I never imagined that CONTACT - The Book would become CONTACT - The Film, let alone that it would be directed by renown British film and television director Alan Clarke (no relation). Nor did I ever think a film about The Troubles could win an award or play an important role in cinematic innovation. But CONTACT by Alan Clarke did, it was ground-breaking and remains so to this day.
Most writers aren’t invited to actively participate in the making of a film, fortunately my experience was the opposite. The many months and long nights working with Alan on the film remain seared in my memory. While we sometimes engaged in heated discussions we also worked cooperatively in a highly constructive way, enjoyed the creative process and came to consensus where it mattered most. A relationship that improved the quality of the final product and lasted long after the project was over.
We clashed about how closely the film should reflect the book. I was more on the side of “reality”, Alan approached the project through the eyes of a creative filmmaker, his focus on an interpretation of reality and evoking a “felt sense” of the essence of the book.
Alan’s approach is summed up best by a quote from novelist Graham Greene: “A movie is not a book. If the source material is a book, you cannot be too respectful of the book. All you owe to the book is the spirit.”
The spirit that emerged was indeed the film’s ultimate success. A fictional cinematic experience based on my true autobiographical account that did what few films about war have been able to do - provide a fully immersive experience that in its own surreal way evoked an inexplicable visceral emotion in the viewers. They weren’t actually ‘there’, yet they were.
As piece of cinema innovation, CONTACT – THE FILM was monumental. It was the first drama to use military night image intensifiers attached to the camera to film drama at night without any lights and has been copied by many films since. It deliberately had no music, ancillary dialogue or sounds that could mask the stark experience of soldiers at war. And the actors had to think, feel and move like soldiers. Terry Forrestal (stunt coordinator and former Para engineer and 21 SAS trooper), Tip Tipping (stunt performer and former Royal Marine) and I sequestered the actors to a ‘training camp’ before shooting began, where we treated them as army recruits. We taught them how to patrol, carry their weapons, fire them and clean them. Every morning they completed a run and an assault course.
I chose all the locations from a list provided by the location manager. Terry, Tip and I ‘blocked’ and rehearsed all the scenes with the actors before shooting began, and once shooting began Alan and I would watch the ‘dailies’ while everyone else slept, deciding which scenes should be in the piece and which not, assisted by notes from the film editor. Alan insisted I sit with the sound editor throughout post-production, choosing the sound effects of the machine guns, explosions, helicopters and rifle shots to ensure they were as authentic as possible.
I learned so much from Alan that held me in good stead in my screenwriting career thereafter. Indeed he was the reason I ended up in Hollywood as a “script doctor” for Kings Road entertainment. We both travelled to America in 1990 to work on An American Murder, about a murder filmed from the assassin's point-of-view. The film was taken up by Hemdale but never came to fruition, Alan’s health declining rapidly with an unexpected cancer diagnosis that took him from us in July 1990. Rest In Peace my friend, you were taken from us too soon, a talent that still had so much to give.
AFN Clarke
