The Complex
Lynn Renee Maxcy, the writer of new interactive film The Complex, explains why “Bandersnatch” was a gift
UPON FIRST GLANCE, THE SCENE THAT director Paul Raschid is shooting today seems like a fairly ordinary one. A scientist called Amy, played by Michelle Mylett, has been called to the site of an apparent outbreak, and is inspecting a bio-protector pod containing Patient Zero. As usual, the scene will be shot several times over, from different angles. But the twist is that it will also be re-shot with different dialogue, reactions and endings too.
“You are effectively showing different sides of the same character,” says Mylett. “It’s a pretty good acting exercise.”
This is The Complex, a new interactive film in which the fate of the world will be decided by your choices. The obvious comparison is Charlie Brooker’s interactive Black Mirror special “Bandersnatch”. But according to writer Lynn Renee Maxcy, best known for her work on The Handmaid’s Tale, The Complex was in development way before that episode premiered on Netflix.
“My initial response to ‘Bandersnatch’ was, ‘Oh, thank god something like this exists’”, she says. “When I first started developing this project, no one knew what I was talking about. They were like, ‘It’s a videogame?’ And so I was like, ‘You’ll see it when it comes out.’ And then with ‘Bandersnatch’, everybody came back and was like, ‘Wait, is that what you were talking about?’ So I was actually thankful.”
Set primarily in a locked-down laboratory, with both time and air running out, The Complex follows two scientists (Amy and Rees, the latter played by Al Weaver) as they try to uncover the mystery of a deadly biological weapon. Not to mention also trying to save the life of a potential terrorist, stopping the spread of the disease, and working through their feelings about each other – all storylines that will be shaped by the decisions you make.
“I didn’t want these choices to all be lighthearted ones with no stakes or impact,” explains Maxcy. “So, for example, one of the first choices you make is during a flashback where we find Amy and Rees in the middle of a war zone with people who have been infected by a disease. They realise that there’s only one dose of the cure left, and two patients in front of them. One is a little boy holding a soccer ball. The other is a pregnant woman. And the choice you make has a big effect on the future story.”
Maxcy originally wrote The Complex as a more conventional 80-page thriller. However, after a meeting with videogame developer Wales Interactive, creators of 2016 interactive film Late Shift, she was persuaded to adapt her story into an enormous 180-page branching narrative.
“It was so complicated,” she says. “At one point I had 150 sticky notes on the wall of my office, just trying to keep everything in line… There would be times where I would be writing and I’d get distracted and I would come back and be like, ‘I have no idea where I am. Are you angry in this scene? Are you happy? I can’t remember!’”
It’s no easier for director Paul Raschid (White Chamber). Today the scene he’s shooting can end in two ways: by the viewer choosing to transport the pod to the lab by ambulance (safer, slower) or by drone (faster, riskier).
“We shoot scenes on The Complex in a way we wouldn’t shoot normally,” he says. “A lot of attention has to be paid to things like a piece of set dressing that would be different because you made a decision in the past. Luckily I have an amazing script supervisor who keeps on top of the script and understands it on a deep forensic level. It’s a mammoth task.”
For both Raschid and Maxcy, the most striking thing about working on an interactive film like The Complex has been the medium’s storytelling potential.
“What I wanted was to harness the ability to affect relationships,” says Raschid. “I want you to build or destroy relationships, to choose your allegiances: who you trust, who you don’t trust. You could play this game and piss everyone off if you wanted to.”
“As a writer, you go through all of these different options for a scene and decide on one direction,” says Maxcy. “But this allowed me to explore lots of different options and stories. Unless I’m doing something like this, I couldn’t do that otherwise. You couldn’t make 180 pages into a traditional movie. It would be five hours long.” SK
At one point I had 150 sticky notes on the wall of my office, just trying to keep everything in line