Frightfest 2018: Andy Nyman Shares All On ‘Ghost Stories’

Ghost Stories arrived in UK cinemas earlier this year, but was sadly forgotten about by many as it released around the time that A Quiet Place was dominating the horror market. The film, based on the stage play of the same name, is a fantastic mind-bending collection of three very different, but all equally terrifying, spooky stories. The film arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD on Monday 27th August meaning that all of you who were silly enough to miss it on the big screen can rectify your mistake.

For those of you that have seen Ghost Stories, the directors Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman (who also stars in the lead role) will be hosting a very special live audio commentary at this weekend’s Arrow Video Frightfest. Taking place on Sunday 26th August, come listen as the pair share all manner of secrets about this excellent bit of genre film.

Prior to the screening we caught up with Andy Nyman to get the lowdown on both the film and the forthcoming Frightfest screening, as well as his very exciting next projects.

You and Jeremy have been friends since your teens, what was it like directing with one of your closest friends?

It was great actually. I mean we did this stage show and then obviously we’ve directed the film. Whilst they both bring up different challenges, it’s fundamentally the same thing. You try and be as respectful as you can to each other, and try not to trample on each others thoughts and what they’re saying, and just keep your sense of humour. It was great. It was a really, joyous experience. I just adore him.

Ghost Stories originally started life as a stage show, what made you decide to turn it into a film?

Well as soon as we started writing the stage play actually we knew ‘wow this could be a film’, but we’d committed to the play. One of the things that made the play exciting and interesting was there had never really been a play where you were seeing fundamentally cliches of horror films on stage. There’s The Woman in Black which is a brilliant play and a great production, but that very much lives in that classic Dickens / M R James world. There had never been anything contemporary and had the scary language of a horror film. But the challenge of taking what are fundamentally cliches of horror films and put them… are well that’s really exciting because it’s got a real chutzpah and energy to it that makes the audience think ‘Wow I’ve never seen this before!’ When you take those cliches of film and put them back on film, if you’re not careful, it just becomes a string of cliches. Where you think ‘oh, I’ve seen this so many times’. So a big challenge was to take this very intricately structured piece and have to dismantle it and try and put it back together again in a way that would work as a film. So it took us eighteen months, the first draft of work to change the stage show to a film. We just kept on with that process the whole way through till we actually shot which was about… I think after Warp Films came on-board, it was probably another two years till we actually shot the film.

I personally thought the scare sequences were very well handled, I loved the way that the sound was used and also the misdirection’s with where the scare would be coming from. I also really appreciated all the little details within, it’s a film that definitely benefits from repeat viewing, I’ve seen it four times, how much work went into all of that?

Well a huge amount of work, but it never felt like work because it’s such an exciting game to play. You just get obsessed with working on the script and then you’ll suddenly come up with a moment where you could put a number here or in there or if he said that it could also meat that. And it just keeps going and keeps going, and I really love that notion of what’s called a dual reality, where you perceive one thing to mean something and then you see it again and it’s just like ‘Holy fuck of course, exactly those words could be interpreted as that. How did I not see that?!’ I find that very exciting and satisfying.

I saw this film at a BAFTA screening the other night of a film that’s coming out called The Wife, this thing with Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce. It’s absolutely brilliant, an electrifying film and they’re both fantastic in it. But I can’t wait to see it again. It’s not like there’s some huge twist in it, there’s just stuff in it where you learn something about a character that you then realise ‘oh my God, oh my God!!’ you just want to go back and look at all those things and listen to everything again and just start seeing it.

With Jeremy and I it was never done in a cynical way. It’s done because you dream of giving people the experience that you dream of getting. That’s what we love so the idea of being able to – it makes me very, very happy to hear Kat, that you’ve seen it four times and still get rewarded in seeing it. That’s a really heartening and exciting thing to hear.

Most of your key cast are known for comedy, or ‘lighter’ content, was that a deliberate casting decision, maybe to lure the audience into a false sense of security?

Well I think that’s part of it. But also there’s jokes in there, and there’s humour in there. It’s a really interesting thing if you don’t have actors that who have good muddy chops, it’s very easy to miss those moments and for it to just feel heavy and portentous. You don’t want that. Certainly the life we like is that fine line between being able to laugh at something and then immediately have that turned on its head. That’s a really important tool. Any actor who is good at comedy is going to be good at straight. Because you can’t be funny without understanding what the truth is. It’s just part and parcel. You watch Paul as an example, you watch some of those Fast Show episodes, his acting is absolutely incredibly heartbreaking. He’s just an amazing actor. As is of course Martin [Freeman] and Alex [Lawther]. They’re just brilliant and have just a great access to the truth and to funny.

After the disaster of the Beast From the East, Ghost Stories is returning to Frightfest with yourself and Jeremy doing a live-audio commentary. How excited are you to finally get to share the film with the Frightfest audience?

(Laughs) Oh God Glasgow was frustrating. Oh my God, I mean we were on the train and erk anyway, it’s very exciting to get it there. I’m so OCD about stuff that I’ll be standing at the door going ‘If you haven’t seen the film, you’re not allowed to come in. You can’t come and listen to a commentary and spoilers if you haven’t seen it yet.’ I just want to preserve the experience, but I can’t wait. I adore Frightfest. I think this will be my eighteenth or something ridiculous, I just love it. I’m going to be there anyway so it’s just a great bonus to be able to be there and share it with that audience.

Are the nerves kicking in yet about doing the audio commentary live?

Oh God yes of course! Of course! But that’s the other bonus of having your best mate with you. You’re sharing it.

As you’ll be sticking around for the festival is there anything on the line-up that’s caught your eye?

I must be honest, I haven’t really poured over the listings yet, but I’ll tell you what I am really looking forwards to, Matthew Holness’ Possum. He’s so brilliant. I have a feeling that’s going to be unbelievably disturbing. But I’m really looking forwards to that because I’m such a fan of his. Other than that, just everything and anything really. I just love it.

Next year’s looking to be busy for you with both Judy and Jungle Cruise releasing, what are you most excited about audiences seeing from these films?

Well I think it’s going to be crazy actually because this year I’ve got… there’s a thing called Wanderlust that’s coming out on the BBC here. Then next year I’ve done a series for Amazon called Hanna which is based on the film. So I’ve got these very different… certainly with Hanna, I’m playing a psychopath killer in that, then a Judy Garland obsessive fan in Judy, and then in Jungle Cruise this head of this British explorer’s society. I’m honestly so excited for them all. Jungle Cruise will be super exciting because that’s in terms of budget and scale the biggest thing I’ve really – I mean I know I did a bit in Star Wars, but that was just a tiny bit to be there with Rian Johnson – but this is the biggest. I’m just super excited to see what that looks like because I think it’s going to be amazing. The Judy Garland film I cannot wait for because she is – Renee Zellweger is unbelievable. Her performance is unbelievable! And then Hanna and Wanderlust I’m now very excited for both of those to come out. I mean Wanderlust – I saw the first two episodes a couple of weeks ago and it’s fantastic. Very moving and funny stuff, Toni Collette and Steve Mackintosh who are the leads are just brilliant. I think eighteen months from now people are going to be a bit sick of Andy Nyman, if they aren’t already.

Catch Andy alongside Jeremy Dyson at their Ghost Stories live audio commentary on Sunday 26th August at Arrow Video Frightfest. If you can’t make the screening fear not, as Ghost Stories arrives on UK Blu-ray and DVD from Monday 27th August.