Film : Birmingham director of Nativity! talks about the film
WHEN Debbie Isitt’s last little British film was being released she had to fight the might of Mission: Impossible III.
Today, when her new movie Nativity! launches on 350 screens nationwide having been shot amid the ruins of the bombed Coventry Cathedral, she’ll be taking on another $100 million hit from the US.
The difference this time is that it’s not Tom Cruise in the opposite corner, but unknown Oren Peli – a micro-budget filmmaker from America who has hit the Hollywood jackpot with Paranormal Activity.
So, the big question is this: can the former pupil at Harborne’s Lordswood School follow suit... and beat the system with a film about two rival junior schools trying to stage the best Christmas story play?
“It’s hard enough to make a film on a low budget, but then you have to deal with distributors and exhibitors (to get it seen),” says Debbie.
“I haven’t had much of a budget increase from the £2 million it cost to make Confetti yet Slumdog Millionaire (this year’s best picture Oscar winner) cost £8 million and was considered to be low budget.
“Nativity! is being released at home first. Other countries have expressed interest in it, but they want to see how it does here so it won’t go abroad till next Christmas.”
Bearing all the hallmarks of monster crowd-pleasing hits like Mamma Mia! and The Full Monty, Nativity! is a wonderful seasonal comedy.
Its U certificate means that it’s suitable for the whole family, but that, in itself, can apparently create more problems.
“You learn as you go along that it costs three times as much to market a ‘family film’ as it might do one from a particular genre,” she reveals.
Like Mike Leigh – a hero along with Scorsese, Loach and Fellini – Debbie’s scripts are improvised.
She then keeps costs down by working on the footage at home with husband Nicky Ager who has used an Apple Mac computer to boil down 140 hours’ worth of material.
“I enjoy working that way because it means if I wake up in the night with an idea I can just go and fiddle around with something,” says Debbie.
There just hasn’t been enough time to process all of the material collected.
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