The BFI Times London Film Festival rolleth on, and tonight was the turn of one of the most anticipated films of this year's lineup, the Charles Bukowski grounded Factotum.
Norwegian writer / director Bent Hamer (who not so long ago gave us the excellent, and deserving of a far wider audience Kitchen Stories) was present to introduce the film to the vast, eager audience of Bukowski fans - who hadn't let a little bit of rain put them off - and naturally Empire wanted a word with him.
We asked about how he came to be in control of such a valuable arthouse property to begin with. " I knew he was quite popular in the '80s, though I don't know about so much any more, but it's quite obvious to me for a new generation to discover him," he mused. "To finance a project like this was very hard, we used eight years to do it, with no American money – we went to Europe, and used Croatian money. It was obvious that a studio wouldn't touch this, but we always believed that people would want to see this adaptation."
He's a cult writer, and traditionally this brings with it stigma – something Hamer was keen to avoid. "The challenge was to not stick to the cliché – a lot of people claim to know Bukowski, but they haven't read his books – they just know the myth of it. That was the challenge, to steer in the warmth, and the humour."
Unfortunately Bent's leading man Matt Dillon (dubbed Henry Chinaski in the film) couldn't make the screening due to filming commitments, but naturally we wanted to know all about his part in the production. "Well, casting Matt was hard, too – in a way. Now when you see it, it's so obvious, but if someone told me that Matt Dillon was going to play Bukowski's alter ego? I would have said "No way!". And I understand that attitude, but first of all, I think the approach to the character is to try and forget Bukowski for a while… it's not a documentary. After that, it was easier to find a good actor to take the risks."
But actors love to take risks, and he can't have been the only option. "We were in discussion with Sean Penn for a long time, and he loved the script but we couldn't bring it together on our schedules – but now I can't see anybody but Matt in the role. I know his work from when he was younger, and that vulnerability and rawness was appealing. He was positive to the script, but very was very nervous, but I was keen to get back all that I saw in those early performances, and everything that he has developed today in other things. It was nice to be a part of that."
Joining the director was Lili Taylor, who plays Jan, one of Henry's wild women, and was very much as you'd expect – full of praise for her co-workers. It's very much a project you'd expect the petite Illinoisan to be a part of, but did she have to fight to get on board? "I didn't, I really didn't. The producer I worked with on Cold Fever, Jim Stark – he came to me with it, and it felt great… I just thought "Oh great, it's going to be a good experience." But by the time I got there, it turned out to be a real gem of experience, and it totally re-invigorated my feelings about film, because it's been kind of tough over in the States, and this felt like the good old independent films." Which incidentally, is a quality that shines through the production as a whole (just check out the Empire review, if you haven't already).
For those unfortunate souls who neither booked their tickets early enough, nor got to the front of the returns queue on time and were turned away, you'll be pleased to know that Factotum is scheduled for a general release in the UK starting November 18.