On Monday 13 November we were joined by director Saul Dibb for a preview screening of his First World War film, Journey’s End.
Moderator James Kent asked Saul about his approach to adapting R. C. Sherriff’s iconic play for the screen, and the filmic devices he used to maintain the film’s simmering tension.
We've got some great screenings coming up...make sure you check in with our events page if you're a member. https://t.co/BDmgP2atBf pic.twitter.com/v5qhjhdz6Z
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) October 31, 2017
Our preview screening of #JourneysEnd is about to begin! Look out for live-tweets from our Q&A with director Saul Dibb afterwards #DUKJourney pic.twitter.com/Xxvi0ooax1
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
That was the fantastic #JourneysEnd. It’s now time for our Q&A with the film’s director Saul Dibb. @JamesKentDir moderates #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Saul Dibb is a film and television director who works in both fiction and documentary. His features include Suite Française, starring Michelle Williams and Kristin Scott Thomas, The Duchess, starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, and Bullet Boy, starring Ashley Walters. For television, he has directed well-regarded literary adaptations NW and The Line of Beauty, both for the BBC.
James Kent is a BAFTA and Emmy award-winning director of features, TV drama and documentary. He is the director of the forthcoming film The Aftermath, having directed his feature debut, Testament of Youth, in 2014. His work in TV drama includes 11.22.63, American Crime, The White Queen, Marchlands, Margaret and The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. His documentary work includes Chopin Saved My Life and 9/11: Phone Calls from the Towers.
This is going to be our first set of live-tweets where we can use 280 characters! You lucky, lucky people (we’ll try not to use them all) #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
James starts by praising the way the film makes you feel like you’re there in the trenches #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
James asks Saul whether he was familiar with the original #JourneysEnd play #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Journey’s End originated as a play written by R. C. Sherriff, who had himself fought in the First World War. The play was first performed in 1928, starring a young Laurence Olivier. The author also later turned his play into a novel.
Saul knew of the play but hadn’t read it or seen it performed before he joined the project #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
But the first thing he knew he also wanted to achieve was that sense of first-hand experience you get from the fact that Sherriff was really there #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
And so he made the early decision to make the camera almost another character, showing you the trenches as the soldiers would have seen it #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
James asks about suspense - how did Saul maintain that feeling throughout the film? #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
As James pointed out, before coming across the title Journey’s End R. C. Sherriff had considered naming the play either Suspense or Waiting.
Saul explains that when he first read the script the upcoming push was alluded to at the beginning, but he wanted to make it explicit #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
You need to share in that dread of what’s going to happen that the soldiers themselves had to live with every day #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
But at the same time the audience can only know what the characters know. That adds to the tension and claustrophobia #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Saul tells us that his background is in factual and he often wants to bring that same naturalism to his fiction projects #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
You don’t always get the opportunity to do that but here he did #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
He did an adaptation of Zadoe Smith’s NW for the BBC last year & the smaller budget there laid the groundwork for trying the same approach here #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
James tells us that he felt angry about nationalism and politicians by the end of film - is that something Saul wanted him to feel? #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Saul: yes, it was. It speaks to our times today and what’s going on in contemporary politics #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
He has young sons himself, and the thought of them having to needlessly go to war is heartbreaking #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
#DUKJourney pic.twitter.com/YIUxVICKJo
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Questions from the audience now #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Saul tells us a bit about the budget and the way that a lower budget brings a certain amount of freedom with it #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
He was able to cast the people he wanted to cast, use the music he wanted to use - he wasn’t always having to play to someone else’s tune #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Question: was the film shot in sequence? #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Saul: as much as possible. Particularly in the dugout #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Saul: those scenes are a psychodrama and you gain a lot from shooting chronologically #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Question: the war going on inside the character’s heads is as important as the real war. Other than reading the script did you do any research into those issues? #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Saul: we worked with a charity that specialises in dealing with combat stress. They came and talked to the actors and explained how people would react in these circumstances #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
The actors drew on that. But then they’d also take themselves out of that head space by joking around in between scenes #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Last night at our #JourneysEnd screening director Saul Dibb was asked how he portrayed "the war in the characters' heads". Here's what he told us. pic.twitter.com/jM8hsdgVBk
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 14, 2017
Saul talks about the film being an anti-macho take on war films. It concentrates on the intimacy that exists between men in these extreme situations #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
In some ways that’s credit to Paul Bettany - he plays Uncle, and he occupied that role as soon as he came on set, taking younger actors under his wing #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Saul tells us that there was no time for a break between any of the stages: he went straight from prep, to shooting, to editing, to post #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
They had a cut that is almost exactly what we saw tonight just six weeks after the end of shooting #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
They also cut about 15 pages just before shooting started - these were mostly scenes covering what was happening back in England and would have made the edit more difficult #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
They had to think very carefully about the scene that they did keep though. It was important that the tension didn’t dissipate & you aren’t taken too far out of the narrow view the film had given you up to that point #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
That’s a wrap! A huge thank you to director Saul Dibb and moderator James Kent. Make sure you catch #JourneysEnd when it hits cinemas early next year #DUKJourney
— Directors UK (@Directors_UK) November 13, 2017
Members in the audience were certainly moved by the film:
To @Directors_UK screening of #SaulDubbs excellent #JouneysEnd. Wonderful film making.
— Paul Unwin (@UnwinPaul) November 13, 2017
Extraordinary film. Not ashamed to say I cried. Amazing work. Beautiful script #unsaid #unsayable https://t.co/8KU0R2JKXP
— Natasha Moore (@Script_Chick) November 13, 2017
Beautiful camerawork by @Laurie_Rose really felt like we were in the trenches with them. https://t.co/AAVLBOCIOA
— WILLY NASH (@willwillynash) November 13, 2017
A Screening last night of #JourneysEnd for @Directors_UK included a Q&A with director Saul Dibb Great insights #livetweeted https://t.co/QzsLKzzrmr
— Journey's End Film (@JourneysEnd2017) November 14, 2017
The film is about the First World War - based on RC Sherriff's play - a director from Syria in the audience had just said how there's the war, and then the war inside people.. https://t.co/QhbxaNYbBw
— Jill Nicholls (@JillNicholls01) November 14, 2017
View photos from the event below.
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