DIRECTOR'S NOTES

By Mike Barker

CROMWELL & FAIRFAX will be a dramatic and exciting journey through the seventeenth century. It will combine the scale of Elizabeth and Braveheart, with an emotional and moral core akin to A Man For All Seasons. From the lonely soldier on the battlefield, his armour rattling uncontrollable with fear, to the scale of one of the biggest battles on British soil, this film gives us the opportunity to explore the personal story of two reformers - Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax - against the chaotic and terrifying backdrop of civil war and its aftermath.

Fairfax, the Aristocratic General who commanded the Parliamentary armies, finds himself increasingly in conflict with his great friend and comrade, Oliver Cromwell, as the agenda for reform moves into the world of show trial, regicide and a republic built around the ruthlessness of one man. Fairfax finds himself increasingly stranded between his loyalty to the revolutionary cause and the loyalty he owes his wife, Lady Anne, and his class. It's a dilemma which is set to explode into the hearts of both men as the film builds to its climax.

Much of the film concerns the dichotomy between public and private, and I intend to combine a fluid style with occasional moments of detailed stillness and observation. The aim is to create a sense of the paranoia and edginess of politics at this most turbulent of times. Cromwell & Fairfax will not be a period film in the traditional Merchant Ivory sense, more something that combines the contemporary edginess of political thrillers with an intimate drama of three people; husband, wife and friend, caught in an appalling situation.

Much of the action takes place in London, and with a careful combination of CGI, existing buildings and sets built in historical locations, we will create a sense of how tight and overcrowded the London streets would have been. I want to juxtapose the claustrophobia in London with Cromwell's roots in the East of England, with its huge sense of sky and exposure to the elements.

The film will evoke the 17th Century, but the style in which we edit and shoot will be more contemporary, a more post-modern. I see the film as an emotional thriller, where we take our audience on a journey, their point of view shifting as we move with our principle characters through the complex world of this revolutionary time. I want to edit the film in a way which will make it pacey, yet without losing the moments of stillness and emotional punch that will affect any audience. The camera will be amongst the characters -as the script is - so that the audience will feel connected to these people and their situation in the most direct and involving way.

source: IAC Film