Interview with Johnny Capps & Julian
Murphy
Q: Where did the idea come from,
how did you find the writers?
Johnny: We wanted to do
a high-concept show. It’s more enjoyable to do programmes that
have a bit more edge, are a bit more risky, and we thought this was
the natural progression after AS IF.
We knew that American high concept shows seldom, if ever, played with history,
so this became our starting point. We decided to set the show in a college,
and instead of moving the stories geographically we would move them forwards
and backwards in time. So we then started building up layers of a mythology.
And the ideas just gradually evolved.
Julian: The mythology we
use was based partly on history but mainly from the ancient
biblical texts. This is where our fascination with the Nephelim
began.
Johnny: If a teen show is
to be listened to by its audience it can’t be morally
black and white. It needs an ambiguity and that’s why
the Nephelim appealed to us. Azazeal, their leader is the supposed
villain but at the same time he has human flaws and weaknesses
which make him a more complicated and likeable character. This
allows you to have far more intriguing moral dilemmas which
don’t preach but allow the audience to make up its own
mind. I think this is essential ingredient for this type of
sophisticated audience.
Julian: We then wrote the
entire history of Medenham Hall (the College) from the 18th
century to now, as a single document. That may seem like a
strange process, and a lot of it isn’t directly in the
programme, but it’s a vital part of the process. If you
look at the successful US series, they inherit a mythology – like
Spiderman – and you have to find that bedrock, and once
those foundations are firm you can build up the story.
At this stage we brought in Julian Jones, a writer we have a very strong relationship
with and started to develop characters and story lines.
Q: You talk about appealing to a sophisticated
audience. In a way do you think this audience is actually rather
under catered for in terms of
home-grown product?
Julian: Traditionally, home-grown
product hasn’t been made that appeals to that younger
audience. It’s quite a wide audience, from 12 to 30,
but traditionally UK broadcasters have bought that product
from America.
Johnny: What’s interesting
about making shows for this demographic is that it’s
a very smart audience. They’ve been brought up on pop
promos and cinema and as a result are not only smart at understanding
film language but they also have an instinct for following
complicated or non linear story telling. This makes them
a far more difficult audience to please but once you have
gained their attention and respect they are far more willing
to suspend their disbelief.
Julian: They are visually literate,
and unlike the mass British audience which is used to shows
with a lot of words, we can make something for them which
is more filmic, and I think Hex bears that out.
Q: Would you say Hex is a mixture of horror and black
comedy? That there’s an element of self-deprecation
in the show?
Julian: I think there has always
been a connection between comedy and horror. There’s
a strange link between the way humour works and the way you
scare someone, and there’s a long, long tradition in
films where this has been mixed. A film that influenced us
a lot was Gingersnaps, a Canadian indie movie that was a
brilliant mix of adolescent storytelling, comedy and scary
bits. Hex isn’t a horror in a conventional sense, it’s
a chiller. And it’s about unraveling a mystery.
Johnny: You’ve got a
very sophisticated audience here, and if you start taking
the world you have created too seriously, your audience will
switch off. As a result you have to be extremely careful
with the tone and the pitch of the acting. In Britain we
have this inherent acting style which is incredibly earnest,
and you can’t really do a high-concept show and talk
earnestly about fallen angels, it sounds ridiculous.
Q: Is Azazeal a composite of characters?
Julian: No, he’s a real character. He occurs in
apocryphal books of the Bible, as one of the Nephelim. In Hebrew the word Nephelim
means ‘fallen ones’. He’s still part of the Jewish festival
of Yom Kippur, so when they traditionally find a scapegoat to atone for their
sins, that character is called Azazeal. He’s part of that tradition.
Q: How important is it for you to work with relatively untried talent?
Johnny: It’s more interesting for us, but it’s
a huge risk as well. Cassie was shooting every day, and for a relative newcomer
it’s a very demanding role. We got very lucky because Christina was incredibly
professional.
Julian: It’s more fun with new talent because
you’re going on an exploration with them, but it’s quite nerve-wracking
because if you get it wrong you’re in deep trouble. There are two things
you can’t solve. Most mistakes are salvageable but you can’t make
a bad script good, and you can’t make a piece of wrong casting right.
You have to get it right.
And that’s why we’re so meticulous with casting and scripts.
Johnny: We needed to find an enigmatic actor
for Azazeal, a character who has thousands of years of sadness behind his eyes,
a phenomenally difficult part. On our first day Michael was the third or fourth
actor who came in, and he completely nailed it. We all instantly agreed that
he was right, so in the space of a day we had cast him.
Q: What about Hex beyond this first series?
Julian: What sustains a series is not the story but
the characters. If you think the characters are alive and interesting and you
still like them, then it’s easy to go on. When you don’t feel those
things, it’s torture.
Reproduced with kind permission
of BSkyB.
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