CityLife

Interview: David L Williams (Beyond The Pole)

David L Williams with executive producer (and partner) Helen Baxendale 1 / 2 images

Beyond The Pole is described as the world’s first global warming comedy but Manchester-born director David L Williams doesn’t overplay his film’s green credentials, seeing it more as a very British movie about the underdog spirit.

“It’s really a buddy-romance-adventure-disaster-comedy,” he says, coining a new genre with more than a hint of irony.

“What makes it British is the plucky underdog thing, if it was American it would probably be a little more airbrushed and they’d all have abs – they don’t really do the loser thing as well as us.

“I think it’s because we’re not scared of being rubbish, of being fallible, and that’s part of the charm of the film”.

The film’s ‘mockumentary’ style is nothing new but, much like Debbie Isitt’s 2006 hit Confetti, Beyond The Pole is beautifully pitched and the charm David speaks of owes much to his mastery of the style.

Beyond The Pole was partly filmed on location on the frozen Arctic Ocean, which was especially challenging.

“We were there for just 11 days which was a very short time – we’d been told to allow however many days it would take in the UK and then triple it,” says David.

“On set in the Arctic we had to move pretty quickly – partly because it was so dangerous there.

“We were filming on floating ice which was moving in different directions while we were shooting and it was very cold – you have to keep everyone warm.

“It’s polar bear country too,” the director laughs. “So it’s very difficult to say ‘okay, just one more take...’”

Although the Arctic filming took place in April, when daylight hours are getting longer and it is warmer, the ice that remains is continually moving.

The director was amazed at the shifting landscape: “I visited the location by dog sled one day and there was sea where we were supposed to be shooting, no ice at all.

“The location manager just said we should come back the next day. Which we did – to exactly the same spot – and the ocean was covered with thick ice as far as the eye could see.”

“So, in terms of shooting you don’t hang about and you don’t leave a scene unfinished at the end of the day because the next day, everything can have changed, your set and scenery may have gone.”

David is the film’s director and also its producer along with executive producer Helen Baxendale his partner who also stars in the film. She played Rachel in Manchester-set TV drama Cold Feet.

David hopes that Beyond the Pole will resonate with audiences in a way that films like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth do not.

“I love An Inconvenient Truth but our film is different.

“It’s not laden with facts and it’s not really even a ‘green’ movie but by the end hopefully it will make audiences feel emotional about their role in the wider scheme of things.”

He’s particularly keen how his film goes down with audiences in his native Manchester: “I want to see what they make of it,” says the Cheadle Hulme School old boy.

“I’m from the city and the film’s coming home.”