Ian Hunt Duffy Speaks To The Blog About His Film Gridlock!

15:54:00



Good Afternoon Lovelies, 

I am sorry for the lateness of these posts, I have been lost in the world of The Crown season two! Honestly, I have watched six episodes and I don’t think I am going to be able to stop myself watching the rest aha!

However, this isn’t what this post is all about! Oh no, this is a very exciting interview post, with the creator of Gridlock, a film that has been making film festival headlines. Below, director of the film Ian Hunt Duffy tells us everything we need to know about the plot, characters and what he has coming up next…

Firstly, congratulations on Gridlock being selected for the Edmonton International Film Festival How does it feel to have been chosen?
I was delighted to be chosen. Edmonton is an incredible festival, so to be both selected and go onto win a Jury Distinction Award was an honour and a great boost for me personally going forward as a director. ‘Gridlock’ is a genre film and was always made with an international audience in mind. In many ways, ‘Gridlock’ was my attempt at putting an Irish spin on the American thriller, setting it in rural Ireland and injecting it with that dark sense of humour we Irish are renowned for. So it’s deeply satisfying to see that it has translated and resonated so strongly with an international audience.

For those who don’t know, please could you tell us what the film is about?
'Gridlock' is a thriller set during a traffic jam on a narrow country road. When Eoin's young daughter Emma goes missing from their car, he forms a desperate search party to find her. But as panic takes hold among the other drivers, the search for a missing girl quickly descends into a frenzied witch-hunt, where no one is above suspicion.

The film is a very revealing thriller. What made you decide to capture and create such an intense feature?
I love high-concept thrillers that are set in a single location and I always wanted to do my own version. Myself and writer Darach McGarrigle are both fans of old television shows like ‘The Twilight Zone’ or ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’-- shows that managed to fit a huge amount of tension and suspense into a 20-minute episode, so we wanted to see if we could achieve that with a short film and create an exciting mystery for an audience to solve. Emotionally it was important for me to put the audience in the protagonist’s shoes right from the outset. Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare and something that every viewer can immediately relate to and empathize with, and so became a strong catalyst for all the dangerous behaviour that unfolds. It then allowed me to explore the theme of paranoia and mob mentality taking over, and how dangerous prejudices and stereotyping can be.

How did you find and cast the people that star in the film? And what was it about them that made you want to cast them?
‘Gridlock’ was an ensemble piece, so I knew the success of the film would depend upon the actors and their performances. I wanted actors who were excited by the material and who could work well together as a team, so myself and my producer Simon Doyle really strived to get the best cast possible and definitely aimed high, going after my ‘wish-list’ for the roles. Thankfully everyone really responded to the script and were excited to come on board. That’s something I would always advise other filmmakers- don’t be afraid to approach an actor, even a bigger name. Often you will find that if an actor is available or has some free time, they would rather be working and acting. So it’s all about timing.

Is there a scene in the film that you want audiences to look out for? Why this one?
There’s not one scene, in particular, I want audiences to look out for. As it’s a ‘whodunnit’ mystery, I would say you have to pay attention throughout, as more and more characters become potential suspects. There are many clues along the way you may miss, so hopefully, it plays just as well on a second viewing once you know the reveal, as certain scenes will be given a whole new context or importance. In terms of a favourite scene, I love the confrontation scene with the character played by Steve Wall. It’s a good mix of tension and black humour and the performances are all great.

During the making of this film, was there something you learned that you didn’t know before that really interested you? If so, what was it?
I learned a few things in post-production during the edit with Eoin McGuirk. We both spent a lot of time working together through numerous cuts of the film, really honing the pace and flow of the film. Eoin is a great editor, with a deep understanding of story and structure, so it was a great opportunity to collaborate with him on this film. After a few edits, I truly learned the value and importance of pick-up shots, as we needed to film a day of pick-ups to fill in a few gaps and bring the whole thing together. The script for ‘Gridlock’ was a quick and exciting read, so we wanted to make sure that energy and urgency translated to the screen. We actually did a test screening of the film ahead of locking the picture, just to see how it played with an audience and if everything worked and made sense. I had never done a test screening before, so this was a new experience for me, but one that I would highly recommend doing. It taught us a lot.

What have you been hearing from audiences so far about the film?
The response has been great. We have been lucky enough to win nearly 20 different awards so far, screening at major festivals all over the world, so we are all thrilled with the positive response we’ve gotten for the film. It’s really encouraging. My main goal with ‘Gridlock’ was always to make something entertaining, to direct the kind of film that I would like to see, so it was always made for an audience first and foremost. I've been fortunate enough to watch 'Gridlock' with audiences in a few different countries, and it’s great to see the different reactions to the film. Because it’s a 'whodunnit' film you often see people whispering to the person next to them about who they think it is, or guessing what will happen next, so it’s very rewarding to know that an audience is fully engaging with your film and getting caught up in the mystery.

Finally, can you tell us about anything you are working on next?
I’m currently developing my first feature film with Darach. It’s another high-concept thriller set in a single location called ‘Double Blind’. We're big fans of 'siege' style movies, where a group of people are trapped in a single location and must fight to survive. Movies like 'Assault on Precinct 13', 'The Thing', and more recently 'Green Room' are all brilliant examples of taut and efficient thrillers set in one location, and Darach came up with a great idea for how to do our own spin on it. It will also be another opportunity for me as a director to work with an ensemble cast, so I'm very excited about it. We also have another short film called ‘Low Tide’ which will be going into production next year, which is a coming of age nightmare with some really tense moments. A chiller you might say.

Look out for more news on the film soon! 

Blog Soon, 
Joey X 

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