Psychological thriller Nerve continues its hectic production schedule with the project set to go into post next week.
The feature length film, the first from director Sebastian Guy and producer Neal Kingston, stars Christian Clark (Mr & Mrs Murder) and Georgina Haig (Fringe), and was shot in Sydney over just 14 days at the end of last year.
“Even though we had an intense shooting schedule, the vibe on set has been one of the most relaxed and easy-going I have ever experienced. The energy and enthusiasm of the cast and crew has been amazing and very humbling”, says Guy.
The film follows Jakob (Clark) who, after the sudden death of his wife, suffers an emotional breakdown. The discovery that his wife was having an affair prior to her death sends Jakob into an obsessive search for her lover in a misguided attempt to understand their relationship. Along the way, he meets and is helped by Grace (Haig) who peels back further layers surrounding the events.
Clark and Haig are supported by a cast including Craig Hall, Andrea Demetriades, Gary Sweet,Cameron Daddo, Denise Roberts and Sara Wiseman.
Both Kingston and Guy said the cracking pace of the project’s schedule (the film’s script was developed in one month and pre-production took three weeks) was an asset to the production, as it forced momentum and discouraged over-analysis.
“Our goal was to not talk about it but to do it and get it in the can by Christmas, and I’m glad that we did,” says Guy.
“We shot an average of five-11 pages a day. It was quite full-on… but the big advantage of working with limitations is that it breeds creativity. You don’t have too much time to overthink things.
“We need to be creative and push it and not be safe. And I think everyone got on board with that. We were all excited because it didn’t feel like we were just going through our numbers. Really we were just working through another parameter of limitations. This is the film we made using the tools and the assets within the limitation we set ourselves.”
Of the finished product, Kingston says he hopes the film will make audiences think and will remain with them for days after viewing it.
“Hopefully I think they will go through a journey and be able to relate to the different characters. Even though they might not make some of those choices, they may know people who would have. It deals a lot with morality and how you approach that morality and decisions and how different people judge things in different ways,” he says.
“It stays with you. These are my favourite sort of films, the ones that sit with you a day or two after you finish watching them.”
At this stage Kingston and Guy hope to release Nerve in May or June, though Kingston points out this is dependent on film festivals.
Nerve is s a Cornerstone Pictures and Luscious International Pictures co-production.
For more information visit http://www.nerve-themovie.com