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Con & Alex talk to Dead Before They Wake Writer, Co-Director and Star Nathan Shepka

What challenges come with Directing yourself as a cast member when making a film? Con

Nathan Shepka – I think sometimes I have a tendancy to be in front of the camera and focus on other people’s performances and then run round to watch the take before realising you’re on auto-pilot a bit yourself. It’s finding a balance between immersing yourself in the scene and reviewing what others are doing too. Fortunately our DOP Andy and latterly co-director is good at telling me when I can do better!

And with Dead Before They Wake we were fortunate to have so many great cast members that needed very little direction at all.

Films like Dead Before They Wake need to have intense moments. How do you create an intense feel for a scene? Con

Nathan Shepka – This one sort of builds in a way, we wanted to keep a feeling of tension and dread throughout the entire film that increases as it comes to an end. We wanted the audience to have that feeling of unease in the pit of their stomach and know things might not end well. Individual scene wise I think a lot of it happens in the writing but in one of the opening scenes where a taxi driver tries to snare a young girl waiting for a bus, the realism in the acting helped nail that.

A couple of reviewers commented that the intensity comes from the viewer knowing things like this have actually happened.

Was there much difficulty minimising reflections of the camera crew when reflective
surfaces were in shot? (e.g. like the indoors scenes next to a window) Alex

Nathan Shepka – That’s a random one! It is always an issue though. Indoors and with windows and mirrors it is a bit easier because you control the light. So you can bounce light in different ways to stop the reflection as much, sometimes we use an anti-glare spray to try to help. The worst though is car door panels. They are huge and they see everything and outdoors it is more difficult to control the light!

And sometimes you don’t spot the crew until you see it in the edit suit and then it is time to get the digital paintbrush out!

Was Alex character based on any real-life vigilantes? And if not, how did you come up with the character? Con

Nathan Shepka – Not any real-life vigilantes as such, certainly not the kind you see on social media of predators being cornered in the street. Inspiration partly came from Joaquin Phoenix’s character in You Were Never Really Here. I’d always done more upbeat, extroverted characters so I thought it would be nice to play someone quiet, reserved, only speaks when necessary so he’s direct and to the point.

I also wanted to give him a sense of loneliness, a sense that he’s just existing as opposed to living in a way – again a bit like Phoenix’s character. But going beyond that I felt he needed more of an arc; someone to give him hope (the stripper/school teacher that he develops feelings for) and something to give him purpose (finding the missing girl). He’s got a real rage far below the surface though, that takes almost the entirety of the film to come out.

What was the oddest object used to create a desired sound effect for a scene? Alex

Nathan Shepka – Some of the baseball bat scenes were partly done in camera, hitting the bat off the likes of an inflatable bed and then beefing the sound up in post with wooden bats hitting a ball. Likewise with the hammer, hitting the surface of a table but then layering in squelching watermelons and such like. The one thing that’s always a challenge is knife puncturing flesh. I imagine in real life there’s very little sound but in the movies you always have to exaggerate everything.

Who do you think will enjoy this film most and what do you hope they take away from seeing it? Con

To me some films are there to entertain (popcorn action flicks), some are meant to make you think (Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas) and some are meant to be an experience (Requiem for a Dream). I suppose with this we were almost trying to do all three. Anyone who likes really gritty, dark, borderline disturbing films might enjoy Dead Before They Wake – the likes of Bull, Blue Ruin, Nocturnal Animals.

It is harrowing in places because it is based on the Rotherham/Rochdale grooming gangs so there’s a real life element and there’s a “this goes on in society every day and most of the time we don’t see it” element. I suppose the takeaway is realising that this goes on. I dare say people won’t leave this one feeling uplifted. But I also felt there needed to be a pay-off for the audience, one thing about the bad guys in this film is that they don’t get a chance to experience British justice or early release from prison – they don’t make it that far!

Dead Before They Wake Available to rent or own on Digital Platforms in the UK from January 27th!!!