Paul Wright on George Mackay: ‘He’s just kind of fearless’
Scottish filmmaker Paul Wright teams up once more with actor George MacKay for a work that looks at the damaging impact of social alienation. Wright talks to James Mottram about his fearless leading man and the pride of seeing his film premiere in Edinburgh
‘I think in some ways there’s a bit of Dylan in all of us,’ remarks writer-director Paul Wright. He’s talking about the caustic protagonist, played by the ever-brilliant George MacKay, in his new film Mission. Receiving its world premiere in Edinburgh, Mission takes audiences deep into the psyche of a young man whose life is spiralling out of control. Having endured a near-fatal experience as a youngster, Dylan has something of a death wish. Numb inside from doing a soul-destroying job in hospitality, he finally snaps, plucking up the courage to tell his boss how much he hates his work. From here on, he’s living every day like it’s his last. ‘He really wants to live, but by doing that, you need to throw yourself into the flip side of it,’ says Wright. ‘It’s that idea of trying to live more intensely.’
Wright began brooding on the story years ago, when he read Colin Wilson’s 1956 book The Outsider in which the author explored the idea of social alienation. ‘That really struck a chord with me,’ he says. Tapping into ‘people who don’t feel they completely belong in the world the way it is’, Wright was hooked. ‘It’s the old-school romanticism, almost, of feeling you want more in life. I think that’s something that doesn’t go away, that feeling of “is there any more than this?”’
He was fascinated by exploring the idea of how we’ve been left emotionally stultified in today’s capitalist society. ‘It doesn’t allow much space for euphoria and moments of intense sensation. We’re living in a way we don’t want to live, but that’s what we’ve all bought into. In some ways that was just the starting point: what if? What if you stopped doing that, and you started prodding at the modern world and provoking?’ Reuniting with MacKay (they previously collaborated on Wright’s 2013 Bafta-nominated directorial debut For Those In Peril), the director started swapping cultural references with his actor to help him get into character. ‘Things like performance artists and Situationists and Dada . . . this idea of just doing anything to somehow cut open the modern world, the way we’re all living; just to give that little bit of a feeling, whether good or bad, of something other.’
During production, the impressionistic script was billed as a ‘punk exploration of the psyche’, something that can be seen in the musical nods. While MacKay’s Dylan goes full Norwegian death metal at one point as he descends into anarchic chaos, his adventures are also scored by Throbbing Gristle’s ‘Something Came Over Me’ (‘they always had one foot in transgression and one foot in transcendence,’ says Wright, alluding to the 70s experimental English punk band).
Once again, Wright’s film shows just what a full-blooded, fully committed actor MacKay is. ‘He’s just kind of fearless, isn’t he? He’ll go to that limit and give his all to every role.’ He’s joined on screen by Rosy McEwen, the Bifa-winning actress from Blue Jean, who plays the ‘emotional anchor’ of the story (no spoilers here). ‘She was maybe only on set for three days but she’s the real deal,’ adds Wright, who elicits terrific performances from both. Raised in Fife, Wright moved to Edinburgh to study film and photography, shortly before he worked on Until The River Runs Red which won a Bafta for Best Short Film in 2011. Little wonder he’s so delighted to have Mission play at EIFF. ‘It’s great having that homecoming. I’m proud to be a Scottish filmmaker, obviously, and it means a lot to be involved with Edinburgh. I look forward to the Scottish crowds and to see what they make of it.’
Mission, Filmhouse, 15 August, 9pm; Cineworld, 16 August, 3.15pm; 18 August, 7.30pm; Cameo, 17 August, 8.45pm.