Society is about masks and hiding and pretending to be something that you're not and not opening up, and in acting, you do all of those things, but it also shows the performers in a very raw state. They have to literally upset themselves to get to that position sometimes. You don't need a load of people judging you or not being interested in what you're doing or being an ass on set because it ruins it.
Ben WheatleyI tend to shoot really quick so you don't get the problems you might get on a traditional film where you shoot one way, then another, and it's pissing down with rain and they won't cut together. We shoot so fast we can incorporate the weather into it. The worst weather we had was when they were in the caravan up the mountain and there was no cover. One man's weather is another man's production value. To create the sleet would cost a fortune but we got it for free so we'll just have to go with it.
Ben WheatleyI think CGI is interesting but it's too expensive and limiting in terms of what you can do shot-by-shot.
Ben WheatleyIt's part of developing the whole state of how cinema is; everyone is looking out and engaged rather than it being just a financial thing or sitting back, waiting for scripts to turn up.
Ben WheatleyI think a big part of my job is to make an atmosphere on set and have an attitude that it's about experimentation, and you can't do anything wrong. It's not about judgment, it's not about me kicking over a chair and storming onto set and acting stuff out and telling people to copy what I do. That is a style of directing some people have, but I don't understand it.
Ben WheatleyPeople say, "How do you get into the British film industry?" There is no British film industry, there are just people making films and finding their own way. It's not like in the States where there are studios and there's an actual infrastructure to it; there's just nothing here. You make it from scratch a lot of the time.
Ben Wheatley