Mute Witness
Critics Week
USA/Russia, Anthony Waller
«It's ninety minutes of nail-biting suspense,» says British director Anthony Waller about his first feature film, Mute Witness, a critically praised shocker at Sundance. Shooting in Moscow in October 1993, Waller experienced some nail-biting experiences himself when on the first planned day of shooting, October 4, Yeltsin gave the army the order to storm the Russian Parliament building.
The political events pushed back the start-date of shooting. The story of Mute Witness revolves around three young American filmmakers shooting a low-budget thriller in an old dilapidated film studio in Moscow. Billy (Mary Sudina), a mute special effects make-up girl, is accidentally locked in the studio one night and not only finds out that her friends are secretly shooting a snuff movie on the same location, but also witnesses the murder which the crew are shooting. Her friends deny the murder. Trying to prove her shocking observation, Billy begins to fear for her own life as she and her friends are drawn deeper into a labyrinth of Russian Mafia terror. But despite the subject matter, Waller promises this is no typical thriller: «As a filmmaker one has to deal with how one shows violence on screen. I hate gratuitous violence; I'm more interested in in the pyschological tension.» Waller describes Mute Witness as «a different way of perceiving murder» - and its funny and dark in turns. «It's much easier to ricochet back and forth from fear to laughter than to keep the audience laughing or scared for 90 minutes,» he explains.
After extensive research and convinced by the Russian industry which was offering services at a tenth of the price which the film would cost to shoot in America, Waller changed his script which was originally set in Chicago and adapted the setting to Moscow. Shooting in Russia turned out to be a major adventure: film equipment air-freighted from Munich was held up at the airport by customs, and Russian actors were reluctant to travel to Moscow during a time of political unrest. Since the film takes place in one night, all exterior shots needed the same weather and the fast-approaching winter put additional stress on the team.
Waller is overwhelmed, but gratified, by the film's critical reception so far, and hopes the general public will follow suit: «I like audiences and I respect the fact that they pay to go and see something, and I want to give them something worth experiencing.» Silke Schütze
Prod cos: Avrora, Cobblestone, Comet, Waller
Exec prod: Richard Claus
Prod: Alexander Buchman, Norbet Soentgen, Anthony Waller
Dir/Scr: Anthony Waller
Ph: Egon Werdin
Art dir: Barbara Becker
Mus: Wilbert Hirsch
Ed: Peter Adam Cast: Mary Sudina, Fay Ripley, Evan Richards, Oleg Jankowskij, Igor Wokow, Alec Guiness
Running time: 98 minutes
US distribution: Columbia Tristar
