A Fantastic Fear of Everything, short interivew with Nadia Stacey
Nadia Stacey is the Make Up and Hair Designer of Tyrannosaur and Simon Pegg's latest film, A Fantastic Fear of Everything.
The Film marks the directorial debut of Crispian Mills, following in the footsteps of his actress mother Hayley Mills and actor grandfather John Mills. A Fantastic Fear of Everyhting is the first feature film released from the Pinewood Films, the film investment division of the Studios and goes on general release today. Nadia Stacey is a member of thecallsheet.co.uk and we asked her a few questions about the film.....
Fantastic Fear of Everything is released next today, what can you tell us about the story?
So Fantastic Fear of Everything is adapted from Paranoia In The Launderette which was written by Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I) the screenplay was written by Crispian Mills and it's essentially about a crime writer Jack (Simon Pegg) who Has become so obsessed with Victorian crime that he's become a paranoid wreck and has an irrational fear of being murdered. His agent tells him someone is interested in his script and so he has to face his demons in a bid to meet them. It's a mad ride with lots of interesting characters.
What was like working with Simon Pegg and how did you achieve his look for the character?
Simon is amazing, truly, he has the same enthusiasm as someone who is on a film set for the first time. He absolutely loves making films and his energy is infectious. He has 3 different wigs for the film and lots of prosthetics so was in the make up chair very early and for a long time but was always patient and always funny, my assistant actually wet herself laughing at him on 2 occasions ( she'll kill me for telling you that but it's true). His look was based roughly on Peter Firth in Equus so I had wigs made with that reference in mind. I wanted him to look different to anything else we had seen him in and his character Jack is in a bit of a state so the hair needed to be quite wild.
There are two directors on Fantastic Fear of Everything? Did they direct segments each or work together?
Crispian was our story and performance director whilst Chris was our production designer and also directed all the stop frame animation in the film. Chris is a multi award winning director of the There There video for Radiohead so visually the ideas were amazing and the sets were awesome. The combination of Crispian and Chris really worked, every day was interesting.
What did you look at for references and research to create the look of the film?
As I mentioned before, I researched Peter Firth's look in Equus for Simon and Lou Foley (costume designer) worked closely together to create his paranoid writers look! I really wanted it for be something different for Simon as the project is something that most people will be surprised he went for. Without spoiling things Simon has a huge head prosthetic for a large part of the film and I worked with Millenium Effects to create this and had to have a half wig made to work around it. There are characters in the film that I based on Caligula and Siouxsie Sioux as well so as you can see a real mix of looks to create. It was a dream job in terms of designing.
You joined the film after designing Tyrannosaur and then you went onto Ben Wheatley’s follow up to Kill List, The Sightseers. Do you feel like you need to do a rom-com now?
I've been incredibly lucky to have designed some really exciting films of last year. I know people see these films as dark and hard going but we had such an amazing time on Tyrannosaur and Sightseers and they were so exciting for me as a designer to do. Both directors are extremely rewarding to work with and both very funny so it was fun on set. Plus Tyrannosaur is full of redemption and hope and Sightseers is laugh a minute so I couldn't have wished for more. I had some light relief in the middle of the two with a film called Good Vibrations for Revolution which is based on the start of punk music in Belfast and the signing of The Undertones which Snow Patrol co produced so we really mixed it up last year! The last film Spike Island is definitely more light hearted! It's a coming of age about a group of friends who are trying to get to the Stone Roses Spike Island gig and we learn about there lives along the way. It was a really special time shooting it.
Nadia Stacey is a member of thecallsheet.co.uk. Members can view her profile here and follow her on twitter
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