Film: ManFish
Director: Marc Coleman
Writer: Marc Coleman
Starring: Dean Kilbey, Emma Stannard, Matty Noble, Jon Campling, Liam Noble
When a humanoid sea creature washes up in Terry’s bleak life they quickly develop feelings for each other – But can Man love Fish, and will Terry’s older criminal brother get his hands on the creature before Terry can decide how he feels.
In a new exclusive interview leading up to The Romford Horror Film Festival, I got a chance to ask writer/director Marc Coleman a few questions about what we can expect from his new horror-comedy Manfish.
ManFish will be playing at The Romford Horror Film Festival on Saturday 26th February at 16:45hrs
Q. What inspired you to get into filmmaking originally?
A. I started out as a comedy actor many years ago and once I realised that I couldn’t get the comedy jobs I wanted without a very good agent, I decided to start making my own comedy shorts/sketches with friends and sending off them off to agents and casting directors. It led to some meetings and opened some tiny Hobbit sized doors, but what it did do was teach me how to shoot, edit, direct, sound design, etc. This eventually lead to me retiring as an actor and focusing on film full time (full time as it can be I guess).
Q. Your feature film ManFish has been selected to play at The Romford Horror Film Festival, can you tell us what we can expect from the film?
A. I know, we’re stoked for it! Dagenham and Romford are my hometowns and where I first started making films. I used to go to Premiere Cinema as a kid so to return with my own feature film is mental. People can expect an Essex The Shape of Water (2017) but with added slime, fish man badminton, a topless ICF thug and a dirty old man who masturbates in pub toilets.
Q. What were your influences when writing the script for the film?
A. Obviously, The Shape of Water comparisons are there but I deliberately didn’t watch it during the development process as I didn’t want to just rip it off, I wanted to make my own film. There’s a clip from an old John Pertwee – Dr Who episode called The Sea Devils where this naff looking monster stumbles out the sea like an intern in a creature costume and I loved the idea of someone taking it home and befriending it. Ben Wheatley’s Down Terrace (2009) was also a big influence, as was, you guessed it, The Creature from The Black Lagoon (1954) – just minus the budget.
Q. Did you have any actors or actresses in mind to portray any of the characters when writing the script for the film?
A. I’m very lucky in that the majority of my friends are actors/comedians due to my days as a performer and over the years have used most of them in all of my films. So, 90% of the film is made up of friends, which is the best way to make any film. The lead, Dean Kilbey, was one of the only parts we did audition and Dean came in and smashed it. I wasn’t really interested in seeing other people after Dean as he just got it from the off and in rehearsals, bounced brilliantly well off of the amazing Emma Stannard (an old sketch show friend) who played Terrys horrible partner Tracy.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. Nothing too major if I remember rightly. Most of the film was shot in a house so I think a few scenes moved rooms during filming, but we really went in hard in pre-production to try and cover every base and that really paid off in protraction. Some of the dialogue changed as I wanted to allow the actors to play and improvise. Improvisation has always been a huge part of my career, as an actor and director, so having experienced comedy improv actors was important. There was never a huge amount of time on the day to play, we hashed out most stuff in the rehearsal room, and the general rule was that if it was funnier than what I wrote and made sense to the story, it stayed in. Emma Stannard was the queen of that but the majority of all the performers brought something extra to the table and rightly so.
Q. What were your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. Dann Emmons, the cinematographer and I spent a good while in pre-production looking at various similar budgeted films (anything under 50/100k) to see how they were lit and what we could realistically achieve in a short amount of time – the film was shot in 12 days. Down Terrace came up a good few times, as did Prevenge (2016) and Will Sharpe’s Flowers.
We also looked at the greens and blues of The Shape of Water for anything bathroom based.
Q. What made you decide to film ManFish in Canvey Island?
A. I grew up down the road and remember going as a child. It always felt like Dagenham by the sea to me, so kind of like a home from home. It made perfect sense. We only spent 3 days on Canvey out of the 12 due to budget but was so much fun when we were there. Locals were extremely friendly and lots of weird looks when we did anything creature wise. Fun fact, the opening scene of the film was actually shot on The Isle of Sheppey in Kent. This again came down to budget and Canvey only really has one beach, but Sheppey has a similar industrial feel so fitted nicely into the film.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. YES! Daily, but nothing that properly stopped the film, for too long anyway. As I said, we really went in hard on pre-production and tried our best to cover every angle and this does really help when shit eventually hits the fan. Someone much more intelligent than me once described filmmaking as “problem solving”, and that’s so true, that’s all it is. Except it’s relentless for 13 hours a day and hitting you from every direction in the dick. But if you have a great team, small or large, and a good amount of communication, anything is achievable on set. I’ll tell you about when I had to go in the sea in my pants to collect a runaway piece of costume another time.
Q. What were some of your favorite moments during filming?
A. Anything with the creature (played wonderfully by Matty Noble) was always fun. How it interacted with other characters, how it ate. Those things always lead to lots of corpsing and great moments on camera. Filming in the house for 8 days was really nice too, lots of homemade meals, lots of laughing, cake, we were a little family – not really sure how we got anything done. Once we left the house it was a fucking nightmare! Never leave the house!
Q. What makes ManFish stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A.I’ve always been a fan of horror films (I grew up on 80’s Blockbusters and gory B-Movies) so mixing horror and comedy has always played a big part in my career. Lots of people may argue that my films will always hit the comedy notes more than the horror and I would probably agree – I’m still new to horror and finding my feet in it. I just love the horror community. There are SO many wonderful people and the fact that horror fans have welcomed ManFish with open arms has really touched me. So, I hope that I have brought a bit of a different angle to the community by infusing it with my own style of offbeat comedy.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. Any rubbish that they have with them as working in a cinema can be hard enough as it is without cleaning up gammy popcorn and cheap lager cans.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. Yes, I’m developing my next feature which I hope to shoot in October/November this year if I can find the funds. It’s a witch film set in a working man’s club. That’s all I can say for now – not because I’m big time, because it’s not fully formed, and it might sound a bit shit if I go to deep into it.
Q. If someone was looking to write and direct their own film what advice would you give them?
A. Always wear a good pair of pants on set just in case you have to go into the Thames Estuary on a cold dark March morning fishing for some creature eyes whilst 15 grown men watch on. That and hire a good soundie.
You can find out more about The Romford Horror Film Festival and purchase tickets here: https://www.romfordfilmfestival.com/romford-horror-festival
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!
