While in conversation about upcoming pic The Rule of Jenny Pen, director James Ashcroft shared the stunning casting news for his next film about to go into production. Steve Newall finds out more about The Whisper Man and the huge name starring in it.
The Rule of Jenny Pen
Every filmmaker has a list of dream actors to work with. Some may come and go, and more recent films may or may not add to these actors’ legends, but I have little doubt that a fixture on most directors’ wishlists is the legendary Robert De Niro.
As of today, audiences in this part of the world have only seen one film by James Ashcroft, the superb thriller Coming Home in the Dark. Yes, you’ll get to see his sophomore effort The Rule of Jenny Pen in cinemas next month—another chilling thriller set in Aotearoa New Zealand, this time starring John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush, and praised by the likes of Stephen King—but it still came as a surprise to hear the local filmmaker’s next, third film stars one of cinema’s greatest actors, a nine-time Oscar nominee.
During an interview to talk about The Rule of Jenny Pen (which you can read on Flicks next month) Ashcroft explains: “It’s a project called The Whisper Man, and it’s based on the novel by Alex North. It’s a crime thriller about a series of child kidnapping murders that happened 30 years ago, and are now happening again. And Robert De Niro is the lead.”
“Christ,” I interject.
“Yeah,” says Ashcroft, adding a classically deadpan Kiwi take: “So, more septuagenarians for me.”
A septuagenarian that he now knows as “Bob”.
“Bob’s great,” Ashcroft says. “Bob’s very easy and very normal and obviously a legend.” A really great range of characters will feature in the film, he tells me: “There’s three leads, we’re just finalising the other two, and then we’ll start casting all the supporting roles.”
Don’t expect to see your favourite hometown panel show comedians popping up, though. This isn’t a case of an actor briefly visiting our shores as we double for an overseas locale. Instead, a day or two after I speak with Ashcroft, he flies to New York for nine months of pre-production and shooting proper. There he’ll be filming on location with the resources that come with a Netflix film production, in particular those available to producers the Russo brothers.
Because the film’s set in New Jersey and New York, Ashcroft explains he’ll be drawing predominantly from the area’s acting pool: “And not just well-known actors. There’s two roles, really good roles where I’ve said ‘Bring me those great young actors who are just waiting for a break to happen for them.’ Those are the ones I’m keen to see, the ones who’ve got no baggage from, or association with, previous material.”
Having made two films where a sense of place—Aotearoa—is deeply ingrained, it sounds like The Whisper Man may be another example of that notion, in search of an authentic, tangible setting. That’s despite being not only a hemisphere away from Ashcroft’s other films, but also a different continent from North’s UK-set novel.
Robert De Niro in upcoming Netflix series Zero Day
“The book The Whisper Man is set in Manchester,” says Ashcroft: “But the quality we’re looking for at the moment, within Jersey, is that it’s all about the big brother city, where crime happens, where it’s dangerous—then you’ve got the small, idealised, perfect life of a small town. It’s all about going, ‘No, it’s, it’s the other way around. Danger is a lot closer and a lot more familiar than we’d like to think’. So that was always the most important quality. I think the thing with Jersey is that it’s a great place to film, with great resources there in terms of crew and locations.”
What Ashcroft plans to tackle upon arrival in New York is get a gauge on the essence of the area’s identity. “Rather than trying to force something,” he says, “because sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Trying to force Paterson, New Jersey to look like Buffalo New York, it would be pointless.”
“It’s kind of like going ‘well, we’ve got Robert De Niro—let’s try and get him to feel more like Al Pacino.’” Why would you do that?, he says rhetorically. “Work with the givens, and once you do that, that’s when I think you start to get something authentic coming through.”
Eventually, down the line, we’ll see the results for ourselves—but first you have The Rule of Jenny Pen to look forward to (as well as Zero Day, De Niro’s limited series for Netflix). We’ll share more of our chat with James Ashcroft closer to Jenny Pen’s March 20 release.
