Interview – George Kane

George Kane is a BAFTA nominee director, writer and a graduate of the National Film School in Dublin. His new film Apocalypse Clown, is a riotous end of the world horror comedy set in a post apocalyptic Ireland.

In UK and Ireland cinemas from 1st September 2023.

1.     Could you please introduce yourself.

Kane. George Kane. I’m the director of Apocalypse Clown and such TV comedy gold as Inside No 9, Brassic, Wedding Season, Timewasters and Crashing, among others. Nice to meet you.

2.     What’s a brief synopsis of the story?

After a solar flare event, four bottom of the barrel clowns and a clickbait journalist emerge into an Ireland that has lost all power, technology, and digital communications and has descended into anarchy in the space of 24 hours. In pursuit of their goals, the ragtag bunch traverse the country in a wind-up clown car, on a journey of self-discovery.

3.     What made you want to make an end of the world clown comedy?

I’ve been part of the film’s development since day one. The writers had written and performed a hilarious play called CLOWNS and we decided to build an outlandish comedy adventure film around the 3 central characters. Initially, it was a Tropic Thunder/Three Amigos style romp in West Africa – then Covid and lockdown made us reassess the project and adapt it for a homegrown Irish shoot. The end-of-the-world idea emerged, made us all laugh and felt like nothing we’d seen before. So we committed, hard.

4.     How did you meet the Irish Comedy Outfit ‘Dead Cat Bounce’ who wrote the script?

They saw me across a bar, dug my vibe and sent me a drink. One thing led to another…

What actually happened was that I was invited to see them back in 2008 by an RTE comedy executive, when they had just started performing as a comedy rock band. I loved what they did and got introduced. They soon met with me about a TV pilot they were making – that didn’t pan out for me, but we stayed in touch, became friends and were suddenly thrown together when our Discoverdale project sprang out of thin air in 2011. We clicked so well during that whirlwind that we decided to keep working together – and Apocalypse Clown was born out of that.

5.     What challenges did you face turning the script into a film?

The classic adversaries of time, funds, scheduling, Covid and trying to realise a 100 minute cross-country road-trip movie within a 30km radius of north Kildare. When you start prepping a shoot, somebody breaks down the scripts and estimates the number of days required to shoot the thing. If it’s not enough time, or a real squeeze, you need to get creative with script, locations and everything else to make sure you can achieve it in the time you have. Luckily we had a smart and committed crew and a fantastic cast who threw everything they had at it.

6.     How did your previous film experience help prepare you to make this film?

My TV experience was crucial – I’m not sure I would have pulled this off 5 years ago. Since then, I’ve shot stunts, complex action scenes and shot around absent cast members during Covid – many pressurised schedules. All that experience fed into my planning and ability to adapt from hour to hour. Plus I’m an editor, so I plan like one – which helps! I’ve been directing comedy professionally for 15 years now, so I felt confident I’d be able to help the cast be as funny as they can be.

7.     What were the most fun or difficult scenes to shoot? Why?

Anytime I had the three central clowns in one space, I had a blast. The prison, the crashed yellow clown car where Funzo has her existential crisis… The writers’ dialogue was so sharp and silly and David, Natalie and Fionn bounced off each other so well… they were a joy to watch and to direct.  Also – all the car stuff where we also squeezed Amy and Ivan into the creaky old Renault 4. The funeral scene was great fun – and I had my Dad there too, dressed as a clown, sat in the congregation – so that was lovely!

Our first day was in the village of Ballymore Eustace, which we closed off. It was a very tough day to complete for our first one… and all the Big Top stuff was a real challenge. Jugglenauts, fire, gunge pits, stunts and fights… while also shooting around absent cast with Covid… Not quite as fun as it could have been! But generally, I was finally making an insane feature, with old friends, near where I grew up – sometimes in places I played as a kid – so the whole thing was very special.

8.     How did you cast the film? What was it like working with the clowns on set?

I feel blessed by the comedy gods that we were able to assemble who we did. I had worked with David Earl in London years ago on some no-budget sketches and, having seen his excellent work on his recent film “Brian and Charles”, I knew he’d be ideal for Bobo. He took a little convincing though! Amy and Fionn came through the standard casting process in Ireland and were both perfect for us. Ivan Kaye had played a sinister patriarchal figure for me in “Wedding Season” on Disney+, and he had just the right kind of tone, energy and physical stature to play The Great Alphonso. Plus he can do his own magic. He brought his own top hat! And I don’t think there’s anyone around who could have played Funzo like Natalie Palamides – she says herself that it was as if the role was written for her. We didn’t know her outside of seeing her amazing live shows, but we just took a punt and sent this unhinged clown script to her in LA… She loved it and was in, no question. None of the central cast had worked together before – but they gelled beautifully, which made my life much easier!

9.     What are your favourite comedies or comedians that influenced your film?

Our intention was to make a big, ambitious, joke-packed comedy like they don’t really seem to make anymore. Something deeply silly and twisted. Not that the style of comedy is the same, but I feel there’s a spirit of Mel Brooks in there… a little Father Ted… a little Monty Python… maybe even some Lonely Island… And I grew up as an enormous Marx Brothers fan. So there’s a definite anarchic comedy trio energy to Bobo, Funzo and Pepe… Funzo is like Harpo and Chico rolled into one – but with added psychotic violence. Style wise, I wanted to make a cinematic comedy with real richness and texture – shooting anamorphic, paying close attention to colour palettes, etc. I was inspired by the directing work of Ben Stiller, who’s made gorgeous looking and beautifully put together big screen comedies like Zoolander and Tropic Thunder. Albeit, he had about 80mil to make Tropic Thunder, I had about 2… but I did what I could!

10.  What was it like filming in Ireland?

It was very nice for me as I’ve rarely shot anything at home. Most of my early TV work was in Northern Ireland and I’ve been working in London for 11 years or so. I got to recce my home town. We shot in the facility where my first ever video was edited for a school project… Donadea Forest Park was where we shot the Zanadu scenes, and where I played regularly all through childhood. The media office was across the road from my Dad’s childhood home… The list goes on. Considering this was originally written for West Africa, I did not expect to be sleeping in my childhood bedroom during the production of this film, but that’s how it turned out! The actors will disagree, but I love the vast desolate wilderness in the centre of the film, which is known in reality as The Bog Of Allan. Bleak, inhospitable and very spongey. I loved how the clowns looked, lost in the terrain.

11.  How did you manage to get funding for the film?

Through the trojan efforts of our producers Morgan Bushe and James Dean. Screen Ireland backed the script development early on, and continued to shepherd us through with production funding. But the rest involved a long and challenged road of attracting (and holding on to) European co-production, private equity and tax breaks. Independent film production is a real house of cards, financially – and pulling together funding for such an unusual and ambitious clown comedy was no mean feat. But hats off to them – they did it.

12.  Why do you think people will enjoy the film? 

It’s a film made purely for laughs. It has practically no other function! If you’re not crazy about one joke, there’ll be another seconds later. The cast are so enjoyable in their roles, Funzo is unforgettable, and the plot is totally unpredictable. Some recent reviews have described it as “bonkers” or “the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen” – so I think it’ll be a breath of fresh air, amongst all the typical blockbuster stuff. I miss the days of seeing a hilarious joke-filled comedy play in a room of 200 laughing people – it’s a rare thing in cinemas nowadays, and I think if people get into the spirit of the madness, they’ll have a fantastic night out.