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~
* * *
“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~
