“Before we started filming we had a month's rehearsals, one and off, and spent a few days in the woods, just the three of us, getting to know, like and trust each other. We improvised all sorts of situations, worked out where parts of the script needed changing, but most importantly Ben and Jenna became friends. For me it was a tough challenge as it was my first film and I think the hardest, most mysterious thing about directing is directing actors - partly because it's the most important thing in my view. And I knew that if these two performances didn't work then the whole film would be down the plughole. But, thanks to Ben and Jenna, it was a far easier challenge in the end, especially in the scenes that we thought would be most difficult. For instance, the scene between Tom and his Father was done in two long takes - one close, the other further away. And the favourite scene for all three of us was when they first strip off and run around madly. We did it in one 13 minute take and they gave me far more than I'd expected. I was immensely proud of them afterwards and I'd be stunned if we don't see a lot more of them in the future.”
