Exclusive Interview! Understanding Solomon Kane with Director/Writer Michael J. Bassett
When FusedFilm.com began its rebranding campaign in 2009 for our first appearance at Comic-Con we wanted to bring us into the realm of connecting people better to the world of film, television and entertainment. Hence why our mantra changed from “stay fused on film” to “fusing film fans with Hollywood and beyond” it was my belief that branding the site in that way would not only fit our new version 2.0 designs but harp on the very foundation of this site which is to fuse you with all of the interesting stories, news and people that make up the entertainment industry.
Now let’s track back to SDCC because it’s perhaps Comic-Con that leads me to this interview. The marketing firm behind Solomon Kane’s appearance at Comic-Con that reached out to me to let me know that they would be premiering footage of the film never heard from me, I didn’t know anything about the movie and knew that being stuck in Hall H all day would prohibit me from seeing anything good. I never reached back out until now. Having seen the first trailer of Solomon Kane, having seen the posters and some other promotional materials for the film I realized this was a special film that had a lot of things that resonated with me and the films I love to watch.
So this afternoon I was able to spend some time chatting with Michael J. Bassett, the passionate young British filmmaker and screenwriter behind the live action version of the classic pulp fantasy novel. What a connection as he was a very interesting guy who loves movies and is passionate about them so much.
In just the first few words I could tell how energetic and proud Bassett was of his film and we immediately dove into great conversations on the film, the distribution, his previous works, his future as a filmmaker and ultimately the future of Solomon Kane, including ideas for a sequel, etc. Enjoy some new photos and web widgets for the film as well.
Hey Michael, How are you Man?
Oh I am great it’s a nice cold, rainy fall day here in England.
Well I hate to tell you it’s a nice 75 degree day here in Memphis
Oh wow! Bet it feels lovely.
So thanks for taking the time to speak with me about Solomon Kane.
Oh no problem mate I love your site and was happy to chat with you.
So when I sat down to prep this interview I didn’t know a lot about you and your filmography. Who is Michael J. Bassett, talk about your work man?
Well I am guy who loves reality! But I am a guy who loves movies and using them to explore reality in so many different ways. In fact that’s why I love Robert Howard (creator of Solomon Kane) but even more so a guy by the name of Michael Moorcock, a UK pulp fantasy writer in the vein of Howard. He was a guy who just had a knack for making these sophisticated fantasy stories which had such a real emotional and physical feel to them. They were brutal and intense and I loved them. In my first movie Deathwatch I used a lot of influence from his writing into that movie and if you watch it you can definitely tell that. Perhaps there was some of his influence into some things on Solomon Kane.
Yeah I have never heard of him, I’ll have to check him out. So tell me about Solomon Kane, this movie looks so visually epic but so real at the same time?
Well I am glad you see it that way because that’s how I wanted it to be. Solomon Kane is kind of in a class itself and it’s hard to put into a comparison in the film world because there isn’t one. I wanted it to be an adult, more sophisticated fantasy film, something that didn’t seem childish. Sure you have demons and creatures in the world and those cliché fantasy elements but everything in the environments are real. The wind, the sleet, the rain, the mud all of those things are real. Hence where I was going before that I like blending as much reality into this fantasy world because even though there are things you know aren’t something you’d run across everyday that the world itself, the settings, the locations would be real and feel that way too.
Yeah, that is a difference, I mean a lot of Fantasy stories just seem so intangible and childish or even too fake, I mean you know its shot on a green screen. So you mention the environments, how challenging was that as a filmmaker and for the production itself.
Well we shot the movie in Czech Republic and I had some of the same crew I did on my first movie Deathwatch and I filmed that movie in the same elements and they were like ‘oh man not the rain guy again.’ But I thought it was necessary for the film, I wasn’t interested in making a Solomon Kane movie that didn’t seem real that didn’t carry that same pulp fantasy element the way Howard wrote it and a studio version would maybe not have turned out that way. Also the fact that I wanted to shy away from the trend of the blue/green screen for a fantasy film.
So the movie is independently financed and stuff right?
Yeah it has two sets of producers one of which is Samuel Hadida, who produced a great French fantasy, horror film called The Brotherhood of the Wolf (Oh yeah I have seen it! Awesome movie!). Then you will like the fact that I got the same DP from that film to do the photography style for Solomon Kane, so it has some similar looks to it. But Hadida and these 2 other guys, who used to manage the band, Duran Duran, back in the eighties, are producing the film. In fact I reached out to them when they secured the rights to the film of Kane and told them I wanted to write it, they gave the opportunity to write it as a low budget project and then eventually it grew into where it is now. There was a point where I am sure they had other directors in mind but they liked my vision for the movie and where I wanted to go with it.
Wow that is cool! So Solomon Kane, tell those out there that may not be aware of the character and Howard’s stories a little bit about the character and what to expect and maybe what you want them to get out of the movie.
Well Kane is a guy that is as psychologically intense as he is physically so there is an adult sophistication involved there. But Solomon Kane is also first and foremost a movie I wanted to entertain people with and I know they will be entertained. But I hope they get from the character is understanding. This is a true hero’s journey, he is this broken hero that you can connect with and understand his nature in such a fucked up world but with all those physical and mental challenges that go into that.
Well you have me sold on the movie for sure! So tell me a little bit more about yourself and what may have inspired you as a filmmaker.
Oh man…well…I love movies I always have, my parents were never into them and they still aren’t but when I was in my teens, a little older maybe I used to cut school with some mates and we would just watch movies like Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes and John Carpenter films. I love guys like James Cameron and Ridley Scott and their use of the camera the styles they use in their films and I always wanted to make movies like that. Perhaps it was the VHS that really changed things for me because there were a lot of movies you couldn’t get here in England but the VHS changed all that distribution because they were universal and so I could watch movies like The Hills Have Eyes, I mean I loved the Highlander film and such and it was just awesome. I did get in trouble from one of my teachers who caught me cutting and they asked me ‘what are those movies possibly going to do for your future’ guess they should find out what I do now.
HAHA! That’s cool! The ultimate look at me now! So tell me about James Purefoy. Was he someone you always wanted for the role of Solomon Kane? Did you look at anyone else? What did he bring to the character and film?
Well producers always want a name to be in a movie like this as it helps sell it amongst other things and since I am not a name director, which is even more so. I mean we had the usual wish list of guys we thought would work in the role psychologically but physically too. Perhaps the two guys we looked at before James (and he knows there were other actors considered, hell I know there were other directors considered before me) were Christian Bale and Viggo Mortensen. I mean how could you not look at those guys? They are just manly men with that bruit physicality you’d want for this role.
(So when did you settle on James?) Well he came into the mix I had known him from an interview I did as an Electronic Press Kit director and we had sort of kept in touch but I wasn’t sure I liked him for the role because he always seemed like a James Bond guy, that classy type. However he came in and screen tested and totally changed that idea. He took the script home and showed it to his son and his son loved it and basically told him that if he didn’t get the role he’d kill him. So eventually we settled on him, I was sold on him though from the minute he tested with us. He was awesome to work with; I mean so amazing the things he did. The role was so physical and he was a great sport, he was in great shape. During the filming he got hit by a sword and it cut him on the forehead and he had to have like five or six stitches in his head. He also tore some ligaments in his knee so after stunts and stuff he had to get his knee drained on set. He never complained, never missed a day, it was amazing.
Would you work with him again?
Oh hell yeah! He was awesome to work with. He got so psychologically into the character of Kane. I do actually have project that him and I have talked about that is a thriller of sorts and I’d love to do that with him.
So what about the future of Solomon Kane, do you have a US distributor yet? What about sequels, because we have heard that this was set-up as a trilogy?
Well we are currently looking for a US distributor, like I told you in the beginning; the movie is different so they have to figure how to sell it. The fans love it and we have had some great buzz from the beginning, especially from Toronto Film Festival so hopefully you will see the film in 2010. About the sequels we have some things in place and there were things that we did to ensure that we could continue the story. I will say this is an original story and perhaps this is where our little fan criticism has come in, we wanted to give Kane a back-story and there were some rules there and the reason is because non-fans would know more about the character and why he is the way he is. By the end of the movie though, he is the very much everything the Howard character was designed to be and that was important to us.
Well Michael, I wanted to thank you for taking your time to talk to me today. I enjoyed it very much. Please let us know any developments and we can’t wait to see the movie.
Oh no problem man! Love your site, keep up the good work. We’ll talk down the road. Be good mate.
