Producer Jeremy Thomas on High-Rise and the Future of Independent Cinema

​ Jeremy Thomas (right) is one of Britain’s most successful and fearless producers. A champion of original and challenging stories, he has never lost his appetite for independent cinema, having made over 70 films in a career spanning 40 years.

Thomas has collaborated with bold and distinctive directors like Jonathan Glazer, Nic Roeg and Bernardo Bertolucci, who’s film The Last Emperor won a staggering 9 Oscars in 1987, including best film. Moviescope spoke with him to talk about his latest film, High-Rise, and the future of independent cinema.

It seemed inevitable that Jeremy Thomas would one day work with Ben Wheatley, the auteur filmmaker behind Kill List, Sightseers and A Field in England. It was after making that film, that Wheatley and his writing partner, Amy Jump turned their attention to High-Rise; the JG Ballard novel. Upon discovering that the film option was held by Jeremy Thomas, Wheatley contacted his agent, who worked at the same agency as Thomas’ son. Serendipitously for Wheatley, Thomas had just seen Sightseers and was keen to work with him.

High-Rise is set in a modernist tower block in 1970s London, where residents live according to their pecking order in the class system. The architect of both the tower and its social structure is the wealthy, rapacious Anthony Royal (played in the film by Jeremy Irons). Royal lives in the penthouse suite with a beautiful walled garden complete with a stable for his horse. The poorer relations live in the lower floors of the building and are galvanised by a pugnacious documentarian, Richard Wilder (Luke Evans), who rails against the injustice of the hierarchy. The animosity between the floors simmers beneath to surface, eventually giving way to an incident that triggers a vicious backlash and power struggle. Living in the middle floors of the tower block are Dr Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) and his neighbour two floors up, Charlotte Melville (Sienna Miller), who find themselves in the middle of the tower blocks’ very rapid descent into chaos.

Thomas said: “I picked up the rights to High-Rise about 10 years ago having previously brought JG Ballard's Crash (dir. David Cronenberg) to the screen. I usually have several projects that I'm working on at the same time and High-Rise took a back seat until Ben contacted me”.

It was during the early development conversations that Wheatley laid out his vision for the film to Thomas: “When I was developing it, I wanted to set it in the near future, but Ben wanted to make it a period piece, bring it back to where the book was roughly set and incorporate Thatcherism into the film.”

The casting of Tom Hiddleston as Dr Robert Laing, was met with delight by fans of Ballard’s work. Thomas encouraged Wheatley to consider him for the role: “I'd just finished working with Tom Hiddleston on Only Lovers Left Alive, and he was interested in working with Ben and on a JG Ballard story. When you have good material and an interesting director, the cast will follow.”
“Ben is an original filmmaker. I like to be involved in every step of the way, that's what I love about making films; to be involved in the development, the filming and in the edit suite but without getting on anyone’s back; to be supportive.”

When looking for a location to shoot High-Rise, Thomas and Wheatley began to look for brutalist buildings to double for London in the 70s. They found a disbanded leisure centre in Northern Ireland that contained a swimming pool and two large sports halls, in which production designer Mark Tildesley could build all the interior sets. Filming in Belfast also allowed producers to tap in to financial support as well as local talent; almost 200 crew members worked on the film, many of whom were based in Northern Ireland.

High-Rise has been building an audience through the festival circuit and word of mouth, with the director and cast obliging the crowds by attending many screenings and Q&As. Without the power of a huge marketing budget, this approach has helped foster the buzz and excitement for the film ahead of its release on the 18^th March.

Next: Jeremy Thomas on the future of independent cinema

As with all Ben Wheatley films, reviews are divisive. Thomas responded: “Some of the reviewers loved the film and some excoriated the film; I've got very little regard for that criticism as I regard the film and think it has value. Even the highest paper can give you a hammering. Look at London Has Fallen, it’s getting 1 star reviews but it's number one at the box office. If people want to go and see a film, they go and see it.

On the future of independent filmmaking, Thomas set out the challenge in the market:

“Independent film production in the UK is a very small area to try to maintain; it's being eroded by various forces, such as competing for cinema space. It's changed dramatically since I've been watching films. I grew up in the cinema, my father would drop me off to the cinema on a Saturday morning - there was no telly or digital back then and there were hundreds and hundreds of films making money. Now you've got more challenges in getting audiences for the film.”

When asked what the greatest threat was for independent filmmakers, Thomas was quick to respond:  “Resources and distribution. Getting hold of finance and getting the film out there. It's the same story. Good films are hard to make but it can be done, you see it every year. Look at the Oscars this year, a lot of those films came out of the UK.”

When it comes to finding finance, Thomas is concerned for the future:  “We've been taken out of Eurimages (European Cinema Support Fund) and they may take us out of the European co-production treaty, so without the tax incentives, there would be very little production in the UK. The numbers in film are made on the back of international productions coming here.”

Thomas was coy about future plans; although he admitted he was going to make a couple of movies this year, he kept the details of upcoming films under wraps. He is however, hoping to have a film in competition at Cannes. Whatever comes next, Thomas will no doubt continue to produce original and challenging cinema such as High-Rise.

High-Rise is released on the 18^th March 2016 in the UK