Talking To: Jamie Robson
Jamie Robson is an award-winning European actor whose films have premiered at the likes of TIFF and BFI whilst garnering nominations at festivals including Raindance and Sundance. Not only an actor, Jamie has writing and producing credits under his belt and is seen as one of the pioneers of the British Weird Wave, a new genre of film that many believe is a reaction to Brexit.
I spoke with him earlier this year and it is obvious as soon as we start our conversation that we both have something in common as we gush over our love of cinema, especially when it’s been so long since we were able to watch a film on the big screen. “I think cinema is one of the last churches”, Jamie tells me, “[it] seems to be like the last place where you can be in someone’s company but you’re not forced to talk. It’s a quiet space with unwritten rules like put your phone on silent, don’t eat too loud, try not to go to the toilet”.
By comparing cinema to religious, sacred places it’s not hard to see why Jamie decided to go into the film industry. Having not done very well at school and feeling lost and unsure, Jamie hustled his way into college to study filmmaking, although it wasn’t as enjoyable as he’d hoped it would be. “I have to really discipline my patience, so at the time, the patience required for filmmaking put me off and I soon realised that it was always the performances that caught my attention because I felt that was the key to the whole thing”, whether it was good or bad, the performance of the actors in any film is what drew Jamie to take up acting, something he fell into through friends who were in the industry.
Jamie’s journey of acting and filmmaking was quite linear like many in the industry. Starting with music videos, a common practice for many producers and actors, before moving on to shorts and then feature lengths. His first taste of acting was on set of a music video where he was asked to act moments before they began to shoot; “I’ll never forget I was on set for something, having never acted before, it was a music video, and I was suddenly asked to act in one particular scene. I was so nervous but I just jumped off the cliff, I committed to it and just did it, and the feeling afterwards of having celebrated vulnerability… I was addicted to it.”
As well as an actor, Jamie is credited on several films as producer and writer, something he says that is more happenstance than anything; “they’re generally a credit of recognition because I’ve perhaps been involved in the wider work of the project and so I get credited afterwards for it.” And while being credited as a producer and writer was great on a superficial level, it seems to be a distraction from what his real task is; “I just want to focus on my task at hand which is the performance; I tend to be drawn to independent, alternative filmmakers in which you just can’t help but be involved. But the real responsibilities of an actual producer are too much for me, I prefer focusing solely on my role these days”.
I’m intrigued to know what draws him to independent and alternative filmmakers and he tells me that what draws him to any film is the director. While he used to believe that the script is what made the film, he realised that the script changes so often that it’s not something that can be relied upon; “the script changes so often, even on set, and the content you shoot changes because of the circumstances, then when in editing so much can change; scenes can get dropped, the order of scenes can change, the score can change the way the scene feels”. Now, it is in the director’s vision and work that he trusts, “if I trust the director then I don’t really care if the script is a draft, what my name is or if I’m a protagonist or antagonist.” The choice of film Jamie chooses relies upon an appreciation for, not only, the director’s style but also in trusting their ability to execute it.
Are there any directors who he’d love to work with? “Paul Thomas Anderson and Chloe Zhao are two in particular...” Both Anderson and Zhao are known for delving deep into the psyche of the human experience and present it in a way that is very different to many mainstream films. Anderson is known for his depiction of flawed and lost characters while Zhao’s recent film, Nomadland, depicts the beauty of a transient life while questioning the traditional American system. Both filmmakers explore the human experience in a more nuanced way and this is something that leaks into the projects Jamie has been part of.
“The films I work on, and continue to be drawn to, tend to have a hallucinogenic sense to them – it’s sort of anti-social realism because I feel that life and the human experience is far more complicated, and almost dream like”, Jamie tells me. This is evident when looking at his back catalogue of work, in both Blue Christmas and My Loneliness is Killing Me as well his upcoming feature Spin State. Many of his characters seem to suffer from loneliness and are often in a state of isolation, not only isolated from the people they surround themselves with but also isolated by their mind and their environments.
When I asked about this theme of alienation and loneliness within his characters, Jamie says, “There’s an existential crisis at the core of everyone and it’s often not centralised in film. It’s not necessarily as extreme as David Lynch who, I would say, is at one end of the scale but it’s not as naturalistic as Ken Loach at the other end of the scale, it sort of floats in the middle” and this sliding scale is what intrigues him most - “I want ethereal-realism to become more accessible and mainstream because life is mental, and there’s comfort in acknowledging that”.
These themes are now an indicator of a new genre called The British Weird Wave. This is a genre of film that has been born out of the past few years; the rise of streaming giants, the disenfranchisement of many within politics and the birth of Brexit. It is described as realism but is seen as something darker and deeper. Filmmakers have picked up on this transitional period and out of it, the British Weird Wave was born. Jamie notes that “even though the technology is more affordable and more accessible, funding and support in the UK for filmmakers is a very narrow channel and if you don’t get into it then it can be very difficult to tell stories. I think that leaves filmmakers, cast and crew disorientated and lost”. There is a correlation between the state of mind of the filmmaker and the films that they make and the films that are born out of this feeling are ones that revel in a darker and more ethereal place of the human psyche.
As Jamie says, it is now getting harder and harder for new and emerging filmmakers to create something that is entirely their own. With the emergence of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other major blockbusters as well as the popularity of streaming services, there is a struggle to push through all of the noise and present films that are not part of the mainstream and ones that also deal with dark and difficult themes. This is mainly down to the production companies and studios who aim to create something that is going to sell and entice broader audiences. Jamie agrees with me, “what you’ve just described is when it’s a big budget and with a studio behind it but even when you’re making something with a smaller budget and it’s more for the festival circuit, you’re still being nudged into making a particular type of film – you can’t just make any film you want”, he pauses, “well you could but it might get lost and not go anywhere”.
It’s obvious that this type of film is one that Jamie will always be drawn to and it is definitely one that society needs, however it is also obvious how much films, in general, mean to him. In being part of the film industry and acting in films, Jamie sees it as a “constant homage to film because it was such a fundamental part to my youth”. I think we can all agree that we have never missed cinema as much as we have than in the past year and as our interview draws to a close, Jamie finishes with one final thought, one which we can all relate to, “Film is my friend, my educator, my internet, my escape”. Cinema please return to us.
Written by Issy Packer
Hi, I’m Issy, the Music and Film Editor at The Everyday! I’m an English Literature graduate and have been passionate about all things to do with writing and journalism from a young age. I am interested in a number of things, including politics, feminism and music and am a firm believer that Bristol is ONE of the best cities in England for anything to do with culture, art and music. You can find me either at the cinema watching all sorts of films or trying to work my way through the long list of books I’m desperate to read.