PRODUCTION. DOWN WITH THE KING
A NATURAL FLOW The character-based improvisation gives the production a unique flavour
Did you know? The film’s title was inspired by the name of the sixth album by American hip-hop artists Run-DMC. Released in 1993, Down with the King
marked a shift in the band’s style and sound.
this tranquillity, the audience feels the interconnection of landscape and man, each mirroring the other’s subtle melancholia. The film has a shadowy feel in places that reflects Merc’s state of mind, coupled with a desire to step out of the spotlight engendered by his career and big-city life. “There is a sense of midlife crisis and mental blocks,” says Lawson, “and we lucked out with the clouds. You get a lot of mist in the mountains and it wasn’t that sunny, which was great.” Strangely, the few moments when the sun broke through coincided with the love aspect of the movie. “We also got a day of snow, which was amazing and really helped.” Again, the Blackmagic 6K proved an invaluable tool, permitting the filmmakers to work almost exclusively with natural light, even when stretching late into the day. “I got a bit obsessed with shooting past the ‘magic hour’
In many ways, Tarasuk embodies the spirit of the region in which he lives, and in which the films are made. For outsiders, New England might prompt images of beautiful towns, milling with upscale New Yorkers flitting around holiday homes. The truth is more complex. Nestled in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, around two and a half hours north of New York, the small town of Sandisfield houses Tarasuk’s real-life farm. It is a blue-collar area that relies on farming and logging for commercial viability. “The two films do share a lot stylistically, thematically and character- wise,” Vecchione says. “Bob is the same character in both films, and it’s the same locations. So, while it is not a sequel, there is a continuation, and the thematic elements carry through.” In Down with the King , however, Ongaro wanted to introduce an outsider into this tight-knit community, to see
where it carried the narrative. Money Merc has retreated into the seclusion of the forested landscape to work on material for his next album. And yet, he finds so much more, revelling in the solitude and company of the locals, while embracing the routines of rural life. Living through the autumnal glory of the fall, Merc slips seamlessly into his surroundings, undercutting the incongruity of a black rapper in a white, pastoral community. Amid “In many ways, Tarasuk embodies the spirit of the region in which he lives, and in which the films are made”
A WORLD APART The seclusion of Money Merc is represented by the stylistic choices within the movie
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