DEADLINE:Where didRabbit Trapstart?
BRYN CHAINEY:Probably my interest in Welsh folklore.
Do you know Brian Froud, the illustrator from Cornwall?
(L-R) Director of photography Andreas Johannessen and director Bryn Chainey on the set of ‘Rabbit Trap’Paul Stephenson
He worked with Jim Henson for a long time.
Its full of really deep research, about goblins and folklore, but its presented as an encyclopedia.
I love that place when you know somethings not true, but you also dont.
Bryn ChaineyAdi Bulboaca/Sundance Institute
Its just one of my special interests, I guess.
And in the research I did into Welsh goblins and pixies andpucas, I found all these interesting inconsistencies.
The names change a lot.
There is no real name for the fairy folk.
We call them the fairy folk as a euphemism, because we dont want to offend them.
We go, Oh, the fairy folk, theyre fair.
But maybe theyre actually not fair.
Theyre totally… [Laughs] I dont want to say anything bad, because it might upset them.
Sometimes they come into the house at night, and they help you with things.
Theyll cobble together shoes, or theyll clean things up.
And other times theyll just come in and ransack the fridge and take all your cheese and your milk.
But then if you tell anyone about it, you forget everything, or you crumble into ash.
And the more I read this, I was like, What is the throughline?
And for me, the throughline I saw was neediness.
Its been there since the beginning of mankind, and itll be there forever.
And I think we never lose that.
Because wearegoing to die if were crying for help, and no one comes.
And that became the throughline.
Because Im Welsh, but Ive never lived there as an adult.
Thats all in the film.
DEADLINE:This is your first film.
Whats your background as a filmmaker, and how did you come to make this your debut?
CHAINEY:I went to film school in Australia, and I graduated in 2006.
I won a pitching competition and got to make the film.
And then I ended up staying in Germany for the next seven years.
And I did another short film that was like a state-funded short.
So, basically, since film school Ive been making shorts.
Its quite a slow process, particularly the kind of films I make.
DEADLINE:Do your shorts bear any resemblance toRabbit Trap?
CHAINEY:Yeah, a lot.
Apart from that, all the others are fables.
My student film was about a boy who was born with a television set for a head.
It was like, Oh, this guy wants to do something thats difficult and symbolic.
Im like, No, no, no, lets go fable.
And, actually, I found people gravitated towards that.
And then when I went to Germany, those two short films were both weird fictions.
The whole film is set in outer space, which was a really difficult thing to do.
It was all green screens, but I wanted everything to be tactile.
So, all the props were all handmade.
It had a very Michel Gondry kind of inspiration.
So, yeah, theyre all in that vein.
And I dont want them explained to me.
Theyd say, I was led by strange music into the woods.
I came back 20 years later the same age.
I dont know what happened.
Your job is to reckon with the other realm and what its asking from you.
Really that was really important throughRabbit Trap.
In Britain, we all grew up understanding a bit about fairies and goblins and pixies.
And throughout Europe and over in Asia, they have the same.
I dont know, I think a film should be an experience not an explanation.
It should be an encounter; it shouldnt be a lesson.
I feel so condescended when movies do that.
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DEADLINE:So how did the film come together?
I came over to the U.K. to make it and didnt know anyone.
So, they were the only producers I wanted to reach out to.
A friend I made in Portugal put me in touch, and I sent them a pitch deck.
They just loved it, and they came on really quickly once they read the script.
DEADLINE:Who came on board first, cast-wise?
CHAINEY:We got Dev first.
We sent him the screenplay, and he was the first actor I wanted.
He really responded to the screenplay.
He really responded to the nature elements of it and the folklore elements.
So, he came on early, and then the other cast came together a bit later on.
I think we had the financing before Dev came on.
Everyone knew we couldnt make this for a lot of money.
We could only afford 20 days to shoot the whole film.
So, we did it quickly and on remote locations.
And [American composers] Suzanne Ciani and Laurie Spiegel.
Thats the kind of world that this is quite inspired by.
And it was because analog electronic music, for me, made the most sense as an elemental force.
With that kind of electronic music, youre not sampling things, its not digital.
Youre plugging your machine into the wall and then its drawing electricity up from the earth wherever you live.
My sister plays electronic music, and she explained that to me; how it works.
I was like, Thats cool, thats spooky.
And what would that be?
Youre making music and youre drawing out nature, and nature is saying, Im not healed.
Make music with me, with this pain.
So, the elements came together.
DEADLINE:Who created those sounds for you?
CHAINEY:We had a musician called Lucrecia Dalt.
Shes a Colombian artist.
Shes like a sound artist and musician.
She composed a lot of the music before we shot.
All using instruments up until 1976.
The sound design was by a guy called Graham Reznick, whos based in LA.
Dresses like a cowboy.
Hes one of my favorite people.
So those two were really working in collaboration with each other, sending things back and forth.
DEADLINE:Why is the film set in 1976?
Was there a particular reason for that?
CHAINEY:I knew it couldnt be modern because the characters needed to be pioneers.
They werent playing electronic instruments as a choice.
They said, OK, f*ck it, well make soundscapes.
DEADLINE:Has Delia Derbyshire ever been given proper credit for theDoctor Whotheme?
CHAINEY:She has now like, 50 years later but, no, she didnt.
Not when she was alive.
And I really wanted Daphne to be a pioneer.
Darcy goes deep into the woods where he is not supposed to go.
He hears a sound that wasnt meant for him.
So, I had to set it back then so that they werent just retro futurists, they wereactualfuturists.
Its just the most beautiful piece of equipment ever made.
And that was made in 76.
So, that was almost arbitrarily the cutoff point.
Like, Well, we want that, thats the newest thing we want.
Lets cut it off there.
But the pioneers thing was obviously more important.
DEADLINE:So, then we have this strange child that comes down from the woods.
What were you going for there?
CHAINEY:There are lots of stories already about a demon seed, a creepy child that shows up.
And, personally, I enjoy those movies when theyre done really well.
Horror audiences, theyre smart, they know that.
We auditioned boys, girls, non-binary kids, trans kids.
For me, the gender wasnt important as long as they had the emotional truth.
But then we foundJade Croot.
Shes a 25-year-old woman, and the character needs to present as a prepubescent boy.
We thought, Can she pull it off?
But then we just went with it.
And also, in 76, Daphne and Darcy would not have had the language for a non-binary kid.
So,weshouldnt either.
The kid presents as a very comfortable, confident, in-the-land child, a country kid.
Theyre out by themselves playing all day.
They know their way home.
And thats how the child presents itself.
And that felt necessary, otherwise Daphne and Darcy wouldve had to be like, Where are your parents?
DEADLINE: Rabbit Trappremiered last week at Sundance.
How did that make you feel, and how did the audience react?
CHAINEY:I was relieved.
I wassoproud of the film, and also a little scared.
And reactions have been precisely what I expected.
The people who get it, love it.
And then the people who have found it impenetrable have been hostile against it.
I think people find the vulnerability of it really scary and they just reject it.
They were saying, Well, its not scary.
Or Oh, its confusing.
DEADLINE:The term folk horror isnt especially helpful in that respect…
CHAINEY:I know, totally.
DEADLINE:Do you have any other projects lined up?
CHAINEY:Yeah, Ive got a few.
We finished the film in about July last year.
Since then, Ive been writing, Ive got a few different projects that I like.
Well see which one goes first.
DEADLINE:So nothings going yet?
CHAINEY:No, no.
I also had to wait untilRabbit Trapwas out.
Because not everyones going to like this film.
I can work with them on something new and Im excited about that.
