Miles regularly wanders the dark, rainy streets of London photographing people in the city’s hidden corners. He posts the resulting photos of his voyeuristic outings on social media under the pseudonym Rain Catcher, which has gained him a loyal following. But then, things take a turn or two – and his job and his very existence are under threat. A neighbor seems to notice what the unknown photographer is doing. Miles begins to notice a mysterious woman in not just one of his photos.
what is going on!? And is this one of the most commercially oriented new films of the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF)? Well, dive into the mystical atmosphere and immersive cinematic experience Rain catcherthe first feature film from director Michelle Fiaskaris, who is playing in the Czech festival’s Proxima competition program.
But know this: Dudley O’Shaughnessy (Top Boy) plays Miles, and you’ll recognize or recognize the other main cast members from the UK production as well. After all, the talent lineup includes Kate Dickie (Section S, Jackal day, All to Kenmore Street), Jessie Mi Li (Shadow and bones) and Iris Law (yes, supermodel and Jude Law’s daughter!). London’s famous Barbican, a brutalist performing arts center and sprawling residential complex, is also one of the stars of the film.
Karlovy Vary Mayor said THR Which Rain catcher It was on her watch list for this year’s double anniversary edition of the festival.
Fiascaris wrote the film’s screenplay Rain catcher With Filippo Policelle. The director of photography is Evgeny Sinelnikov, and the editor is Mike Pike. James Kermack, Julian Loeffler and Pulisil produced the film, for which Circamon is handling sales.
THR He spoke to Fiascaris about what sparked the idea for his thrilling, neo-noir journey for the eyes, ears and mind, his role models, how he got the cast together and filmed at the Barbican.
What was the inspiration for Rain catcher?
We shot a short film for the first time in 2018[called[calledRain catcher]. The beginning of this short film was a random video that Filippo, the producer and co-writer, and I found online. It was this strange video of a very long take – a videographer filming a square full of people from a distance. Then there was a man in the crowd who suddenly turned and started looking at the camera, looking very angry. Then he starts walking towards the camera, and the videographer starts zooming in and out and zooming in again, as he gets closer. When the man is 20 meters away, the photographer packs his camera and runs away. But it actually turned out that this man was not looking at him, but rather at a monument behind him, perhaps a building.
So it was about the idea of the person being spied on realizing they were being spied on, and then turning the tables. They move from victim to perpetrator. So we came up with the idea of a voyeur photographer who suddenly starts noticing someone in his photos. We thought he could notice this person not once, but several times, without ever being aware of his presence.
How name and address Rain catcher come about?
In the short film, there’s actually a very specific bonus related to his name. The final development of the short film is different from the feature film, but we kept the name because we liked how it looked, and we like the fact that it’s raining because it’s often on rooftops, exposed to the weather, and in London, it’s very rainy.
How did you cast Dudley in the lead role?
When we did the short film, we met Dudley and he became the lead actor for the short film. Then we also selected it for this feature. We exchanged ideas with him after meeting him and rehearsing it, and that’s how we got more ideas for this film. The character was based little on Dudley and his own input, as he partly inspired the character’s development. Miles is a more introverted, quiet guy who looks into other people’s lives, because he doesn’t actually have much of a social life. That’s why he looks out the windows and into the reality of others.
How did Iris Lu join the scene?
Our wonderful director, Gary Davy, who has done many wonderful projects, e.g Band of brothers And a lot of Steve McQueen movies. He was a big fan of Dudley, so Dudley hooked us up. Gary made a list of potential actresses who could play Cassandra, and Iris was one of the names. Because Cassandra sings, some singers were also suggested, but we felt we needed someone who could act more, because the singing can be fake or overdubbed.
We saw Iris, and we were like, “Wow, she looks so interesting and attractive” and really unique. We didn’t immediately realize who she was, either in terms of her family or anything else. We thought this girl looked really interesting. She was perfect for the role and gave a really good performance, even in terms of body language. For her young age, and this was one of her first films, she was very confident and understood the whole dynamic, so it was great.
Tell me more about the other cast members. I mean how did you get Kate Dickey?
Our co-producers had made a movie with her and recommended her. She was perfect for this role. Her presence is very strong. She didn’t have a lot of lines until the end, so the thing we needed was someone with a strong presence and someone who could intimidate Miles, who is very strong and agile. So, we were looking for someone with strong charisma and screen presence. So, Kate was perfect. She was so wonderful to work with.
Jessie also did a great job. It was really great. We approached her and wrote this character, and she turned out to be exactly that. Its natural character is exactly what we need. It was perfect.
The Barbican almost seems like another character Rain catcher…
We immediately thought this was the place. It’s perfect, primarily because it’s like a maze. There are lots of windows, there are thousands of apartments, and there are three towers with perfect views. So we knew Miles must be living in one of these places and searching all over London. You can see everything when you are in those towers. You can almost see London like a LEGO city below you. It’s surreal.
Its brutal appearance adds to the atmosphere!
It was a truly pioneering and very futuristic building with many levels. They had these idealistic ideas about how to build it, and they wanted to make it a three-dimensional, self-sufficient city.
I felt Rain catcher It is all about the immersive atmosphere. Who or what are your inspirations? How would you describe the film to people who haven’t seen it yet?
We had a very clear idea of what we wanted. I have clear cinematic references in mind. For example, David Fincher was a huge inspiration to me, even while growing up and in college. I did my final thesis on David Fincher, so seven It was always on my mind when we showed the short film. I was thinking about seven In terms of the color palette and the entire directing style. But as the years went by, I also started looking up to other filmmakers, like Brian De Palma. I also like Martin Scorsese.
For this feature, we relied on the short style and expanded the color palette by adding more colors, such as red and blue. We wanted to get this very dark black color with a neon lit city, giving you the feeling of being belly up and discovering the city from above as well.
I would describe it as a high type. It’s a psychological thriller. In my opinion, it’s a neo-noir thriller, but I know people aren’t necessarily familiar with all those terms.
Is it all raining in? Rain catcher TRUE, Or did you need to use any CGI?
We didn’t need a lot of CGI, just some rain in some scenes. But in the rainy opening scene, it’s all real rain.
And it was really heavy rain, so it was difficult in terms of the camera and the crew and the actors . The crew had a fixed camera and this huge umbrella, where everyone was following and getting the focus. But they are a really great crew and very strong, so they didn’t mind the rain or the cold. We are all supported by it.
There are other rainy scenes in the car, with real rain falling as well, but no one actually experiences it. But it was a big deal, and since we shot at night in the rain, it got colder too. We were mostly lucky with the weather.
Do you know what you want to do next?
We’re thinking of a body horror film, more of a body thriller that focuses on body transformations. It focuses on how in the modern era, even just this year, there’s all this talk about improving your appearance and modifying your body, and all these crazy things that people think they can do through the advancement of medicine. They think they can just edit everything they don’t feel good about. This movie would be an extreme of that in a future very close to our present. It’s about a specific surgery that I don’t want to reveal more about yet. But it will be a very exciting and amazing body transformation surgery.
