Christopher Smith, Director of Black Death Interview

Interview with director Christopher Smith on his film Black Death by Magnolia Pictures
Interview Conducted Febuary 2011
by James Klein

One of the many rising talented directors out there is British director Christopher Smith. Smith has worked in many genres since his debut film Creep in 2004. He has done a monster film (Creep), a horror/comedy (Severance), a suspense thriller (Triangle) and his newest film Black Death is a period piece about England's black plague and a small band of Crusaders and a young priest on a quest to find a village that has yet to be infected by this plague.

All of Mr. Smith's films has been very unique and different. Speaking to him I got the impression that he is foremost, a movie fan and his passion and love for making films shows in not just this interview but in his films as well.

Being this was my first interview, it was such a treat to speak to such a class act, a very down to Earth kind of guy. Special thanks go out to Brandon Nichols for allowing me the chance to interview Mr. Smith. An also special thanks goes out to Adam Bielawski for bringing me on to write for UnRated Magazine.

Hope you all enjoy this. There are some spoilers for those who have yet to see Black Death. ---James Klein

James Klein: Mr. Smith, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me. I really appreciate it.

Christopher Smith: No problem at all, mate.

JK: Well I wanted to jump right into Black Death, which by the way I really enjoyed.

CS: Thank you.

JK: How does Black Death compare to your first film Creep? Meaning, how are you different as a filmmaker now than you were back then?

CS: Wow, that's a very good question. Well, when I first started out I had alot to learn. It was an entirely new process for me. I was working with a new crew, producers, actors...it was all very new and different and I learned quickly at a fast pace. I still learn alot on every film I make. This reminds me of what Martin Scorsese once said, who I admire quite a bit. He said that we are all film students while we direct. There is always 1% here or there that could change everything on your film. That 1% can make it or sink it if you do one little thing right or wrong.It's about choice and what you do with that obvious choice and that is still where I am at now. I always try to take a choice, right or wrong, I try to go for the flip side of the coin rather than hitting the nail head on. I think there are alot of things that are still the same. It's just the way you can handle things such as budgets and all that other stuff that goes along with moviemaking. I think that's the stuff where I have definitely grown.

The thing is when I was just a film lover and yeah, I still am a film fan you don't quite realize that...you see a movie, a big budget movie that's been shot for six months and if you see a small independent movie that's been shot for just over five weeks with no money. But when you are a viewer you don't realize that or care about all that. You only care if for example that one movie has got loads of flying aliens and that other movie doesn't got any (laughs). You kind of then go, "Well, if that's what you are thinking, we can't compete against that." because you can only make the movie with the money you got and you can only shoot it the way you shoot it. And I think that the ideas I get that I see from movies are what I love about movies. And the films I love the most are regardless of the budget, if they got great ideas in them, those are the films I think last the longest.





- Read the full story at UnRatedMagazine.com