Day of the Stranger (2019)
Director: Thomas Lee Rutter
Writer: Thomas Lee Rutter (based on the original short story by Mark Twain)
Starring: Gary Shail, Gary Baxter, Richard Rowbotham, James Taylor, Jim Heal
A surreal, funny and tensely dramatic Western that laments on the acid western of the 1970’s.
In a new interview in the series leading up to Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, I got a chance to ask Day of the Stranger writer-director Thomas Lee Rutter a few questions about what we can expect from the film.
Q. Your latest film Day of the Stranger has been selected to play at Horror-on-Sea. Can you tell us what we can expect?
Hi Philip! You can expect a bloodthirsty, trippy western made guerrilla style on a budget that usually funds a back-yard slasher.
Q. This is the UK’s first ever Guerrilla Acid Western. Can you explain what a Guerrilla Acid Western is and why you decided to film one in the UK?
Well, an acid-western is a short lived sub-genre that spanned the 1960’s and early 1970’s where you would find counter cultural themes challenging (then current) values and ideals in the guise of the American Frontier. Acid-western films appeared again in the 80’s and 1990’s and even post –millennium.
The most famous one arguably is Jodorowsky’s El Topo (1971). I decided to make one in the UK when I wanted to get started on a film but to be more ambitious than shooting a standard affair with using peoples houses, etc. The sandstone locations that surrounded us set me off to want to make a western. Being the ambitious (and arguably stubborn and stupid) type I got it in my head a no-budget western would be the way to go!
Q. What were your influences for the script and overall story for the film?
Originally it was a more talky and psychological two hander that was an adaptation of Mark Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger. Watching the small adaptation in Will Vinton’s amazing The Adventures of Mark Twain (1985) animated film got me thinking it would work great as a brooding western piece. The original intentions did get lost along the way though but some of it still remains.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
Look and style would be the grainy and gritty desert pictures of the 1970’s and grindhouse films such as the ones Al Adamson would make and the ones you’d find on Something Weird Video. Obviously Jodorowsky was a huge inspiration with the trippy desert-scapes of El Topo but also the occult dream-scapes of Kenneth Anger.
James Taylor
Q. Day of the Stranger was filmed in the West Midlands. Did you experience any difficulties trying to create an authentic western feel using the UK locations?
Absolutely, and I’m not even sure we 100% pulled it off (laughs). I’m impressed with some of the scenes though. I didn’t concern myself with specific types of tree such as birches that you’d never see in the wild-west or things like that. As long as they had visual cues to let us just about get away with it. I just expect the no-budget underground film audience to suspend their disbelief’s!
Q. Continuing with issues the film took nearly 6 years to complete. What were some of the biggest problems you faced during filming and how difficult was it to make the decision to complete the film?
I could write an essay on this alone but I started this film as a completely different film-maker who took on a project that grew more ambitious and therefore more difficult and several times our technical shortcomings and time-gaps got the better of us which would result in a change of direction for the film which in turn would constitute re shoots and re-writes.
We basically started shooting on a first draft which is never a good idea. The film was being rewritten as we shot and therefore the overall plot and point of the film would change. The finished product is a compromised hybrid but it’s a miracle we even got that cut out of the mess it became!
The decision to finish the film came when I realised I could rebuild the structure of the film using what I already had instead of embarking on a further several months (years?) of re shoots. The last re shoots we needed to finish this new compromised cut required recasting one of the main characters and we shot his role in 2 days where as the other guy was shooting for 3+ years!
Q. Are there any scenes in the original script which are not included in the finished film?
Practically 50% of the script! (laughs) At one point I had a cut running 110 minutes and it was a painful watch. So much of it had to go I became ruthless. Then of course it meant re shooting and rewriting which took things in a different direction. I think the changes show and audiences who know their b-movies will probably see that it was a bit of a salvage job.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
The last shoots we did with the character we re-cast. I had just worked with Gary Baxter on my latest project and he came over for a few days, together with James Taylor and Dale Sheppard who have both been on this thing since day one. We bashed out so many scenes and it all flowed so beautifully. It was probably the hardest we’d worked but we knew it was working a treat as opposed to most of the shoots that came before it.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
I hope they appreciate it for what it is. It isn’t the film I set out to make but then the film I set out to make was always doomed I suppose. I hope they see that someone tried to be a little more ambitious than just knocking out another no-budget slasher or zombie thing. I just consciously wanted to make something you don’t usually see in the field of indie/ no budget film.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
I’m currently shooting my baby THE POCKET FILM OF SUPERSTITIONS which I feel is a true representation of where my work is headed and how it is progressing. It is a ‘cinematic almanac’ and a natural progression from my film BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM (2017). It is again unlike anything you’re likely to see in the realms of indie film and will be a light-hearted but sinister mix of monsters, magic and animation. I can’t wait to show you all!
Day of the Stranger will be playing at Horror-on-Sea on Saturday 11th January at 22:30 hrs
You can find out more about Horror-on-Sea and purchase tickets for the festival here:
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
