REMI WEEKES
THE BAFTA-WINNING DIRECTOR WHO BET ON HORROR
When you won Outstanding Debut at the BAFTAS, you had a single string of gold bunting on your wall — was that a last-minute purchase?
Netflix sends everyone little goodie boxes for awards shows. There was a bottle of champagne and this bunting. My friend thought it would be funny to put it up behind me. There’s something kind of sweet — and also a little bit sad and 2020 — about having to celebrate by yourself.
Was it strange, winning a BAFTA for your first film but not having the full ceremony experience?
It would have been lovely to leave the house.
I do think of the positives of doing it all at home though, like giving a speech when you can have your notes on your computer screen. That would have been terrifying in real life. It’s more chilled being in the kitchen.
Which horror films impacted you as a kid?
So many. Scream. A Nightmare On Elm Street. The Shining. A Tale Of Two Sisters. I remember watching the American version of The Ring for the first time, and the ending was just so outstanding in how it was built. That sequence is really burned in me. Hitchcock has such an eye for tension and suspense. I watched The Birds, Psycho, and Rear Window again and again, watching how he creates these really tense moments so beautifully with images. He’s the daddy.
When did you realise that you wanted to make your own films?
Probably at about 11 or 12, when I was making films with the family camcorder. [I roped in] friends from school. We made zombie movies.
Ketchup for blood?
Yep. And we dressed pillows in clothes and threw them out the window for the death scenes.
Was His House a statement of intent as your first film — a horror movie with a narrative centred on a refugee story?
No idea. I wish I had more self-awareness — an opportunity came, I was able to write something that people liked, and we made it. I wasn’t thinking about making a statement about who I am. You want to say something about the world and yourself and how you’re feeling, and hopefully it communicates in the film.
What was the day on set where you thought, “This is it! I’m doing it!”?
I mean, every day. When they told me I had an office, I was like, “This is amazing, I have an office!” They said, “You’re going to get an assistant,” and I was like, “This is crazy, I have an assistant!” And when we went to Morocco to shoot the African segment I was like, “This is amazing, we’re shooting in Africa!” All the way through the whole thing, I thought, “This is nuts.”
Before His House you made your short, Tickle Monster. Just how much do you hate being tickled?
I hate it. Like, don’t tickle me. Film4 were funding shorts for their Halloween season, and around the same time, my friend was seeing someone, and while they were together they kept tickling him. He found it to be such an awkward experience, because every time he was tickled he would laugh, and the other person saw that as giving him permission to keep tickling. He wished it would stop, but he kept laughing and the person kept tickling even more. I was like, “That’s terrifying. That could be a great horror short!”
You have the Tickle Monster there, the Apeth in His House — what movie monsters give you nightmares?
When I was younger, my cousin made me watch Troll. That film gave me nightmares. I’m a huge Alien fan, it’s a genius monster. I’m also a big fan of bugs — I’ve been watching David Attenborough Youtube videos of ants, and I just think they're amazing.
Who’s a rising British talent you’d love to work with?
Sheila Atim. She was in The Underground Railroad. I met her briefly. We auditioned her, and unfortunately we didn’t go with her for this project. But she’s so amazing.
Going forward, do you want to stay as indie as possible, or would you love to wrangle a blockbuster?
[Cryptically] I don’t know, we’ll find out!
Do you have anything lined up?
[Cryptically] I don’t know, we’ll find out! [Long pause] The industry is strange, and I’m not that predictable when it comes to my choices. It’d be a fool’s errand to try and predict what my next thing is going to be.
HIS HOUSE IS ON NETFLIX NOW