Interview with Division 19 Writer/Director S.A. Halewood

Interview with <em>Division 19</em> Writer/Director S.A. Halewood 1

Division 19 is a sci-film, written and directed by S.A. Halewood. During my online interview, I learned what inspired her, how she approaches directing, and what she has planned next.

Division 19 opens in theaters April 5, 2019.

To know my full thoughts on the film, check out the review here.

Where did the idea for Division 19 come about? What were you inspired by?

S.A. Halewood: At the time of writing Division 19, when Tony Blair was in power (and still thinks he is), the UK was the third most watched country on earth after Russia and China. Civil liberties were about to be eroded further with the introduction of bio-passports and a dubious company, www.vericool.co.uk, was offering RFID chips for your school kids under the auspices that this way, all kids would appear equal (financially) as credits for school dinners; it would be via RFID chip and no one would need to pay with vouchers. The aim of the film was to show two options of the future: one where we do nothing and end up being scrutinized in what would effectively be a gargantuan jail of our making (i.e., Hardin Jones’ story) and two; where we fight back and change or get rid of The System altogether.

The film has heavy themes about big business as well as prisons being privatized and using prisoners for profit that mirror our current day. Do you believe our world could end up like you envisioned in Division 19?

S.A. Halewood: We’re there already. Even now big business can sue Governments (TTIP, etc.) if the Government’s legislation leads to a loss in profit for that company. So, if you want to phase out plastic for example, the company can sue the Government for the additional cost to phase out plastic, or any loss in profits. A fracking company has just sued the Canadian Government for $250 million, as the Canadian Government is in violation of the company’s “right to mine”. If profit determines policy, we’re in trouble.

Your last film, Bigga Than Ben, was a dramedy about immigrants in London, and now this film is a larger scale sci-fi action film. How did you change your approach to filming scenes for a different style/genre?

S.A. Halewood: When you have absolutely no money (Bigga Than Ben was shot for £140,000), you’re short on time and can’t clear the streets, you have to run with the camera pretty much hand-held all the way to grab everything you need by the end of the day. This suited the rough- edged street-style of the story about a couple of rough sleepers trying to make it big in the capital. With Division 19, a sci-fi story about an individual against the State (and the State against the individual), it’s more about isolation and exclusion. So, the shots are fixed, the characters are smaller in frame (against buildings, screens, State message) and there are less intimate moments due to the nature and lens through which the characters are being viewed – namely surveillance drones, CCTV cams etc. It’s more calculated and less hurried, which often results in a more distant, colder interpretation.

Are you more hands-on with your actors or do you let them perform a scene the way they view it?

S.A. Halewood: Actors usually understand their character in more depth than the director. Sometimes their interpretation is different than envisaged, but it’s always far more convincing to the viewer and effective to the story if they believe what their character is saying. So, I think it’s a mistake to force that. I’d totally go with an actor’s interpretation every time unless it changed the direction of the story or reversed the meaning of the scene. No harm in experimenting. It’s teamwork after all.

Is Division 19 close to the vision you had while writing it or is it completely different?

S.A. Halewood: I think there is only really one scene that turned out exactly as I envisaged it (too much experimentation perhaps) plus a limited budget shows up more with sci-fi – especially when you need crowds. I had to lose some scenes that couldn’t be filmed on that budget. There was one set originally in the Millennium Dome where thousands gathered for a few jobs and Hardin Jones’ character’s ticket number for access to the employment window was something like 6,487.

What do you hope audiences will take away from Division 19?

S.A. Halewood: I’d love everybody to down tools and do their own thing – or at the very least – make demands on their Governments. We’re in charge. We just need to use it

What do you have planned next?

S.A. Halewood: Couple of films. One is a Gaza set comedy based on a true story. The other is based on a fake news story about a plane from the 1950s that landed in NYC. It’s a nostalgic look at the past (no smartphones, no internet) when there was less choice, people were happy in their roles (or felt they were) and pleasure was derived from the simplest. Choice is good, but too much becomes white noise

Thank you again, S.A. Halewood, for taking the time to answer these questions

For more on the film visit:

IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2492344/

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Division19movie

Official Website: Division 19

Read my full review of DIVISION 19 here Review

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Dustin Kogler

Professional amateur movie watcher. Dustin is a laid-back nerd who loves discussing pop culture. He loves listening to 80s music, playing video games and watching netflix all day. He's pretty sarcastic and if you tell him your favorite movie he can tell you why you're wrong.