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| Metro Manila's Sean Ellis: 'You don't need to know what an actor is saying' | Metro Manila's Sean Ellis: 'You don't need to know what an actor is saying' |
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| 'In this country," says Sean Ellis, "our favourite word is no." Which is why, after making two feature films in the UK and being unable to drum up any interest in a third, the Brighton-born director decamped to the Philippines to shoot a character-based thriller in a country he had only visited once, in a language he didn't understand (Tagalog). The result is Metro Manila, one of the finest, under-the-radar surprises of the year: the story of a farmer named Oscar who, forced on to the streets of the Filipino capital after the price of rice drops, gets a job as an armoured-truck driver and generally falls into bad company, all so he can take care of his family. | 'In this country," says Sean Ellis, "our favourite word is no." Which is why, after making two feature films in the UK and being unable to drum up any interest in a third, the Brighton-born director decamped to the Philippines to shoot a character-based thriller in a country he had only visited once, in a language he didn't understand (Tagalog). The result is Metro Manila, one of the finest, under-the-radar surprises of the year: the story of a farmer named Oscar who, forced on to the streets of the Filipino capital after the price of rice drops, gets a job as an armoured-truck driver and generally falls into bad company, all so he can take care of his family. |
| "It was definitely a big adventure," says Ellis, who started out as a photographer. "I was coming off my second film, The Broken, which was a bit of a miss really, in terms of finding an audience. And critically, the reviews were very split." He laughs as he remembers his 2008 horror-thriller about a radiologist whose life is turned upside down by a doppelganger who emerges from a broken mirror. "Some of the reviews were quite painful. But it taught me a lot, and I took some time out to rethink things, take on board the mistakes I'd made. I started looking for a project I could keep control of. There were some studio offers, but I felt that would be a mistake. I mean, you're only as hot as your last film, and if people weren't talking about it, you need to be working on something personal. It becomes a dry season. Or director's jail, as I call it." | "It was definitely a big adventure," says Ellis, who started out as a photographer. "I was coming off my second film, The Broken, which was a bit of a miss really, in terms of finding an audience. And critically, the reviews were very split." He laughs as he remembers his 2008 horror-thriller about a radiologist whose life is turned upside down by a doppelganger who emerges from a broken mirror. "Some of the reviews were quite painful. But it taught me a lot, and I took some time out to rethink things, take on board the mistakes I'd made. I started looking for a project I could keep control of. There were some studio offers, but I felt that would be a mistake. I mean, you're only as hot as your last film, and if people weren't talking about it, you need to be working on something personal. It becomes a dry season. Or director's jail, as I call it." |
| Inspiration came from a trip to the Philippines to visit a friend. "I didn't know anything about the place. I was quite blown away. It felt very vibrant and rich. It's one of the few places left where you can still get a culture shock – it took me a while to get used to seeing traffic wardens with shotguns. And while I was there, I witnessed this scene: two armoured-truck drivers having an argument by their vehicle. It ended with one of them kicking the truck, then they drove off." | Inspiration came from a trip to the Philippines to visit a friend. "I didn't know anything about the place. I was quite blown away. It felt very vibrant and rich. It's one of the few places left where you can still get a culture shock – it took me a while to get used to seeing traffic wardens with shotguns. And while I was there, I witnessed this scene: two armoured-truck drivers having an argument by their vehicle. It ended with one of them kicking the truck, then they drove off." |
| The scenario fascinated Ellis, whose first film was Cashback, a short about a daydreaming night worker that was nominated for an Oscar in 2006. "I began writing a synopsis. My most exciting idea was that one of them was being blackmailed into taking part in a heist. Because that's what I saw, in a weird way – one of them clearly seemed trapped. Soon I had 20 pages." | The scenario fascinated Ellis, whose first film was Cashback, a short about a daydreaming night worker that was nominated for an Oscar in 2006. "I began writing a synopsis. My most exciting idea was that one of them was being blackmailed into taking part in a heist. Because that's what I saw, in a weird way – one of them clearly seemed trapped. Soon I had 20 pages." |
| Meanwhile, Canon brought out its 5D digital camera, which gives film-quality results but looks like any unobtrusive holiday-snap camera. "I thought, 'This is kind of interesting. I could go and shoot for a pretty small budget, using a camera system that's very portable and discreet.' So I spent a year doing commercials, using the 5D – it's primarily a stills camera that enables you to record moving images. It put me back in control: I could do my own camerawork and not have a massive crew." | Meanwhile, Canon brought out its 5D digital camera, which gives film-quality results but looks like any unobtrusive holiday-snap camera. "I thought, 'This is kind of interesting. I could go and shoot for a pretty small budget, using a camera system that's very portable and discreet.' So I spent a year doing commercials, using the 5D – it's primarily a stills camera that enables you to record moving images. It put me back in control: I could do my own camerawork and not have a massive crew." |
| He still needed £250,000. So Ellis remortgaged his house, packed his bags and headed out. "After we got there, it was a case of figuring out how to make the film for the money we had. A lot of people did more than one job, and we were able to get the crew down to two vanloads. It was a very basic, run-and-gun approach. But that was always going to be the style of the film – it had to feel real." | He still needed £250,000. So Ellis remortgaged his house, packed his bags and headed out. "After we got there, it was a case of figuring out how to make the film for the money we had. A lot of people did more than one job, and we were able to get the crew down to two vanloads. It was a very basic, run-and-gun approach. But that was always going to be the style of the film – it had to feel real." |
| Executive producer Celine Lopez introduced Ellis to the area's small but close-knit film industry, and found Ellis his lead: Jake Macapagal, a theatre actor, who in turn brought the rest of the cast. How hard was it to direct an all-foreign team? "Because the Philippines is an ex-protectorate of America, everyone spoke English. So I decided to give each actor the opportunity to translate their lines into Tagalog, the way they felt their character would say things." | Executive producer Celine Lopez introduced Ellis to the area's small but close-knit film industry, and found Ellis his lead: Jake Macapagal, a theatre actor, who in turn brought the rest of the cast. How hard was it to direct an all-foreign team? "Because the Philippines is an ex-protectorate of America, everyone spoke English. So I decided to give each actor the opportunity to translate their lines into Tagalog, the way they felt their character would say things." |
| Was that awkward? "No, not at all! Because I didn't speak Tagalog, I wasn't so bothered about line delivery. Instead, I started watching their body language. I found you didn't really need to know what an actor is saying to know whether it's truthful or not." | Was that awkward? "No, not at all! Because I didn't speak Tagalog, I wasn't so bothered about line delivery. Instead, I started watching their body language. I found you didn't really need to know what an actor is saying to know whether it's truthful or not." |
| Ellis claims he wasn't even fazed by the edit – all eight months of it. "At the end of each day, we'd make a sound file of each edited scene and email it to Jake," he says. "Jake would translate it into English and send it back. A lot of the time, we'd find that the actors had gone off-script and the scene wouldn't make sense! So we'd go back, find the actual line and re-edit. Then once it was all done, we had a Filipino watch it without subtitles, to see if it held together – and it did." | Ellis claims he wasn't even fazed by the edit – all eight months of it. "At the end of each day, we'd make a sound file of each edited scene and email it to Jake," he says. "Jake would translate it into English and send it back. A lot of the time, we'd find that the actors had gone off-script and the scene wouldn't make sense! So we'd go back, find the actual line and re-edit. Then once it was all done, we had a Filipino watch it without subtitles, to see if it held together – and it did." |
| Metro Manila premiered at Sundance in January, taking the audience award for best world dramatic film; its release next month in the Philippines has become national news. Though Ellis is stumped as to what he'll do next, he couldn't be prouder of his "commercial film disguised as an art film". He is in, he says, "a crazy position. I don't know how I'll follow it, but there are some great scripts being sent to me." He laughs. "What was it Michael Caine said? The kind without other people's coffee stains on them." | Metro Manila premiered at Sundance in January, taking the audience award for best world dramatic film; its release next month in the Philippines has become national news. Though Ellis is stumped as to what he'll do next, he couldn't be prouder of his "commercial film disguised as an art film". He is in, he says, "a crazy position. I don't know how I'll follow it, but there are some great scripts being sent to me." He laughs. "What was it Michael Caine said? The kind without other people's coffee stains on them." |
| • Metro Manila is out on 20 September. | • Metro Manila is out on 20 September. |
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