Peter Stray's Canaries
I've had the privilege of speaking with writer/director Peter Stray about his debut feature film Canaries. It's intriguing, funny and has the touch of horror we all crave. I mean, who doesn't love a good alien invasion? I'm excited for this movie and look forward to watching it!
What’s the meaning behind the title Canaries?
There are multiple answers to that one! - I’m a huge UFO nerd, and the US Government’s official investigation into UFOs was called Project Blue Book - so in this film the next step of that is called Project Canary. It’s a ‘c’ after a ‘b’ plus it implies a different color, so it seems like a believable progression.
Also someone else commented they thought it was referencing ‘canary in a coal mine’ - if the bird dies, we’re in trouble! Wales is known for mining and, without giving too much away, the characters you meet in Wales are the first ones put in danger.
Canaries is about an alien invasion in Wales during New Years. Without revealing too
much information, describe the plot of your film in a new light.
We cut between a group of US DOD agents in a fringe division, (somewhat similar to the X Files but focusing on aliens as a threat to homeland security) and a group of drunken losers in Wales fighting for their lives!
We don’t get a lot of Sci-fi/Comedy hybrid genres.
What was your inspiration for writing this script?
I think recent films like Attack The Block or Cabin In The Woods have done a terrific job of not only mixing genres but also making deeper points without being too preachy. If you look for it Canaries touches on race, class, feminism, and political tensions between countries. But it can also be digested purely as a fun sci-fi-comedy action yarn. Or ‘sciforroromedy’ if you will. As for inspiration, part of it was wondering what I’d really like to create for my debut feature as a writer/director; it’s definitely the kind of thing I’d love to discover in the cinema or on Netflix, and hopefully that’ll be true for others as well.
You filmed in multiple international locations. Why did you choose these particular places?
Craig Russell (who plays DJ Steve Dennis and also one of the producers) grew up in Lower Cwmtwrch - I visited him there a few times and wanted to set a film there. I’m lucky enough to have in-laws that live on Martha’s Vineyard, so for simple beauty plus movie-geek cred, we shot in the same locations as “Jaws’. There’s also a little bit of Vietnam in there as a friend lives and works there. One thing I’m proudest of is every location is playing itself.
How did you manage to complete this project with a budget
that is considerably lower than most feature films?
It started as a group of friends making a film and grew into something more. We were very lucky in that our friend, Executive Producer Dominique Dauwe, was able to source most of the budget. DP Alex Nevill liked my visual ideas and brought film students along to help as PAs. Not to mention the town of Lower Cwmtwrch was very supportive. A great lady named Jan Johnson made props, cooked meals and let us use her Post Office. A pub closed for us to shoot there. People opened their doors to let us run cables from their sockets to light a night scene.
Were there any obstacles that made the completion of this movie challenging?
With low budgets come constraints on time and also waiting for post-production favors! We have an incredible post team, from editor Anthony Arkin, Composer Marengast, Sound Mixer Paul Tristram, Colorist Artificial Peach and special FX from Milk VFX, Oscar winners for Ex Machina. They’re all fans of the film and are working for heavily reduced rates, but with that comes an understanding that if Hollywood comes knocking for them (and it has!) they need to put us on hold whilst they take on other work. But their contributions are very much worth waiting for.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Robert Pugh. But he’s not the only actor that
makes this cast stand out. How was this cast formed?
Incredible talents were drawn to the script and agreed to work for a lot less than they’re worth. They wanted to say the lines I’d written, and in many cases that’s a huge incentive for taking a pay cut. Craig Russell had worked with a lot of them. Sheena Bhattessa, who’s terrific, auditioned - she plays a character named Sunita and I was determined we have a diverse cast and Sunita not become ‘Sarah’, as often happens - but that’s a larger conversation to be had about diversity in the industry! Bob Pugh showed up and had us laughing within minutes. With those piercing eyes he gets cast as a lot of creepy characters, but he’s the opposite in real life. Hannah Daniel has to have a grim expression at crime scenes in Netflix’s great series “Hinterland” but her character in Canaries has a great wry humor, which I think was a nice change for her. Richard Mylan had wrapped BBC’s ‘Waterloo Road’ and had time before shooting ‘Don’t Knock Twice’ with Katee Sackhoff. The US cast are just beginning their film careers but are also great - Rob Karma Robinson has an intensity and screen presence reminiscent of a young Keith David in his John Carpenter years.
Wales produces a great number of talented persons in the entertainment industry.
Do you think it receives the worldwide recognition it deserves?
I’d say ‘no’ on the whole. One thing I’m proudest of in Canaries is that Wales plays itself in this film. Wales always tends to be used as somewhere else - from the Yorkshire moors in “American Werewolf in London” to a part of the bat cave in “Dark Knight”! I think the general opinion is Scotland, Ireland and England are more ‘commercial’ - we’re definitely the underdogs. But hopefully Canaries and other films will begin to change that.
When and where may we expect Canaries to premiere?
We’re applying to film festivals shortly and will have some special screenings this summer in the US and the UK. The best way for new info is to follow @CanariesMovie or facebook.com/CanariesMovie
For the cast: What was your favourite scene to film?
Richard Mylan (Nav): My favourite scene was my fight scene… I loved that! Working with fight director Kevin McCurdy was such a rewarding experience. Learned a lot. (The film) was an absolute blast to work on. It had a genuine community feel about it. Amazing what you can achieve when people pull together like that.
Sheena Bhattessa (Sunita): The whole camaraderie and teamwork. Without sounding too cliche, the family that is yours for 3 weeks has to have chemistry, and that is the best part of any project.
Craig Russell (Steve Dennis/ Producer): My favourite scene to film was probably the stuff with Kai Owen (from Torchwood) because I wasn't in it! We shot Kai's stuff in The Groucho Club in London who could not have been more helpful. Kai was excellent and it was brilliant catching up with him as he is a very old friend of mine.
What can fans look forward to seeing from you in future projects?
Craig and me want to produce more films in Wales together - we’re developing a few projects right now. My screenplay “Created Sleep Transmissions” has been optioned and is currently in development with a director and lead actor attached. As an actor I’ve shot some movies recently too, but I’m not allowed to talk about those!
Who would you like to work with, that you haven’t worked with before?
Joss Whedon has been a huge influence - we were both raised by feminists, love Shakespeare and want to create strong female characters and comment on society through fun genre pieces. JJ Abrams has created some terrific expanded mythologies and that was a huge influence on “Canaries” as well. Kathryn Bigelow has made some of my favorite films, so definitely her too. And this might seem odd given my choice of movie but Mike Birbiglia is creating terrific stuff and I’d love to work for him as an actor.
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