Interview withStuart Hazeldine

ExamResult

“Begin.”

So starts the emo/onal roller-coaster that is Stuart Hazeldine’sfirst full-length feature, Exam.Released this year, the film hasearmarked the Bri/shwriter/director as one to watch.

Exam’s claustrophobic se1ng isa sublime blend of psychologyand mystery-thriller. Despite itsoriginal premise, its influencescome from a variety of sourcesthroughout writer Stuart’s career.

“Being born in 1971, I was 5 or 6when Star Wars came out. It wasthe perfect age to get hooked intoall that kind of film. As I got older,I got into films by Ridley Sco0,Peter Weir and also StanleyKubrick. They sparked me themost but there was also the

Hollywood influence - Spike Lee,Oliver Stone and of courseScorsese. The Bri/sh had theirown way of doing things. DavidLean influenced me from adistance - he was in a differentgenera/on to mine. But he wasthe big elephant in the room ofBri/sh cinema.”

Those early seeds finally tookroot when Stuart was studyingAmerican History.

“I started out at university inKent. I was making bigger andbigger films every year but by the/me I got to 24, I had a scriptbought. So I had the choice ofeither staying on in uni or tofinish my studies and get into aload of debt. There wasn’t toomuch thinking - I took the moneyand started making a career.”

In 1999, Stuart sold his horror

treatment Rizen to UniversalPictures, and began one of manyworks in Hollywood.

“Wri/ng for studios is differentto wri/ng for myself. Over the last12 or 13 years, I have beenhoning the different skills neededto complete different dra s. WithExam, I was financing it myself soI wasn’t wri/ng it to persuade astudio to buy it.”

Exam is Stuart’s first full-lengthfeature and has drawn muchacclaim, winning at the SantaBarbara Film Fes/val and a BAFTAnomina/on for ‘OutstandingDebut by a Bri/sh Writer, Directoror Producer”.

“Exam was received posi/vely asit was made off the radar. Wereceived no funding and we nevereven got a tax credit on it. Wehad a great premiere at the

Interview

We had a great premiere at theEdinburgh, and we won at SantaBarbara. We won The PanavisionSpirit Award for IndependentCinema, which is given to aunique independent feature thathas been made outsidemainstream Hollywood. The filmdrew a lot more posi/ve a0en/onin the States than it did backhome.

“The idea for the story cameabout during a phone call I washaving with my friend SimonGarrity. He’d said that he’d had anidea about some kids going intoan exam and finding a blank pieceof paper. I thought it’d beinteres/ng to raise the stakes,and to introduce these ‘A’ typecharacters into a life or deathsitua/on. There have beencomparisons to the BBC’s top-ra/ng TV show, The Appren�ce,but in truth, The Appren�cewasn’t as big as it is now when Iwrote it. It was just a happycoincidence that the movie came

out around the same /me as TheAppren�ce was top of thera/ngs.”

“The highlight of my career todate was finally si1ng back in theHi-Defini/on Suite and watchingExam from start to finish.Watching the audience reac/onwas just great. Of course, therewas the BAFTA nomina/on thisyear, but another highlight is myadap/on of Milton’s ParadiseLost, which is considered by manyto be the greatest work of Englishliterature.”

Stuart is ambi/ous too. Despitealready having worked on manysuccessful movies, (The Day theEarth Stood S�ll and the NicholasCage thriller Knowing), Stuart s/llhas big plans.

“I aim to be one of the mostproficient writer/directors tocome out of Britain. There aremany successful writer/directors

in the US and also in France butnot that many here in the UK. Iwant to create some classic films,to produce some originalcharacters. To do that, my nextfilm needs to be an improvementon Exam – it’s that ‘secondalbum’ feeling!”

FilmographyBa�le Chasers (2012)(in produc/on) (writer)Paradise Lost (2011)(pre-produc/on) (writer)Exam (2009) (wri0en by)Riverworld (2003) (TV)(writer)Exam (2009) (producer)Nichts als die Wahrheit(1999) (associate producer)aka "A er the Truth" - Canada(English /tle), Interna/onal(English /tle)Exam (2009) (Director)

Interview

Exam’s taut storyline keeps the viewer gripped to their seats