STACK#127 May 2016

EXTRAS

Q&A

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that at some point we had to make it seem totally incoherent – and yet we knew that it ultimately had to make sense on multiple viewings. So we gave ourselves the challenge of being much more disciplined than is usually demanded from this sort of mind-bender. 03/ Coherence was shot in five nights without a crew or a script. Can you describe the production process, and the level of improvisation required by the cast. The cast knew nothing of the story when they arrived for dinner. I did prep them with lots of character and relationship notes. But everything that happened was a surprise for the actors and their only job was to respond in a completely real way for their character. So over 90 per cent of the dialogue is completely improvised. Once in a while I would step in and guide them or suggest a line, but for the most part it’s all their own reactions to the story I had planned for them to experience. 04/ Making an independent, minimalist thriller must allow you more creative freedom than a big studio film.Was this the case, and your original intention for the film? It was definitely intentional to have a project where I could have complete creative control. After years of working for others I felt it was time to experiment with my own theories of how a film could be made. It was time to just throw out the rule book and stop listening to the same old tired studio notes. The amazing thing was how productive it all became once we tossed out all the layers that usually come with making a movie. Decisions can be made instantly and they always turned out to be the right ones. 05/ Some reviewers have compared Coherence to Primer .The more recent teen film Plus One explores similar themes and could even be set in the same universe – have you seen it? We saw Plus One a few months after we had our first screening and said “What???“ But then it turned out a rash of fractured reality stories poured out all at once including The One I Love , which had our original ending as their ending. So apparently it was time for exploring these other worlds and we got to be at the vanguard of these smaller, smarter head trips made with great passion and limited funds.  

When you call your film Coherence , you’d better make sure it makes sense – especially if it’s a twist-laden sci-fi indie dealing with multiple realities. Scott Hocking asked writer- director JamesWard Byrkit how he did it. COHERENCE Coherence is available on May 6

01/ This is a fantastic premise.What was your inspiration? JamesWard Byrkit: Our inspiration was really just the challenge of making something compelling and special on a microbudget. That led to a plan for basically the most audacious, counter-intuitive goal ever envisioned for a mind -bender. We wanted to achieve something beyond expectations and accomplish it without the aid of any of the standard elements – including a crew and a screenplay.

structure and continuity? It was only difficult in that we wanted the internal logic to be much more consistent than in a normal movie. The film’s title suggested

02/ In dealing with multiple realities, was it a difficult screenplay to write in terms of

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MAY 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au