Ben Wheatley

Started by Garam, August 29, 2013, 09:12:26 AM

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Garam

Guy needs a thread. He cut his teeth on BBC comedies (sitcom called Ideal, an Armando Iannucci sketch show, some other crap) and then made his debut, a gangster film set in a living room, for £7000, Down Terrace.

He's since made a hitman horror film, Kill List, a small scale serial killer road movie, Sightseers, and a hallucinogenic English civil war movie, A Field in England. He's working on a film version of Ideal (great show), an adaptation of JG Ballard's 'High Rise', and a HBO series that'll be some kind of sci-fi thriller.

He's really prolific, varies wildly in tone, writes all his own stuff with his wife, and his films have a great sense of humour as well. Because of his time spent working on UK tv, he's friends with a lot of great UK comic actors who'll appear in his films for next to nothing. 'Kill List' and 'A Field in England' were pretty incredible to me, anyone else seen them?

max from fearless

I'm a big fan of Down Terrace, which I think is his best to date. Kill List has some great stuff in it, especially the relationship between the two hit-men and the marital breakdown/relationship scenes. But I didn't buy the cult stuff or the ending. Was also disappointed by Sightseers which felt more like a TV show. But I agree he's prolific, has an interesting voice and demands a page. I now need to watch A Field In England....

Pubrick

Garam is usually ahead of the game with the British shit (see: Chris Morris, Shane Meadows, etc.) so I'ma jump onboard early on this one and try to steal Down Terrace, A Field in England, and Ideal. Will report back with my findings.
under the paving stones.

polkablues

Kill List is one of the best horror films of the current century. Bold, memorable, and nearly flawless. Sightseers is well-conceived, but comparatively slight. Alice Lowe is always great, though. Haven't seen Down Terrace or A Field in England, though I'd like to.

Wheatley's definitely a guy to keep an eye on. I have a feeling he'll have a handful of outright classics to his name by the time his career is up.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Garam

A Field in England's one to watch alone. It's the sort of film your friends might not like, know what i mean? He's made a really immersive piece of cinema, considering he shot in 12 days for £300,000. Never seen anything quite like it. Usually i'm always curious to see what British directors would be able to make in Hollywood, but i kind of want this guy to stay put. All his films have this undercurrent of Anglo-Saxon/Celtic paganism that wouldn't really fit in the States.


Ideal is a great show, but it's almost like a soap opera. Have to watch it in order, very slow pace to it...it's not stylistically amazing or anything, it's mostly just guys coming in and out of a weed-dealer's flat. It's not Wheatley's show, it's the writer's show...he is confirmed to make the film though, yus.

jenkins

sightseers came to la over the summer, and i thought sightseers was his only movie this year because you know, some people have a movie a year. a field in england was a nice surprise for me today



down terrace is kitchen sink gangster and i'd prefer just the sink thanks, but i believe its story. good job. kill list isn't in my interests category but it is quite gnarly and well crafted. here we witness me liking a person's creativity and ability without liking the person's creations. anyway, when i saw him irl he showed his hit making viral vid, which i saw and thought "oh ok, i'll watch whatever he makes"

i couldn't find the viral on youtube but i found it elsewhere for you
http://www.spike.com/video-clips/cxjpg8/cunning-stunt

Lottery

I saw the trailer for that a while back, looked really cool. The second last line is awesome.
Wanted to watch it ever since. Anyone else got anything to say about 'A Field in England'?

BB

Yeah, it's singular and brilliant. Old people were leaving the theatre in droves, which usually a good (or sometimes very bad) sign. My favourite of Wheatley's films by a fair margin, though they've all been quite good.

jenkins

well, did it again, saw a movie i really liked. predictable. my 2014 is beginning strong with some missing 2013 pieces. next, 2014. cool. omfg, hold on. sightseers. i really liked sightseers. it's in a tussle with furious6 over which most deserved theater viewing (jk, furious6 duh)

i so much enjoy what i'd have to say to describe what happens in sightseers. fuck. i'd have to paragraph it. the vocab would be like, murder, tourism, manners, sex, arguments, retribution, philosophy, environmentalism, betrayal

so jealous of this movie. i can't believe he got to make this, can't believe he wanted to. and he kills it. should america be embarrassed? yeah, probs. typical. ben wheatley made this, a movie after this, and kill list before this, in 3 years. asshole. joe cornish made attack the block, and we made super 8 ffs. i like super 8, and attack the block toasts it. toasts it. a colon for the arthouse: andrea arnold, lynne ramsay, steve mcqueen. andrew haigh's weekend, compare that to like crazy. like crazy, not bad, and weekend slaughters it. tbh. gareth evans, fuck that guy. he's made movies in indonesia, indonesia, great genre movies from decades ago, which you gotta dig to find, but garath evens made a career outta shooting there with local actors and regional-spiced narratives and martial arts and the list isn't over. fuck that guy. edgar wright, he's big league i think, isn't he, he kinda is. these oversea island-countries people have such impressive cinema. uh! richard ayoade! just. dammit

Lottery

A Field in England is pretty fucking cool. Odd, mystifying but a cool experience.

-  Reece Shearsmith was hugely impressive
-  This film was so unsettling and uncomfortable in parts in a good way
-  Fantastic dialogue, from the speeches to the toilet humour
-  It's dark psychedelic feel and presence of magic felt unique

I should see his other work, it seems quite different like this. But people should be giving this dude more money.

This film had a really cool style of intense gothic, folky, occult, trippy horror. There must be more like it.

wilder

Ben Wheatley To Helm 'Free Fire' With Luke Evans, Olivia Wilde & More
via The Playlist

Luke Evans, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde, and Michael Smiley will star in Wheatley's "Free Fire." The film, which the director also wrote, is inspired by action movies he loves—"The Asphalt Jungle," "The Big Sleep," "The Killing," "The Big Combo, "The Driver," "Le Samourai," "The French Connection," "Goodfellas," "Casino," "Hard Boiled," "Reservoir Dogs," "The Getaway"—and is set in Boston 1978, following "Justine, a woman who has brokered a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two Irishmen (Murphy, Smiley) and a gang led by Hammer and Evans who are selling them a stash of guns. But when shots are fired in the handover, a heart stopping game of survival ensues." Production begins next spring.

Lottery