Film Name: The Weird World of Molly Brown
Director: Molly Brown
Writer: Molly Brown
Starring: (in no particular order) Cy Henty, Michaela Hunt, Georgie Lee-Robinson, Howard Gardner, Molly Brown, Susan Lowe, Mark Kelly, Natalie Webb, Mark Lawrence, Aaron Shakespeare, Sean Botha, Singh Lall, Joan Vives, Philip Rogers, Adrian Viviani, and Mj Dixon (among others)
Three short films by Molly Brown: The Stumbling of Giant Child 104, Terror Pins, and the World Premiere of Two Hours of Spanish Club (shot on a phone at Horror-on-Sea 2024, with a cast of Horror-on-Sea regulars).
In a new Exclusive Interview on Blazing Minds ahead of Horror-on-Sea I got a chance to ask writer/director Molly Brown a few questions about the film ‘The Weird World of Molly Brown‘
The Weird World of Molly Brown will play at Horror-on-Sea on Friday 10th January at 8.00pm
Q. The Weird World of Molly Brown returns to the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival. Can you tell us what we can expect from your latest collection of shorts?
A. This year’s compilation of my shorts consists of three films.
The Stumbling of Giant Child 104 is a mock trailer for a non-existent 1950s disaster movie a la The Flight of the Phoenix, Terror Pins is a mockumentary investigating the disappearance of a man who vanished at a bowling alley, and I suppose Two Hours of Spanish Club could also be described as a mockumentary as it’s an investigation into what went wrong when two animated characters (based on photographs of Horror-on-Sea regulars Mark Lawrence and Aaron Shakespeare) attempted to start a Spanish-language club at the 2024 edition of Horror-on-Sea.
Q. You have a unique style when it comes to shorts, mixing both live action and animation. What were some of your influences when writing the scripts?
A. Regarding the mixing of live action and animation, I guess that’s a result of the fact that I don’t try for realism. The real world is right there in front of me; I don’t feel the need to recreate it. I like to play around with visuals, throwing lots of different elements together and seeing what happens.
When it comes to the general approach and tone, I think I have a rather 1950s/early 1960s sensibility. Though I would not in any way dare to compare myself to them, I idolise the likes of Spike Milligan, Ernie Kovacs, and Jay Ward (among others).
Q. Did you make any changes from the original scripts during filming?
A. Though two of the films in this year’s Weird World of Molly Brown compilation (The Stumbling of Giant Child 104 and Terror Pins) were scripted in advance, Two Hours of Spanish Club was a very last-minute thing with nothing written down – or even thought about – beforehand. It was basically a matter of: let’s start shooting and see what happens.
The way Two Hours of Spanish Club came about was: I was packing my bag to leave for last year’s Horror-on-Sea when one of the festival regulars – an actor and filmmaker named Mark Lawrence – posted a comment on Facebook saying that he wanted to be an animated character in one of my films.
To which I replied: I guess that means we’ll have to make a film this weekend.
Then I remembered that another Horror-on-Sea regular, an English teacher named Aaron Shakespeare, lives in Spain. Which gave me the bright idea: wouldn’t it be fun to make a film in Spanish?
The only problem was: I don’t speak Spanish myself, and it turned out that none of the Horror-on-Sea regulars spoke Spanish, either. Even the guy who actually lives in Spain doesn’t speak much Spanish beyond a few simple phrases.
But then to my great relief, they screened a Spanish film on the first night of the festival, and the filmmaker – a very kind (and patient!) man named Joan Vives – agreed to take part in the film I was making that weekend. Even though none of us knew what the film was going to be about.
When I got home from the festival, I still had no idea how the random footage I’d shot that weekend was going to slot together into anything resembling a film, but the story began to reveal itself during the edit. And then all I had to do was link everything together by shooting some more footage at home and writing a few lines of voice-over (at last, a script!) which another Horror-on-Sea regular, the actor Sean Botha, recorded remotely.
So that film was a journey of discovery.
Q. What were some of your favourite moments during filming?
A. You not only were there for my favourite moment, you had an active part in it.
Over the last several years, a guy named Singh Lall has created a kind of art installation in the Radisson hotel bar where he recreates a 1980s style video rental shop with shelves full of VHS cases.
I thought it might be fun to do a Bollywood dance number in front of the video shop, so Singh Lall got drafted in to be the choreographer and lead dancer. Considering that he had no notice at all – the dance was improvised on the spot – he did a wonderful job.
All of the dancers (yourself included) did a cracking job with no preparation or rehearsal, and the dance number is the scene I’m most looking forward to seeing on the big screen at Horror-on-Sea.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. You were there for the issues, as well. I’ve made several last-minute improvised films at Horror-on-Sea over the years, and it used to be a fairly easy matter to find a quiet spot to record dialogue, but no more. The festival has become so popular that last year it was pretty much impossible to record dialogue without the sound of background chatter from the crowd in the bar. You just couldn’t get away from it.
You may recall that in one of the scenes in which you appear, it was so noisy in the bar we went out onto the balcony to try and record some dialogue. But there happened to be a named storm on that day, and we all got battered by a very strong wind.
When I got home from the festival and played back the footage we’d shot on the balcony, the wind was so loud it nearly drowned out what everyone was saying.
Between the background chatter and the wind, you would not believe the amount of messing I had to do to get the audio to a stage where it was just about passable.
Q. What makes it stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. I don’t know. Maybe that my films are so unashamedly silly?
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. The only hope I ever have for any of my films is that people might enjoy them.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. At the time I’m typing this, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks working on a video installation for an artist.
Q. If someone was looking to get into filmmaking what advice would you give them?
A. If you love making films, just do it. And don’t worry about making mistakes; you’ll learn from them.
The Weird World of Molly Brown will play at Horror-on-Sea on Friday 10th January at 8.00pm
You can find out more about the festival and purchase tickets 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!
