Harry Lloyd’s Up to “Big Significant Things”: Director Bryan Reisberg’s First Feature Film Debuts at SXSW

Lloydalists Co-Founder K and Correspondent KJ attended the World Premiere of Bryan Reisberg’s first full-feature film, Big Significant Things (2014) at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas on Saturday, March 8, 2014.  The film is a road-trip feature, starring Harry Lloyd (of course). What follows is our Lloydalists’ collaborative response about the film, the festival, and meeting Harry Lloyd (again).

Interestingly, the film’s post-production life is partly funded by fans and independent artist supporters via Kickstarter, a campaign that ended at 5 p.m. EST today, March 11, 2014.  See the details HERE.

~C, Lloydalists Co-Founder~

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“I (heart) bacon,” boasts the shirt Harry Lloyd is wearing when he walks into the AMC Theatre at the Violet Crown in Austin, Texas. He pulls the hood back from his face and KJ nudges K, who has her attention turned to something else. First, it should be mentioned that this is not the first time that KJ has met Harry; for K, however, this is an entirely new experience.

Nevertheless, it didn't seem to matter for either the “old pro” or the “newbie”: seeing Harry in person for any admirer, casual or not, is a bit surreal.  Many of the other people who were in line we're asking such questions as “who’s in this film?” and, when hearing Harry’s name, wondered, “will I know him?  In truth, these filmgoers had just shown up because the summary of the film sounded interesting—not just a road-trip film but a “dark road comedy about a guy who wants to be in a light road comedy,” as Reisberg wrote on his film’s Kickstarter page. Many had heard of Game of Thrones, the wildly-popular HBO series in which Harry played blond-haired baddie Viserys in Season 1, even if they couldn’t place the real-life brunette (now sporting veritable facial scruff) with his antithetical-looking character.

As the queue expanded, Harry wandered around the chaotic, for lack of a better word, festival until show time, when K and KJ were ushered into two different screening rooms.

The premise of this film is a young man who lies to his girlfriend to go on a solo road trip to the American South. Perhaps he's hoping to find adventure before he settles down? The audience is never really told.  Although, the film does offer an engaging perspective on relationships and life from the male point of view—a point of view in takes quite seriously. 

Above: Harry Lloyd as “Craig,” an eager road-tripper in Big Significant Things, taking an on-the-road “selfie” to mark the occasion of his big trip. Image © Bryan Reisberg

In truth, Big Significant Things is, for lack of a better word, relatable on multiple levels, including the desire to get away from it all and wanting something more than we currently have: in short, a different life, even if the one we are currently living isn’t all that bad. The need for belonging, adventure, and taking some time for the self to figure out what you really want is also underscored in Reisberg’s film.  The movie is conceived and shot in a light-hearted manner but covers deeper, real issues like loneliness, relationships with partners and families, and how people do not always behave as we expect them to behave.  Naturally, these issues cause frustrations, and Reisberg does not let this point go unnoticed in his film.

Harry Lloyd plays Craig, a likeable guy with an accessible sense of curiosity and thrill-seeking (albeit, not in a wild sense). He offers an impression of being happy with his life.  Yet, conflict enters in that he also feels a bit of stress and anxiety from the big changes that are currently happening: leaving his job to move to a new city where he and his girlfriend will be buying a house and living together.

Much of the film is left open to interpretation. Why is he doing this?  Why now? What is the point of it all? Does this road trip change his mind in any way about his future? Where does he or should he go from here? In a way, such open-endedness may provide viewers further access to the realm of the film, allowing them to place themselves in the same or a similar scenario; on the other hand, the film can be polarizing and unsatisfying for those few inquiring minds who simply want to know more.

Above: Photo of an interview with Harry Lloyd (left, behind table) and Bryan Reisberg (foreground), as tweeted by @FSdailybuzz.

When asked “why the South?” as the basis for this road trip during the Q&A portion of the screening, Director Bryan Reisberg summed up his answer simply with “the South is a state of mind, North is a direction.”  Mr. Reisberg mentioned the escapist element of the film as well, and Harry added that we never really escape our own realities, as we are so attached to things like our cell phones. Director and star also mentioned how the film also had an authentic Southern feel as they cast many local actors and well locals in general.

Speaking of lending the film an authentic, American road-trip flair—the British Harry Lloyd was asked to adapt an American accent to play Craig.  Although both K and KJ first thought it would be weird hearing Harry speak with this accent as opposed to his familiar, natural voice, it was surprisingly easy to become engrossed in the film.  It was not long before they adjusted to the ambiance of Big Significant Things, including forgetting (at least, for the duration of the film) that he was speaking differently than how they were used to hearing him.  In fact, Harry was so committed to remaining in-character for the length of film that, according to producer Andrew Corkin, he apparently kept the accent up the entire time he was working on the movie, even when they weren't shooting.

In a previous interview when promoting 2012’s The Fear, the BBC miniseries that earned Harry a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA nomination in 2013 (he lost to Simon Russell Beale for the latter’s performance in The Hollow Crown, in which, ironically, Harry also played a small role), Harry noted that the particular role was his first bit of driving acting he had done. Well, Big Significant Things certainly helped him build upon this skill: now he has an entire road trip under his belt, and driving in the United States at that. When asked about his driving skills and how he managed driving on the other side of the road, Harry noted rather amusingly, “I wasn't a very good driver in London,” so he didn't seem overly-concerned about making tremendous improvements while driving across the pond.

Big Significant Things itself will spend some time this year traveling to a handful of festivals around the country and only time will tell what happens with the film and its afterlife, now that Kickstarter’s fundraiser can help polish, package, and promote the film with (hopefully) even more success.

It was truly a pleasure to meet Harry. Though a few snafus were encountered during the time in Austin (let’s just say all Texan parking lots started to look alike before long, especially in the rain) it was definitely a worthwhile experience and K and KJ are happy to have experienced it together.

Here is a round-up of some formal reviews of Big Significant Things:

1. Northforkvue.com:  http://northforkvue.com/video/104153/sxsw-big-significant-things-interview-with-star-harry-lloyd/ [includes 1 minute video /interview with Harry Lloyd]

2. The Hollywood Reporter:  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/big-significant-things-sxsw-review-687010

3. Austin Chronicle:  http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/sxsw/2014-03-10/sxsw-film-review-big-significant-things/

Finally, could it be that Harry will have to break out the American accent again?  Next up for the actor is a role as a scientist in the WGN series Manhattan, which starts shooting this month in New Mexico.  A full season’s worth of episodes for the project has already been commissioned.

~Written by frequent Lloydalist Correspondent KJ and K; edited by C; photographs gathered by K~