No./12 The one-shot film heats up
STEPHEN GRAHAM undergoes a baptism of fire with Boiling Point , an improvised restaurant-set drama filmed in one go
THE SAYING GOES: if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. For his first film as a producer, Stephen Graham saw this as a challenge. Graham and his wife Hannah Walters’ newly formed Matriarch Productions is opening its account with Boiling Point, a drama about a chef on the verge of a breakdown, set and filmed, literally, in a kitchen. To turn the gas up higher, it’s improvised, filmed as one shot with dozens of speaking roles, and is also a debut feature for director Phil Barantini. It begs the question: why?
“I saw a lot of chefs struggling with their mental health,” says Barantini, who once worked in the restaurant industry, when Empire visits rehearsals on location at Jones & Sons in East London. “I want to shine a light on that world. I want people to know the blood, sweat and tears that go into these beautiful meals.” (Hopefully not literally.)
There are few people better at portraying ‘broken’ men than Graham, who plays Andy, the troubled chef. And, while the format is challenging, the pair have at least had a practice run: a Boiling Point short was made last year. “Phil asked me if I’d do a short set in a kitchen,” says Graham. “He tells me he’s got this director of photography who’s got this mad idea to do it one shot. I was like, ‘One shot? In a kitchen? Wow. How many days do you need?’ He said five and I said I’d give him three.”
Barantini and co-writer James Cummings saw the setting as a chance to experiment with an improvised story. “In a kitchen everyone’s talking over each other,” says Barantini. “I asked Stephen if Shane Meadows writes scripts and he said, ‘No, just bullet points, and they workshop off that.’ So that’s what we did.”
After the short was nominated for a BIFA, work on a feature started. Key to the Matriarch Productions mission is hiring a diverse and youthful cast and crew, a philosophy applied here — that aforementioned director of photography, Matt Lewis, is just 23. “That was vital for us,” says Graham. “Kitchens are full of different cultures and backgrounds.”
When Empire arrives in early March, it’s four days until filming begins, during which they’ll have eight takes to nail the perfect dish. It’s a daunting prospect. But Graham is beaming out his trademark enthusiasm, at one point serving up Empire oysters shucked by his own fair hands. He’s a one-man cheerleading team as they run through the whole script with only the occasional pause for discussion . “It’s gonna be magic by the third take,” he says. “I’m thinking of starting a sweepstake.”