‘Kill List’: The independent British movie Martin Scorsese was “taken by”
Massive Hollywood filmmakers like Martin Scorsese often seem unreachable. With multi-million dollar projects financed by major studios always on their minds, it’s hard to imagine such stars feigning interest in something much smaller, like a British independent film. Yet, Scorsese is a lover of movies big and small, and in 2016, he served as the executive producer on Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire.
The film takes us back to the ‘70s as characters played by a surprisingly stacked cast – Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, and Brie Larson – do a whole lot of gunfighting. That same year, Scorsese released Silence, which cost between $50-60million, while Free Fire was made on a budget of just $7m. Scorsese has produced or executive-produced many movies that viewers might not be aware of, from Uncut Gems to The Young Victoria. It’s clear that when the filmmaker likes a particular director, he’ll do what he can to support their work.
Free Fire lost money at the box office, grossing around $3.8m. While it was praised for its blend of comedy and action, with Wheatley bringing his signature British humour to the movie, some people were more critical, finding that it lacked anything more than repeated shootouts. Still, Scorsese was thrilled to get involved, telling Rolling Stone that the lack of an actual solid story besides a classic deal-gone-wrong was irrelevant: “You don’t need it. We’re beyond that now.”
Scorsese was first attracted to Wheatley’s work when he saw one of his earlier movies, Kill List, released in 2011. The low-budget film (made for £800,000) stars Michael Smiley, Neil Maskell and MyAnna Buring, as well as features minor appearances from Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, who wrote and starred in Wheatley’s 2016 dark comedy Sightseers. Kill List is a quintessential British B-movie horror, which follows two men who become contract killers, only for one of them, who has served in the army, to descend into the depths of frightening horrors.
Recalling the time he praised Kill List, Scorsese told the publication: “Well, I really was taken by it. I think in the interview I was talking about new filmmakers that I was fascinated by – and one was Ben, The other was Joanna Hogg, a film called Archipelago, which I liked a lot. They’re opposite things, but what can I say?”
It makes sense that Scorsese, who started out making independent films and mainly works within the crime genre, would like something as quirky as Kill List. Talking to The Independent, Wheatley explained how big of a moment it was to meet Scorsese, let alone discover that he admired his work.
“It was as close as you can get [to] meeting your film god,” he said.
The influence of Scorsese over much of Wheatley’s work is apparent, although his use of deadpan humour and quintessential Britishness separates them. Wheatley has his own distinctive style, but Scorsese’s pioneering approach to the crime genre has clearly left a mark on him. His stylish use of violence and his propensity for digging deep into the criminal underworld has inspired filmmakers since he began making movies like Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, and Wheatley is no exception.
