The FilmMasons: First off The FilmMasons would like to think you for taking the time and effort out of your busy schedule to do this interview.
TFM: How long did it take to get from first draft of Black Sheep to the first time you called action?
Jonathan King: It probably took about two years or so. The potential in the script was there from the first draft ... after that, it was many drafts of trying to get the script to a place that would deliver the experience people hoped to get when they heard the idea (if you know what I mean?).
TFM: Group member Kellie wants to know why you chose sheep?
JK: I didn’t think ‘I want to do a killer animal movie’ and work through every animal in New Zealand (‘cow, goat, cat, bird ...’). The idea popped into my head and because it made me laugh and because it’s one of the things NZ is most famous for, that’s why it was worth pursuing.
TFM: As you wrote and directed Black Sheep did you change the script much as you shot, or is what we see on the screen almost exactly like your final draft?
JK: It is much the same. There was about a page in the third act i had to rip out for budgetary / practicality reasons ... but otherwise it is the film is much like the script. There are a few scenes we shot that we cut in the edit room, mostly for pace - up the front of the film and in the last 30 mins ...
TFM: It must have been a relief to get FX giant WETA on board to do the effects, was it like they could throw away the suits and ties and get down and dirty Braindead style again? Did they handle all the effects?
JK: They did all the physical effects, yes. They didn’t do the (tiny handful of) digital effects in the film. Yeah, the people on BS had just come off films like Star Wars and King Kong – I think they really enjoyed making a little splatter film - especially one that was small enough that everyone knew their work was an important part of what would end up on screen.
TFM: Is your approach to shooting an effect the same as shooting actors?
JK: I’m more likely to storyboard an FX shot really closely – and that will have played a part in how the effect was built and planned. Actors it’s more a case of knowing what you want from the scene dramatically and covering that/ I certainly storyboarded Black Sheep a lot more than Under the Mountain, my second film - where I was more relaxed about discovering how dramatic scenes might play on the day.
TFM: How many weeks was the Black Sheep shoot, and what was the hardest part?
JK: The shoot was six weeks, I think. The hardest part was getting sheep to do ANYTHING!! That and the bloody weather!
TFM: You appear and are killed in the film while trying to find your car keys, were you talked into the cameo, or did you have it planned from the start?
JK: Yeah, I had planned that. I was going to have a more elaborate brains-being-eaten prosthetic effect ... but we had to cut that for budgetary reasons.
TFM: With everything being prequeled or sequeled these days is there a future for another Black Sheep?
JK: Maybe as a comic! Don’t hold your breath for a movie ...
TFM: Under the Mountain stole many nights sleep from me as a child growing up in New Zealand, what drew you to the project?
JK: I’d loved it when I was a kid (and even played the boy in a radio adaptation of the story when I was 13!). Matt Grainger - who I work with - had been writing it for other people when I first met him ... though that version of it never got off the ground. After BS we thought, let’s give it a go ...
TFM: Is this closer to the book, or a remake of the TV series?
JK: Definitely an adaptation of the book. I haven’t seen the TV series since it first aired in 1981.
TFM: Steve Boyle designed the creatures for the film, being more of a fantasy and adventure film did you have to pull back on the creatures much or were you allowed to go wild?
JK: We definitely wanted to go as wild and creepy as we could. There’s no blood, swearing or sex in the film ... so we allowed ourselves to go as creepy as we could with scary monsters. We wanted to make our own Alien / Thing / Cthulu creature! Steve – and everyone at Weta Workshop – did an amazing job!
TFM: Being also a producer on Under the Mountain, what were some of the other tasks you had to undertake?
JK: It really flowed as an extension of my job as the director - something I’ve done, really, on everything I’ve ever made – work out the best place to put resources, bring the right people onto the project, make difficult choices about how to achieve what we hoped to. Between Richard Fletcher and Matthew Grainger – the other producers – we had a really good spread of skills and focus.
TFM: For all the budding writers out there (myself included) what is the most important thing they should do?
JK: Get that draft finished! Don’t get bogged down rewriting the first half over and over ... finish it, print it out, read it, get other people to read it ... then do the tough rewrites ... again and again. The thing to remember is ‘what is the minute-by-minute entertainment an audience is getting from this?’. Then get it made – direct it yourself or hook up with other filmmakers. Don’t wait around for someone to discover it and make you famous and rich. Cos it’ll never happen.
TFM: Do you have any projects on the boil you can let us in on?
JK: Lots of things at early stages – an adaptation, another original, some projects Matt Grainger and I are producing with other writers and directors ... But it’ll be a little while till anything shoots, I think.
TFM: Jonathan King, thank you so much for your time.
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