Scottish director Saul Metzstein has been involved in cinema longer than most people would think. Starting off as a runner and assistant on the likes of Shallow Grave and Trainspotting he soon became a film director in his own right, winning a clutch of awards for indie flick Late Night Shopping. It wasn’t long before Metzstein was given the reigns of a bigger-budget production, Guy X, a black comedy along the lines of Buffalo Soldiers and MASH, starring Jason Biggs, Jeremy Northam and Natasha McElhone.

 

It’s been two years since the release of Guy X, so what has Metzstein been up to since? On a wet evening, interrupted by power-cuts, he discusses his latest projects, the joys of casting and Scottish cinema in general.

 

I’ve just finished a documentary film about architecture. My Dad is an architect and there’s a display of his work on till February at the Lighthouse in Glasgow. I think the DVD will be there. I also have a column for Building Design Weekly – an architecture magazine – which is great fun and I can write quite cheeky, rude articles and get things off my chest. Other than that I’m just getting into my next feature film called Stop Over.

 

It’s basically a night of hell. It’s the story of a stop over on the way to Australia where everything that can go wrong in a twelve hour period does. It’s almost a re-working of the Scorsese film After Hours but set in the world of international travel.

 

Well casting is funny, it’s completely dependant on sales figures of actors' previous films and what they were worth. I mean I’d love to say I want him and him and him. But that’s not how it works. In Guy X Jason Biggs wasn’t really an actor I’d considered and wasn’t my idea, but when he was suggested I knew he was perfect. Of course then you need to find out whether they want to work with me and whether they want to do the film. Even when you cast young upcoming actors and complete unknowns like I did in Late night Shopping you get a problem with their agents wanting them on TV instead of an indie film because TV pays more.

 

Yeah, the thing you have to remember about actors is a) actors like acting and b) they like to be seen by as many people as possible. You can actually get big actors who are really up for doing short films because it doesn’t take much time and, well, they like acting.

 

I’ve got no ideas about cast yet: it’s something I’ll be formulating very soon. The central performance is going to be the key to Stop Over. Because everything that can go wrong is going to go wrong, so the central character has to be likeable. It’s the same as Guy X. Jason Biggs is really likeable: you watch American Pie and you just want him to get the breaks. He has that rare sympathetic characteristic, and that’s what I’m looking for again. But casting is a real black art, it’s really tricky, all about coincidences and its easy to get wrong.

 

Yes, its hellishly complicated and I’ve had actors before who had very different working styles from one another.

 

(Laughing) No no. Everyone I’ve worked with is wonderful and lovely. It’s a great industry!

 

Well, truthfully, I think it’s been on a high since Shallow Grave. This country in the world of cinema is more prominent than most. Take Red Road, Hallam Foe, Trainspotting – it’s quite an achievement.

 

And now there are new actors coming through like James McAvoy.

Exactly McAvoy is doing incredibly well, Ewan McGregor’s still going strong and you’ve got Dougray Scott popping up on Desperate Housewives between films. Also I’d like to mention Kevin MacDonald who is directing a new Brad Pitt film. It’s great but it’s competitive.

 

It can help in the sense you can work your way up in a smaller environment. It’s easier to get going and become successful in a small area, then you can break out. These days even London would be really tough. You can do your own thing in Scotland. Hollywood is a totally different matter though, people start out there so early and its easy to do badly. You have to have a really tough, instinctive competitive nature very early on.

 

Any tips for young people looking to get into film?

Yeah, its very simple to make films. Make short little films then make them bigger and bigger. Watch a lot of films then go out and do it. It’s all about experience It’s a crazy career but it’s great fun to do. I mean Guy X was torture at times to make.

 

Well, the way it was filmed meant most of the outdoor shots were done in Canada but the indoor shots were in Iceland. It’s really complicated but it was all to do with budget. We had a scene where someone gets head butted in Canada but falls through a door in Iceland!