A graduate of the London Film School, Azhur Saleem has made his share of cinematic trailers and spec spots and has even shot a branded film for Ford Mustang through JWT Detroit. But grander plans are afoot as Saleem is currently working on the screenplay for a Victorian sci-fi feature – he’s already created a trailer and it’s raising interest from the steam punk community and movie moguls alike.
Tell me about the Marionette Unit – how did the idea come about? What response have you got the clip?
This whole idea came about from a multitude of sources. My brother sent me a link of a video on YouTube of a piano that had been gutted out and all the hammers and strings wired to a laptop. He could then play the piano through Logic on his laptop. I originally wanted to shoot this as a music video/performance piece but my idea soon grew to encompass a gothic, Victorian, steampunk setting.
It grew further to become a short film idea set in this gothic Victorian time. I’ve wanted to shoot something like that for a long time and I liked the mixing of genres with the sci-fi element of this machine that could play music and when hooked to dancers would also control their actions. The steampunk element also came in, quite organically because we were mixing two genres, the period and the sci-fi.
I think it’s a really cool genre that hasn’t been done too successfully in the past with other movies. We want to do something that’s based in reality – that you truly believe the technology, it’s not just there for show. It was always an ambitious idea, to shoot a period film, with science-fiction elements and do as much in-camera as possible, but I’ve always wanted to push myself and do something that would scare the shit out of me.
Part of our strategy was to create the website and build a fanbase before we make the film. We had a funding page which has been going steadily too. In essence we wanted to make the movie backwards, turn the traditional model on its head. For example, promoting the movie before we shot it. It’s not the first time someone has made a trailer to get funding, but we wanted to really create a presence with steampunk fans and not just make it about securing money – we want to build an audience and a following too.
The trailer has gotten a lot of great feedback. We started appearing on numerous blogs across the world: steampunk, film, sci-fi, horror, even a Victorian fetish blog! This led to phone calls and emails from production companies here in London and in LA, including managers, producers and even execs at studios. After a trip out to LA having meetings and promoting the film, the general consensus was to forgo the short film and instead move to make it a feature film.
Did you always want to be a director? Can you remember a specific moment when you thought ‘aha, that’s what I’m going to be?’
I’ve wanted to be a director since I was about twelve years old. Before that I drew a lot, cartoons mainly, comic strips that I’d show to friends at school. That passion grew to animation and I was set on wanting to work for Disney when I was around 8 or 9. I remember a bit after that my cousin had a bought a new hi-8 camcorder. I borrowed it and tried to animate a short film using plasticine. That’s where I learned that animation was done frame-by-frame and my process of pressing the record button on and off as quick as possible didn’t give me the required result.
This inability to create seamless animation as well as the lack of patience I had with it led me to start making little live-action short films with my brother and cousins. The first one I did took place entirely in my bedroom: yet the story was about two thieves robbing a post office, followed by a gunfight between them and the police across a vast canyon and ending with a Western-style shootout between the good guy and bad guy. Epic stuff. I remember using the beds to create the ʻcanyonʼ and how I really believed that’s what they actually were. In my head I still see it as this massive epic film with huge vistas and drifting tumbleweed during the shootout. When we presented this to the rest of the families they were all sat there laughing their heads off – partly, I imagine at us arseing about in front of the camera – but it was my first experience of an audience enjoying something I’d put on the screen. I was hooked. It was then watching Jurassic Park as a twelve year old that made me realise how effective cinema could be to an audience. Not the deepest of movies, but to my young frame of mind it showed the power of the moving image. It was the first time I’d experienced a completely sold-out, event movie. During it I couldn’t believe that this film up on that screen was making these 500 or so people jump, scream and laugh out loud. I walked out the cinema and told my mum, “I want to be a director”. And she said “okay.”
That was it.
Pretty much since then I’ve been working towards this goal, watching movies, studying and making films.
I see that you’rer from Manchester originally – do you think the local culture and sensibilities have at all influenced your work?
I don’t think the city itself has influenced my work, but more my family. I have a huge family with most of them based around the Manchester area. That kind of community-based background influenced a lot about my character and has seeped into pretty much everything I work on. It’s interesting because I’ve had a love/hate relationship with it, mainly the conflict of being British Asian. I don’t for one bit wish I’d had any other upbringing but there have been difficulties and questions about identity, religion and mixes of culture. My parents were also amazing to support me in a career that a lot of Asian
people still see as a waste of time. It definitely has changed a lot in the last twenty years, but my parents allowed me to follow my dream from a young age.
So I guess it’s more community, family and identity that have shaped me than the actual culture of the city itself. In fact I’ve been in London now for almost 10 years and it feels more like a home than Manchester as a city, ever did.
Are you influenced by any particular directors/artists?
There are quite a few directors that I admire. I tend towards very visual directors with their own styles but also have good storytelling skills. David Fincher is a huge inspiration for me and at the moment I have huge respect for Christopher Nolan: making commercially successful films but also dealing with intelligent subjects with maturity and getting rave critical reviews along the way. Other directors are Tim Burton (early stuff!), Park Chan-Wook, Jonathan Glazer, Ridley Scott,
Outside of filmmaking what are your biggest passions?
Definitely music – love to find new stuff from friends and across the web. Music is really important to me, especially when I’m writing. I have an eclectic taste, but a lot of the time I’m listening to either classical, scores or ambient electronic stuff. I can’t listen to anything with lyrics when I’m writing so it’s important that the sound of a song can elicit an emotion without words.
Iʼm a big technology geek and constantly keeping up to date with that’s happening in the tech world. This also leads to digital filmmaking and keeping tabs on what’s happening there. I’m a big advocate for film and will try and hold out on using film for as long as is possible. The reality is that it will disappear but I’m hoping that I can shoot at least one feature before it’s it’s all gone digital.
It’s pretty sad to say that filmmaking pretty much is my life! Everything feeds off that – it’s a passion that pretty much fills all the hours of the day. Well that is unless I’m playing on my PS3…
What piece of work are you proudest of and why?
The piece I’m proudest of at the moment is The Marionette Unit trailer. A lot has got to do with the fact that we took a huge risk on making it – mainly in terms of money – and to make it as professional looking as possible. There was lot of luck along the way too in securing the location for the right amount of time, getting the right crew and all that. For example, the location’s contact who was there on the shoot would normally close up around 4, because he would go look after his grandkids in the afternoon. But out of sheer luck, on that very day the parents of the grandkids had booked a last-minute holiday to
leave that afternoon — meaning he could stay till we finished and got the shots we needed!
It all came together really well and it’s one of the few things that I look at it and I don’t want to make any changes to. It was also the first time I had a successful relationship with a composer. In the past, I’ve always found it difficult to get what I wanted musically and as always the time ran out and
you just had to stop. But working with Rob Hudson was really fantastic. He was able to get me exactly what I wanted in my head.
And the best part about this trailer is watching the audience’s reaction when they’re seeing it for the first time. It’s such a great feeling to see something you’ve made cause a strong emotion in the viewer — and without resorting to graphic violence or blood.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
I want to be directing features as a career, hopefully working in the States. I’ve got a few other feature ideas bubbling away including a high-concept TV show idea set in 1970s America.
What are you working on at the moment?
Currently myself and my co-writer Paul B Adams and producer James Boyle are busy working away on the feature script for The Marionette Unit. We’re getting that done as fast as possible. The three of us also have other projects in the pipeline so we’re building a slate for the next few years. Then it’s off to Cannes and LA for the film!
I’ve also just finished editing a short documentary for a journalist friend about Cambodian rubbish dumps which was a really great experience.
