upfront
CARADOG
JAMES
With his award-winning
sci-fi thriller showing in
Wales and coming out on
DVD this month, writer and
director Caradog James
talks about how disability,
the military and racism
have shaped his films.
Can you tell me a bit about The Machine?
The Machine is a sci-fi thriller about a computer
scientist whose daughter has Rett syndrome
He basically cheats the government, who are
weaponising artificially intelligent machines. He
tricks them into using all the billions they’re using
for war to save his daughter, and in the process he
discovers how to create truly self aware artificial
intelligence: a machine that thinks and feels like a
human does. He starts to care for this machine and
begins to feel very guilty about what his superiors
are making him do.
So how did you first come up with this
idea? Have you always had it?
No, I’ve always been a big sci-fi geek. I was just
reading around out of interest for the topic. I read up
on every book on robotics, artificial intelligence and
quantum theory.
The more I read, the more I thought there hasn’t
been a hard sci-fi film about artificial intelligence for
a long time. I started to do more research and dug
deeper but I didn’t get very far through those books,
they were very tough.
The key to cracking the story was the producer
John Giwa-Amu. He set up an interview with a guy
at the Ministry Of Defence who’s actually building
intelligent machines for the government as weapons.
One thing he said that was key was that they’re
teaching intelligent machines to interact with the
world in the same way that families do with disabled
children, particularly children who are severely
autistic or have brain damaged.
They were learning from each other. I thought,
that’s where the heart of the movie is. Vincent
McCarthy, the hero of the movie has a daughter who
he wants to ‘fix’ – there’s a way into the story, an
emotional way. That’s what you’re always looking
for when you’re making a film. It can’t just be about
technology, it also has to be something the audience
relate to and care about.
BUZZ 16
The Machine has won lots of awards on
the film festival circuit – what is it about
that you think people enjoy?
I think people like its ambition. It’s a very beautiful
looking film, the soundtrack is awesome. It’s the
same thing that drew me in. It’s three years of my
life working on this project – coming up to four years
now, with promoting it and taking it round festivals.
You can’t sustain that amount of passion and that
amount work unless you really care about what
you’re doing. That’s what I look for in every movie.
It’s very entertaining and scary and thrilling. It’s a
combination of all those things. I think it surprised
people. It’s a film that’s got a big heart. It surprised
people for a movie that doesn’t have the budget you’d
expect. They’re not talking about the budget, they’re
responding to the movie and that’s exactly what we
were hoping.
Could you explain how you first got into
the film industry?
Well I had no contacts in the film industry so it was
very daunting, because I had a huge passion for films
and I loved telling stories. But when I started off as
a writer I couldn’t see a clear route into the industry.
I read about other directors who didn’t have any
contacts and who weren’t wealthy, because they
seemed to be the two normal routes into the industry.
A friend who came from West Africa told me there
was a thriving film industry there. It turned out to be
the best thing I ever did.
When I came back to Wales I worked in a call centre
in Swansea that was institutionally racist and
corrupt and I wrote down the conversations of the
horrible salesmen around me and turned that into
my first short film, Little White Lies, which travelled
around festivals all around the world. That’s how I
started getting the ball rolling into becoming a film
maker.
What are you planning for after The
Machine?
Well, we have a number of projects in development.
We’ve got a really frightening horror movie that
we’re trying to put together. When we premiered The
Machine at Tribeca, I snuck into a public screening
in Times Square and it was lovely to watch people
jump and scream at the most intense moments in it.
I‘d love to do a film that’s full of those moments, so
that’s the next thing.
The Machine is out this month with
screenings on at the Wales Millennium
Centre, Cardiff Bay on Sat 1 Mar,
Penarth Pier Pavilion from Fri 21Wed 26 Mar and Chapter Arts Centre,
Cardiff from Fri 21-Thurs 27 Mar. It’s
out on DVD and Blu-ray on Mon 31 Mar.
Info: www.themachinemovie.com