The James Bulger tragedy shocked the world back in 1993.
Director Vincent Lambe has now used the transcripts of the trial in a brand new short film, DETAINMENT.
Film and TV Now recently spoke to the director as he reflected on the film, which has already achieved some critical acclaim for it’s handling of such a sensitive and shocking case:
FILM AND TV NOW: Obviously, the first question is regarding the respect and sensitivity of this case pertaining to the Bulger family, for whom this is going to be an ongoing lifetime journey of anguish. The film does portray Jon Venables and Robert Thompson as emotional characters as the police interrogate them. Have the Bulger parents and relatives of the family seen this film and did they have any creative input on the result?
VINCENT LAMBE: As we set out to make a fact-based film that was impartial, we didn’t attempt to contact any of the families involved and instead relied solely on the factual material. The film is based firmly on the interview transcripts and records with no embellishments whatsoever. The case affected me in the same way it has affected so many other people and I think it is very important to acknowledge the anguish of the parents and wider family of James Bulger. It’s impossible to show the unimaginable pain of James Bulger’s family in the space of a short film and I think it would have been entirely inappropriate to try to do justice to that in such a short space of time, but I have enormous sympathy for them and I hope that they can forgive me for also acknowledging the suffering of the families of the two boys who were responsible for the killing. The film gives a brief glimpse of just one aspect of the case, but there is a much wider story there and it is a heart-breaking one.
FTVN: We note in the end credits that you had test screenings of the film, in which people are thanked for giving their feedback. Tell us about how the film evolved from the original development and filming to the version that we have seen.
VL: The film is based on the interview transcripts and records and the majority of it is verbatim. I found that writing it was a bit like fitting pieces of a puzzle together, trying to get the pace and structure of the story right, but everything in the film is entirely factual. We did a number of test screenings with audiences which included people who remembered the case and had been affected by it as well as international audiences who had never heard of the case before. The feedback they gave us was invaluable and really helped to shape the film.
FTVN: What’s amazing about the effect the film has is that it conveys the real awful sense of brutality without resorting to visceral or visual make-up or gore to tell the story, which something like UNITED 93 for example used in key sequences. Were you faced with resistance from the police and the legal teams when putting together the filming and principal photography?
VL: We had a huge amount of factual material to rely on which has been public knowledge for a very long time. There have been several documentaries made on the case which rely on the same factual material. However, there’s a lot of details that we chose not to include. I thought about it a lot because it is such a sensitive story and I wanted to ensure that it was respectful to the family of James Bulger and responsibly made, but at the same time, it was important to keep the essential facts.
FTVN: Ely Solan and Leon Hughes convey a real heart-breaking sense of the acts of these two deplorable children, who are the youngest ever to be convicted for the murder of a child in the twentieth century, as stated in the post-script. In terms of how you aimed for the performances and the emotional intensity, how aware were they of the historical significance and gravity of the case?
VL: Once Ely and Leon had been cast in the lead roles, we spent the summer months rehearsing and we all got to know each other really well. Their parents would have explained a basic understanding of the case to them and they had lots of questions for me. We talked a lot about it and they developed an amazing understanding of who these boys were and the dynamic between them, but they also understood the gravity of the case and how sensitive it was and still is.
Ely Solan who plays “Jon” had never acted before, but he is an extraordinary boy who is very in touch with his emotions, bright and listens. I don’t think he really knew himself what he was capable of, but as an actor, he can do nothing but tell the truth. On the other hand, Leon Hughes who plays “Robert” had been attending drama classes, but this was his first film – he had initially auditioned for “Jon” and he was so good that we didn’t think he could possibly work as a “Robert”, but when we brought him back, he just morphed into the role – he is an extremely versatile actor who takes direction wonderfully.
FTVN: Tell us about the rehearsal process with the two young actors.
VL: There was long casting process for ‘Detainment’ which I feel is really when the rehearsals began. We saw hundreds of boys for the lead roles and we would get them all to prepare a scene in advance, but then we started improvising with them on the day and took the scene to a different place. In the film, the detectives are quite gentle in their questioning, but for the purpose of the casting, I had told the actor who was reading the lines against them to just completely lose the rag with the boys during the improvisation. It always took them by surprise and suddenly, they weren’t acting anymore. Throughout the rehearsal process, we did a lot of improvisation with the boys in character as “Jon” and “Robert”. So by the time we started shooting, they were so well prepared and very comfortable with the roles.
During the rehearsals, we also brought other actors in to do screen tests for the supporting roles. It was particularly important to get the chemistry right for certain relationships such as “Jon” and his mother “Susan”. It was a difficult role to cast, but once we did a screen test with Ely and Tara Breathnach, the connection between them immediately felt right. Tara has a wonderful empathy and warmth about her which made it easy for herself and Ely to form a friendship off-screen and this beautiful relationship between mother and son on-screen.
The relationship between Robert and his mother “Ann” is quite different to that of Jon and his mother, but it was equally important to get the dynamic right. We did the screen test with Leon and Kathy Monahan and there was a wonderful energy between them which resulted in a very interesting, complicated and nuanced on-screen relationship.
For the detectives, we also did some screen tests to experiment with the dynamic between different actors and the boys. I think it’s that interaction between the detectives and the boys that evokes the tension and the mood which so pervades the film.
It was a very warm, friendly atmosphere for the boys and they really enjoyed the experience. But there’s a lot of very challenging emotional scenes throughout the film and I think one of the biggest challenges was for all of those moments to ring true – they needed to be done with an intimacy and a naturalness which makes the audience never feel as if they are being played.
FTVN: How long did it take to film Detainment and where did you film? In addition, did you encounter resistance from locals, for whom the case remains front page news?
VL: The scenes with the actors were all filmed in Dublin which actually looks a lot like Liverpool, but then we went to Liverpool to film exteriors of the actual shopping centre, the police stations and all along the route the boys took. Very little had changed in 25 years and it was a strange feeling to be there. We had a minimal crew for the Liverpool shoot and thankfully, we didn’t run in to any issues.
FTVN: With regard to the transcripts of the tapes, you mention in one caption towards the end that there were four tapes which were deemed too distressing to be heard in court. Were you able to listen to these tapes at all or were they still deemed confidential and inaccessible?
VL: There were four tapes which were withheld from jury as they were deemed too distressing to be played in court and it was felt that they weren’t necessary in order to secure a conviction. The tapes have never been released to the public, but some of the details contained in them have since emerged. However, as there was no transcript available for those tapes, they are not included in the film, but instead, referred to with a caption.
FTVN: How has the film been viewed so far by critics and press across the world, who still remember vividly the original tragedy from 1993?
VL: The film has been acclaimed for it’s responsible handling of a such a sensitive subject and has received hugely positive reviews from critics and film festival juries across the world. After only a few months into it’s festival run, it has already won several awards including the Young Director Award at Cannes where it received a standing ovation and the Oscar qualifying Grand Prix Award at the Odense International Film Festival which puts it on the long-list for the Academy Awards.
FTVN: Finally, what is your own reflection and reaction to the case and as a film-maker, did you at any time think you shouldn’t tell the story?
VL: I was 12 years old when it happened and I grew up hearing about the case. I could never understand how these two ten year-old boys could commit such a horrific crime. I wanted to understand it better, but the only explanation I had ever been given was that these boys were simply ‘evil’. I think it’s easier to label them ‘evil’ than to try to understand the unfathomable mystery of human behaviour. But I wanted to learn more and I started reading everything I could find on the case. I didn’t know at the time that I would be making a film about it, but that was how it started. I just couldn’t get it out of my head.
By the end, I felt I saw something that not everyone was seeing, but I obviously had apprehensions about making the film as it is such a sensitive story. The public outrage surrounding the case was unprecedented. It has provoked universal grief and anger, which even after 25 years, is still very much evident today. So, when deciding to adapt the interviews as a 30 minute drama, it was very important to me that details were accurate and that the film was a true story, as opposed to simply being based on a true story.
