an example, there might be a shot where it’s a two-shot on them, and Harry is crying into her shoulder. So she could have very easily turned that into a single by pulling him around. But what she would be doing is like, “Harry, all the work you are doing is amazing, but right now, no one can see it” so if we turn the other way, I can turn my shot into a profile. Then you’re in profile, and then that becomes a two-shot, and then we’ve got some really nice coverage of what you’re doing. It sounds like a daft thing to say, but there are a lot of actors that wouldn’t do that. With me, she was very encouraging. With the physical stuff, she’s an absolute warrior. She’d be like, “Grab me by the neck, pull me down” I’m like “Oh god, are you sure?” and she’d be like “Yep, do it!” So I really enjoyed working with her, she is a lot of fun. She allowed the film to happen as much as anything else. We wanted an actor like Joely, and she was one of the very first people that Matthias and I talked about when I was writing it. When we were spitballing actors in our head, she was on a list of people, where we’d be like, “They’d be great!” and I think that’s why Matthias went after her. He went after her so doggedly to get her in the film, because we liked her so much. If she had said no, I don’t know if the film would have got made because nobody else at this point in their career has the value commercially to get the film off the ground. It was great.

Ultimately, all four of the main characters have a brilliant and detailed back story that relates to family. How important was it for you to have this depth to each character, and what was it like to balance all of those plots equally? 

That was hugely important. For me, I have to care about the characters in a film. You can watch a film that has got amazing set pieces, or that does something visually that you’ve not seen before, but if I don’t care about the people, I don’t care about the story, but for me, it was like. You’ve got two problems, if you set a film in a house, you’ve got to make sure the people that you’re watching are interesting, and then number two, you’ve got to make sure that, like in any film, you give a shit. Like “Why do I care?” I’ve definitely been involved in projects before (Not stuff I’ve written, thank God, but stuff I’ve been in) where people have said, “I don’t care about any of the characters.” A lot of that comes from the writing, so for me, it was about finding the duality between the two families, I thought it would be really interesting if they needed something from each other that only each other could give them. So like, with Jack and Matty, they need a maternal figure, and Mama needs a family, and it’s this whole idea that actually they could probably all benefit from each other if they could get out of each other’s way. If that makes sense. But I’m really pleased that that comes through.

There are some brutal action/fight scenes in this movie; which one was the most maybe, complicated to put together, and why? 

Definitely the fight with the police officer. For a couple of reasons, as I said, the budget for this film was not high, so we didn’t have lots of prep time. We did have an amazing stunt and fight choreographer, Dan Styles, who had Clifford Samuel (PC Adams) and I in for a day to learn that fight. Basically, some of his fight team had put this fight together and sent us a video of what it looked like, and we were a bit like, “OK!” and then we went in, and we had a day to learn it, and then about two weeks later we were on set, and we had an hour or so to brush up on it, and go again. We were really lucky that Cliff was super athletic and professional, and he just threw himself into it, and I come from a sports background. I always see myself as being someone who is athletic, and I’ll chuck myself into anything. So we got through it. It wasn’t always easy. I get choked out a lot in that fight. There were a couple of times when the choke hold was a little bit tight. I think it might have been the only time in the whole film where I threw the toys out of my pram slightly, there was a point where I was in a headlock, and I realised the camera was looking at my feet, and I was like “Guys, come on” So yeah, that was a bit of a challenge. Then all of the other stuff, I’m just crawling around the floor a lot, and getting punched in the face a lot, so yeah, it wasn’t too bad.

There are some great twists in this movie, especially with how it ends. So, how fun was it for you as a writer – or actor – to navigate Jack through all of these nightmarish twists and turns, and what do you think the viewer can expect from watching his journey in the movie?

I grew up through the 90s watching some of today’s most important filmmakers. Those early Fincher films, like Seven, Fight Club, The Game, and then stuff like The Usual Suspects, The Sixth Sense, and Primal Fear. Films where they get to that moment in them, and you’re like, “What!” and they’ve always been some of the most satisfying films that I’ve seen. So I definitely wanted to try and catch the audience out a few times or keep them on their toes at least. Some savvy viewers might predict the odd bit coming up, but hopefully, it always takes you in another direction as well. I would hope that an audience goes into a film as blind as possible. That would be my hope. I think that with any of the trailers, or if they give too much information away, it might detract from some of it. Having looked at some of the reviews that have come off the back of Fright Fest, a lot of what people have said is that the turns in the story were the things that caught them out, or they really enjoyed, and the best way to view it is to know next to nothing about it. So, I would love for it to be sold that way because it’s got a strong first-view potential, and I think even if you go back, there are little bits that are laid into it that make it more interesting. I’d like people to go into it as blind as possible and just sort of experience it. Knowing as little about it as they can, really.

Little Bone Lodge is available on digital from May 22nd. You can read our interview with the director Matthias Hoene here.

With Cockneys vs Zombies and Warriors Gate firmly on his portfolio, director Matthias Hoene looked to create something that was much more confined and less of a genre crossover when compared to what had come prior. This creative approach led him to collaborate with Neil Linpow on a mystery horror output titled Little Bone Lodge! STARBURST talks with Matthias to reveal what he wanted to see from the movie, how he balanced the detailed backstories of each character on-screen, and much more!

STARBURST: How did you initially get involved with the world of Little Bone Lodge alongside Neil Linpow?

Matthias Hoene: We were working at the same company at the same time. I saw one of his shorts, and we were talking during lockdown about doing something together, maybe. Something that could be done on a small scale, and I was really interested in that because my first two movies have all been pretty much crazy, genre cross horrors, ensemble cast, there’s time travelling to ancient China. So I was really keen to make a very contained and character-driven film, so when Neil started speaking to me about it, I was like, “Yes, let’s do it, this sounds great!” this is kind of what I’d wanted to do for a while, and we started chatting about it, and it was a really good melding of minds.

Neil both acted in and wrote for Little Bone Lodge, so can you elaborate on how fun he was to work with and what you think this interesting dynamic between you two brings to the movie?

It’s very interesting. As an actor, he obviously acted it out in his head. He was so intimately involved in the writing, but then once we were on set, he was very much switching into total actor’s mode. It was an interesting dynamic. I liked that his acting background meant that the script was very character-driven and had a lot of depth, and he’ll put a lot of thought into it, but then also, he’d previously not got the roles that he had wanted, so he wanted to write a role for himself, and every time I talked to him, I could see like “Yes, you can do it, you’re perfect for this role”, and he really lived that character, and brought it to life. There was this dynamic on set where all of the actors were getting very method about being in character all of the time. So from Sadie Soverall, when she needed to cry, she was in tears all day, to Neil, who was in kind of angry, angsty character mode, he was like that on set, and Harry Cadby was the same. So it was a very interesting dynamic and time on set, and I really enjoyed it, because my previous films were quite light and frivolous if you like. So we got to delve into the darkness and intensity of the performances in Little Bone Lodge.

Joely Richardson has a ton of brilliant scenes in this movie, so I was wondering if you could tell us about what she was like to work with and maybe what you think she brings to the film. 

To be honest, I was so ecstatic when she agreed to do the movie because I felt that, as a character and as an actor, she both has the strength and then the warmth and vulnerability that I wanted to bring out in a character. I wanted people to feel that even though she is the antagonist in the film, we can also really understand her motive, in a twisted sort of way, how the events in her life made her become this person who would do the things that she does. And I don’t want to give too much away, but like, I was really keen that we would build some sort of twisted empathy for her, in her strength, she was great for that, and also, when it came to actually acting the scenes, day to day, she’s an amazing professional. If there were scenes where she would have to shed a tear, on every take, at the same moment, a tear would roll down from her eye, and it was just astounding to watch. Working with her felt like this great collaboration where she was contributing every single time, always to make the film a better film. It was never about anything else. She jumped into this project, it’s a low-budget project, and she went all in just to become part of the team, and she dedicated herself to making the best possible movie.

The dynamic between Jack and Matty is intense! They are always on the edge with each other. How interesting was that for you to work on as a director, and how did you go about capturing their complicated relationship? 

Well, I was really keen to get close to all of the characters, but those specifically. It was the first time that I shot with only one camera, which means that you can really get much tighter on eye lines, on the characters, to have the camera hovering right over their shoulder, looking straight into their eyes, and really capture that intensity of the performance. So that was really my approach. On set, it’s often an exchange of energies. If it’s a funny scene, you give fun energy, and if it’s an intense scene, you give intense energy, you don’t make any jokes. So I tried to create an environment on set where everybody could be completely in character, not be distracted, and give their best performances, get in really tight with the camera, and get it as raw and real as possible.

And you yourself grew up with two brothers, right!? So, how did your own life influence how you approached working on the movie?

My own upbringing was relatively a lot less complicated than the characters in the movie! All I can say is that as the youngest of three brothers, my older brothers always trumped over me in terms of strength, so the only way I could fight back was to learn the ways of the ninja and retaliate by using stealth and cunning. So that was my upbringing with my brothers. I felt, of course, when you grow up you learn about sibling rivalry. You learn about looking out for each other. But I’m going to say my own family upbringing was quite harmonious. Luckily! However, I have to credit my oldest brother for twisting my mind into the dark, weird places of horror that I’ve been going to because he used to hang out with one of his school mates, in a computer game, VHS video seller that they had, and I would discover films, like Tetsuo, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer, Evil Dead II. Those kinds of films. So I think that he is to credit for spinning me down this weird road.

When you look at the four key characters (Mama, Maisy, Jack, and Matty), they all have detailed and equally as important storylines. How crucial was it for you and Neil to have this level of backstories with your characters, and how did you yourself go about keeping them so well balanced on-screen?

We were really keen to make sure that every character has a lot of depth, an arc, and a story, and trying to balance the power plays between the two, and I think that’s something we talked a lot about in the script. To make sure that the character’s backstory is, whatever crazy thing that they do, they kill someone, all of the other dark things that happen, there’s always a really good reason for why they do it. So in a way, even though the film is really dark and twisted, I didn’t go to a territory which I think is closest to my idea of hell, I didn’t show any character that is so devious and twisted that you can’t understand why they’re doing it. So I kind of held back on going that far. When it comes to balancing the characters, making a movie is like cooking a good meal sometimes. You have to get the ingredients in place. You have to make sure that there’s not too many of each, and get the spice right, and try to get the balance right, and the dynamic to keep it interesting, that you keep revealing new answers of each character as the story goes along to keep the viewer interested in guessing what is going to happen. Tracking that through is the job of the director. Making sure that the arcs are revealed at the right moment. The emotion of each character comes out. The subtext shines through, not too obviously, but in the details of each performance. To be honest, it was working with Neil, Harry, Sadie, Joely, they’re all such great actors. They made it easy for me as well.

There’s a game-changer scene in the movie when the cop (PC Adams) turns up. It was really intense to watch. So I did want to ask, how fun was that scene in particular for you to work on, and what was it like to put together!?

It was interesting to create the right balance of how suspicious and not suspicious the cop is, building the timings of when we reveal “Hmm, something’s going on!?” along with the storm outside, then the nonverbal performance from Pa (Roger Ajogbe), who had a difficult job, needing to convey a lot of information with just his eyes, or a tiny grunt. Without again being too over the top or keeping it very subtle. Putting it together was great, because editing scenes like that are fun because you can cut between the looks, and the fear of Mama, that she’ll be revealed or found out, and how she tries to manoeuvre against him, trying to get him out of it. Obviously, we have Jack in the cupboard with his gun, making sure nothing happens. Then Matty and Maisy hid in the other room. So, I love those scenes where you have lots of different elements. You play with the characters all knowing what’s going on, or most of them, and one being clueless in this lion’s den. It was fun.

Leading on from that, can you tell us more about where the movie was filmed and what you think the isolation of the Scottish Highlands bring to the movie?  

Because it’s an indie movie, we found a house quite close to London; it was this Farm House which was in the family’s hands. Actually, the grandparents of the grandchildren that had lived in that house, when they passed away they decided to keep the house as it is and rent it out to movies, so we were really lucky to have this interesting feeling, a grand house that we could use, and stage all of the action in, because it is really a character in the story, especially, it’s a hallway movie, as that hallway is always kind of the key point, where many of the key scenes happen, but also like the creaking hallways, the feeling of the storm pounding the house, and then the feeling of the highlands inspiring to really rattle and shake the characters. We had a lot of conversations about how and when the storm would climax because doing rain machines is not the easiest and cheapest thing to do in a movie when you’re on an indie budget. So making those landscape shots, the sort of mythic landscape of Scotland, part of the texture of the film was something that I was super keen on. I actually ended up going to Scotland on my own, with a drone and a small camera to shoot those pick-up shots, because I wanted to get up at 4am in the morning, get sunrise, then stay up until sunset, and get those shots in the best light. And travelling into the middle of nowhere, we were in Glencoe, and then I travelled up to the Isle of Skye to Neist Point Lighthouse. For me, it was a really amazing experience to connect with Scotland in that way. It was kind of all on my own, just capturing these rugged mountains and empty roads, moody landscapes. We did want to shoot all of it in Scotland, but for logistical reasons, we just couldn’t make it work. Next time with the James Bond budget! Even they didn’t shoot in Scotland, to be fair, on Skyfall, only the pick-ups. The main shots were somewhere else. The house is in the middle of the Scottish highlands. You always try to find those pressure-pot situations where you can throw characters together, and they just have no way of escaping, and they have to work out all of the secrets with pain and revelation.

You also loved the idea of ‘“wrong-footing the audience’ so that they never knew what was coming with the plot! How did you go about achieving that sort of unpredictable approach alongside Neil, and just how fun was it to work on those twists and turns?

For me, it was key to not just make a good home invasion movie. I felt like I really wanted to take the viewer somewhere they didn’t see coming. I tried to do that with my first movie, which was a horror comedy, but also just, I think, takes you on a journey you really don’t expect. I’m always trying to find that sort of thing. When it comes to working on the twists and turns, I’m going to credit Neil on a lot of those sorts of amazing character revelations. There’s that scene between him and his brother where all the truth about their mother and the lies around her come out, what she felt about them, and how Jack feels about Matty. That was always a pivotal scene. It’s such an exciting scene in the movie. It’s one of my favourite scenes in the movie because it’s just two people talking, opening up their hearts and their fears to each other; that’s great writing and great acting there. So I’m going to credit Neil for all of that. It was a good collaboration. It was interesting because it was Neil’s first feature film script, and he really knocked it out of the park. So, I credit him.

Finally, why should STARBURST readers check out Little Bone Lodge? 

If you love dark thrillers, and if you like to look into the deepest, darkest depth of the human psyche and go to places as depraved and as twisted as you can maybe not imagine, this is a film that takes you there. In the tradition of films like Straw Dogs, or Dead Man’s Shoes, Misery, it’s a film that hopefully hooks you from minute one and keeps you guessing, keeps you involved until the very end. I think there’s humanity to every single character, whether that’s twisted or straight up. I was trying to create characters that would really get you involved, ask you questions about yourself, and ask you, “What if my life would have gone wrong?” or “What if my life could have gone differently? I could have ended up exactly like those characters!” and I think that’s really interesting territory to go on. It’s moody, it’s cool, it’s dark, and I think you’ll have a great time watching it. What’s interesting for me is I have a really dark side and a really light and fun side, and often I bring both together. Cockneys vs Zombies has a lot of heart, and it’s really dark at the same time and goes there, my second movie, The Warriors Gate, brings out the lighter side. This time, I was like, “I don’t want to do a genre crossover; I want to do a straight-up, dark, twisted thriller!” and I feel like this is the pendulum that’s swinging back and forth in my heart, and in my work. So that’s how I felt about making the movie.

Brilliant, we’re excited to see what you work on next!

Yes! I’ve got a bunch of projects in packaging so to speak. I don’t want to jinx any of them, but it always is about which one gets the right actor, and then I’m also doing a few TV things, so fingers crossed. I’m excited about what’s next.

Little Bone Lodge is available on digital from May 22nd. You can read our interview with writer/actor Neil Linpow here.