First-time filmmaker David Farr discusses ‘The Ones Below’
The theatre director and screenwriter makes his directorial debut in this Polanski-inspired thriller.
David Farr is recognised one of the most respected directors in British theatre. Having kick-started his career as the Artistic Director at The Gate Theatre in Notting Hill at the age of twenty-five, Farr has directed some of the world’s most famous productions and is currently the Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
As well as theatre, Farr has penned several movie scripts such as Joe Wright’s Hanna (2011) and BBC One’s latest series The Night Manager (2016). He now adapts his original screenplay for The Ones Below as he marks his directorial film debut. The British suspense thriller follows married couple Kate and Justin who, awaiting the arrival of their first child, meet a fellow expectant couple as they move into the same apartment building. Welcoming at first, the two couples mingle as they await the arrival of their firstborns, however, events soon take a sinister turn as a series of secrets start to unravel.
“I had a conversation with a friend of mine who had a baby that was unwell”, says Farr as he recounts his initial idea for the script. “Him and his partner suddenly felt terrifying alone; an almost primitive sense of isolation and terror. I woke up the next morning and suddenly had an idea about a couple who had very different attitudes to having a child.” After gaining recognition for his screenwriting work, Farr was approached by BBC Films to tackle a directing project and the writer knew that his latest script was the deal-breaker. “I knew from the get-go that it was going to be about the relationship between two women and, when the idea for this came into my head, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.”
Despite acknowledging the bleakness of the subject matter surrounding The Ones Below, Farr was adamant about creating distinctive and relatable characters. “I start with a story that almost exists like a fairy tale but I wanted them to be like the average person; like you and I.” He adds, “I wanted to do something that wasn’t conventionally British but I love European cinema and I wanted those two aspects to collide – like that Hitchcockian/Polanskian tradition, if you like.”
The Ones Below features an impressive European cast with British actors Stephen Campbell Moore and David Morrissey depicting the two male leads – Jon and Justin – both of whom had worked with Farr previously in theatre. French actress Clémence Poésy - who takes on the lead role of Kate – is best known for her performances in In Bruges (2008), 127 Hours (2010) and as Fleur Delacour in the the Harry Potter film series. “Clémence is very much a watcher as is Kate and I was really after someone who would be magnetic onscreen but perhaps not be a conventional, big performance and she does that beautifully. She understood the internal nature of Kate; she just had it.” On the other hand, rising Finnish star Laura Birn took on the mesmeric role of troubled next door neighbour Teresa. “Laura has that wonderful Scandinavian energy and we held onto her very tight”, says Farr. “It’s so exciting when we’re looking at faces that we’ve never seen faces before and we wanted strangers for the audience – that was a deliberate choice.”
Throughout his prestigious career in theatre, Farr has directed a series of celebrated productions including Julius Caesar and The Winter’s Tale. As he makes his transition from the stage to the silver screen, Farr asserts that he still applies the same knowledge and understanding despite stepping on new ground. “My first love was film always and I know much more about movies than I do about theatre.” He explains, “In theatre, the director is facilitating the actor for the audience and the moment belongs between them. Whereas, in film, the moments exist between the director and the actor for the audience and it was important that I stuck to this initial vision.”
The Ones Below premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Festival before screening as part of the Panorama section at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival – a personal triumph for the director. “Berlin is a just a filmmaker’s festival; it has a great respect and integrity for these artists.” Having attended several festivals around globe, Farr asserts the unique experience of viewing his film with various audiences. “It’s interesting how journalists in and outside of the UK respond to different films. There are certainly various different ways of seeing this movie and it was tremendous to be a part of that with viewers.”
The Ones Below transcends an intriguing and obscure subject matter that pays homage to the likes of Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and Vertigo (1958). The intriguing ambiguity of voyeurism and the unfamiliar remains a prominent subject matter in cinema that continues to titillate audiences. Despite his innate film knowledge and adoration for the likes of Al
fred Hitchcock and Roman Polanksi, Farr avows that his creative input is spawned from everyday familiarity. “My own stuff comes from personal experiences – you can’t help it as a writer; all my ideas tend to be instinctive. I always compare writing scripts to kids because you tell them stories and that’s what I do: I tell stories.”