PRODUCTION IT ALL COMES WITH THE COLD WATER
Throughout this period, where the friction and jealousy between the two reaches an all-time high, a question is posed to both of them: what would their lives be like if their paths had never crossed? Peppered through the story, viewers look into an alternate reality in which this question is answered. The idea for what Greenop describes as ‘a sort of Sliding Doors meets Marriage Story feature film’ came on a rainy London evening when writer Lucinda Royden encountered a stranger who triggered an uncanny familiarity. Despite her attempts to place the connection, she couldn’t. The notion struck her: could these inexplicable ties to strangers stem from alternate universes where they hold significant roles in our lives? Love, lust and hatred towards unknown individuals seemed illogical yet intriguing. “This encounter sparked the concept for a film delving into the enigmatic nature of human connections and transcendent emotions,” explains Greenop. “The narrative unfolds in two parallel universes – one where the protagonists meet and question their relationship, and another where they never cross paths. The film contemplates whether we recognise the love of our life when passing them by and if we’d pause to acknowledge it. Amid the pandemic, Lucinda and I, fuelled by a desire for new storytelling, shaped this compelling idea, finding inspiration in Iceland’s backdrop over London’s confines.” THE RED KOMODO WAS great in the freezing cold. IT OUTLASTED BOTH THE ACTORS AND THE CREW ”
ALTERNATE REALITY Different lens sets were used to subtly differentiate the aesthetic between the two divergent timelines
The English capital would have been a more straightforward location for the film; instead, Greenop decided to shoot in Iceland in the depths of winter. Why? “I travelled around Iceland after graduating from film school and totally fell in love with the place,” he explains. “As a mountaineer and rock climber, I loved the untouched landscapes and incredible vistas. Iceland is the land of fire and ice – two opposites – so for us it was the perfect location to tell our story. Two landscapes and two universes.” The film was shot across the south of the island, from the glaciers in Höfn to the beaches of Stokksnes. The team sometimes had to drive up to nine hours to reach a location on unmarked ice roads in convoy. “The mountains are so foreboding,” remarks Greenop, knowing from previous films that shooting in real landscapes maximises a film’s scale and budget. What’s more, the crew of ten felt like it was shooting a documentary – “a merry band of filmmakers” in an unknown land, not knowing what was behind the next mountain or glacier. “This was without a doubt the hardest shoot of my life,” he explains. “Filming in -20°C was crazy. We should have taken the wind much more seriously too – the rental car company insurance covered everything except doors flying off the vehicle. We quickly understood why.” Such is the beautiful and rugged terrain of Iceland, it lends itself well to aerial filming. Greenop and his crew arrived armed with an FPV drone, but
due to the weather, ‘getting the drone up most days was a total write-off’. Greenop, who is also an experienced DOP, got creative and decided to shoot on two different lens types. “Since we had two universes, in order to differentiate between them both, we shot one with Cooke S4 Primes and the other with Lomo anamorphics, to help the audience with the non-linear narrative. The RED KOMODO was great in the freezing cold and outlasted the actors and the crew. It was particularly great for this shoot as it’s so lightweight that the DOP George Burt and I would just run off and capture so much B roll for the film.” However, another difficulty lay ahead. The inclement weather and time of year meant natural light was scarce and the production lacked the budget to pay for decent artificial lights. “George did an incredible job with what he had but we relied heavily on natural light and the golden hour for a lot of the film,” Greenop continues. “Considering that and the fact we had 12 days to shoot an entire feature with a handful of people, we were careful to only bring what we needed. Since we were lugging equipment up glaciers and mountains, we had to pack light.” It All Comes with the Cold Water will be on the film festival circuit in 2024
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