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“THE ESCAPIST” co-writer-director, Rupert Wyatt
Well seeing as making a film can feel like living a lifetime this is the kind of question I imagine being asked by St. Peter when reaching the gates of heaven (although what with the nature of getting a film off the ground perhaps my chances of making it that far have now rapidly declined).
However much like life, what I wanted 10 percent more or less of seemed to change every day. We shot in prison cells where we could certainly have done with 10 percent less heat from the lamps and in the sewers and water tanks we used for the escape scenes just 10 percent more heat would have been welcomed.
Whilst on week one of preproduction I wished I’d had 10 percent more scenes to shoot. But then on week one of production with 160 scenes to shoot in 26 days, I wished I’d had 10 percent less. Week two of preproduction, when production scheduling was locked, I craved 10 percent more time in the schedule as I knew I’d be going into the unknown with about 25 setups a day to get through. But week two of production when the honeymoon glow of shooting my first film started to be replaced by sheer exhaustion, all I wished for was about 10 percent less time to the wrap party which would come with the knowledge and relief we’d got it all in the can. Week three of preproduction 10 percent more sleep. Same goes for weeks four and five. But by the end of it all, probably it would be the wish for 10 percent more hair (although I like to think it’s up on the screen).
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 21, 9:30 pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City]
