Kiwi film director Craig Johnson talks to Ashley Hammond about the making of his latest film Expats, a dramatic expose into the realities of chasing the 'Arabian Dream'.
Films in the pipeline
I'm shooting a feature length screenplay set in Dubai, similar in vein to Paul Haggis's Crash, called Expats. It portrays the ups and downs of an average expatriate through three fictional families over a timescale of three years. With script approval, pre-production, shooting and editing we're looking at a March 2009 release date.
Wealth of inspiration
300 families come to Dubai in search of the 'Arabian Dream' every day. Be it to improve standards of living, earning potential or life experience, this place is teeming with characters. It's rich pickings for a writer.
Cinematic motivation
What are the top five movies I would have loved to have written and directed? Basically anything in the filmography of the Coen brothers, particularly The Big Lebowski.
I just love their strong characters and rich dialogue. I couldn't even think up the brand of humour seen in their films.
Baillie Walsh's Flashbacks of a Fool about growing up in 1970s England – I love it for its soundtrack as much as its cinematic content. Control by Anton Corbijn, about Ian Curtis the lead singer of Joy Division, is shot entirely in black and white and is really powerful cinema.
I'm a huge fan of Australian cinema too and consider Neil Armfield's Candy starring the late Heath Ledger as a much-see. It's a tragic romance about a couple as much entwined in drug abuse as they are into each other.
Gomorrah, a real gritty portrayal of the mafia and modern Italy by Matteo Garrone rounds off my list.
The characters in expats
The three couples in Expats are all connected through the same company. The older English couple: the wife loves the place, while the guy is ready to leave. The young Australians with a baby: the wife is stuck at home with no support network and a touch of post-natal depression. Then the Indians: where a wife and her unborn child in India are reluctant to join the husband here. Everyone can relate to at least one, if not all, of these scenarios. To some extent, I am all of these characters.
Challenging perceptions
It's semi-autobiographical and half about those I've met along the way. I came here from New Zealand five years ago from a place called Palmerston North, six hours south of Auckland. There are 60 million sheep and four million people in New Zealand so unless you're a shearer or a farmer, it's kind of boring. I jumped at the chance to move to Dubai and came with the impression that I would become an instant millionaire.
This film challenges that rather naive streets-paved-with-gold perception.
Arabian home sick blues
I wanted to produce a balanced view of Dubai but at the same time it's more about the people than the place. When I first came here I struggled with the lack of greenery, all the concrete, steel and glass and people's idea of timekeeping. Dubai has been good to me in the opportunities it has presented, but I would confess to being homesick every day for the last five years.
Previous achievements
I'm in business for myself with McMahon Johnson Films. I sold my last script Ripping to Hollywood's Supreme Media Group for an amount I don't want to discuss. Demi Moore, Richard Dreyfuss and Jack Black may be billed to appear in it. Like Alexander Payne's Sideways, it's a road-trip genre comedy, but about the hidden life of salesmen. My first love is writing comedy, following a hit-and-miss career in stand-up comedy at home.
Expats is my first straight act. I've lost a lot of control with Ripping since it's been sold, so I'm writing, producing and directing Expats myself.
Dubai-llywood
Dubai has a future in the film industry. Expats cost Dhs3mn, it's a cheap and alternative investment to real estate. But investors can't be pre-occupied with fast bucks. If the film's good, cash will follow. No one saw The Shawshank Redemption at the movies but as a DVD, this film surpassed all expectation thanks to pure quality.
Name: Craig Johnson
Age: 36
Nationality: New Zealand
Claim to fame: Sold a script to Hollywood which could feature Jack Black
Lives in: Dubai
Other job: Used to be a stand-up comedian
