Interview: Director Saul Dibb

Journey’s End releases in NYC and LA theaters on March 16 (March 30 in Chicago). It’s a raw and gritty war drama starring Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield and Paul Bettany. Recently I had a chance to speak to the director of the film, Saul Dibb (The Duchess). Saul talks about the making of the film and his inspirations for it. He also reveals what music he listens to. Listen to the interview with Saul and find out all that and more.

REAL TALK:

Some interesting factoids from Saul. The first one being that the he was inspired by documentary movies and Alien. Hard to imagine that Alien would inspire a war drama, but the more I thought about it and listened to Saul, it makes a lot of sense for this film to emulate it. The claustrophobia and tight spaces, just spacing in general used in both of those movies makes them a lot more similar than anyone could imagine.

Watching the movie I felt a a certain level of authenticity that you don’t get from many movies of this genre. The characters just felt raw and vulnerable and the performances matched that. Saul explains that he wanted to create the environment for the actors that would match the real life struggle the characters would face. You know he meant it when he describes the conditions the actors had to be in, including the cold temperatures and mud they had to deal with. I can only imagine how it felt for the actors to have to pick up an oil lamp in order to have light.

I loved hearing how he’s into hip-hop music and how he listens to late 80’s and 90’s hip-hop to clear his mind. That’s the kind of tidbit that no one would have know, unless they personally know Saul.

I found Saul to be an interesting guy who has an interesting perspective and approach, at least from what he said about this film. I’m interested to see his upcoming projects. I’d like to see another war themed movie from him.

‘JOURNEY’S END’ releases in NYC and LA theaters on March 16 (in Chicago on March 30)

https://youtu.be/936z-F_nEEQ