S1:E6 David and Chris and Brian and Charles
Today we’re sitting down with David Earl and Chris Hayward from Focus Features’ upcoming title, “Brian and Charles.” The film follows Brian (David Earl), a lonely inventor in rural Wales who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet: an artificially intelligent robot named Charles (Chris Hayward), who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a humorous and entirely heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.
David Earl is a comedian, best known for his comedy character Brian Gittins. He has featured in several projects associated with Ricky Gervais, most notably as Kevin "Kev" Twine in the comedy-drama Derek, Extras, After Life and the film Cemetery Junction.
Chris Hayward is a writer/performer with extensive experience of the UK comedy scene. He has written for shows including Cardinal Burns and Trollied, and landed development deals with Channel Four, Sky, BBC, ABC, Fox and CBS. As an actor, he has appeared in shows such as The It Crowd, King Gary, Pls Like, and Friday Night Dinner.
Duane Fernandez: Today, we're going to sit down with David Earl and Chris Hayward from Focus Features' upcoming title, Brian and Charles. The film follows Brian, played by David Earl, a lonely inventor in rural Wales who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet. Three days, a washing machine, and various spare parts later, he invents Charles, played by Chris Hayward, an artificial intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a humorous and entirely heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.
You know our mission here. It's putting a spotlight on extraordinarily beautiful stories with phenomenal performances. Brian and Charles achieves this with such ease. It's a charming story that tackles complex themes in a way that leaves audiences filled with joy and hope. Okay. Why don't we just jump right on in?
Gents, how are you all doing today?
David Earl: Good. Thank you. How are you?
Chris Hayward: Yeah. Good.
Duane Fernandez: Good. I'm doing well. Where are you in the world right now?
David Earl: I'm in Southwest England in a county called Devon.
Duane Fernandez: Okay.
David Earl: Yeah.
Chris Hayward: And I'm in London.
Duane Fernandez: Look at that. And one of the questions I had after watching this movie was really, how long have you known each other? How long have you been friends and colleagues?
Chris Hayward: Definitely over 10 years. Isn't that right, David?
David Earl: Yeah.
Chris Hayward: I remember I first saw David performing as Brian Gittins, so I met him at a comedy show. And at the time, we lived near each other as well. So, yeah, we started hanging out a bit and yeah, I think it was about 10 or maybe longer, like 12 years maybe. It seems like only yesterday.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. And what was that vibe? Did you immediately have chemistry? Did that take time to develop or did you guys hit it off famously?
Chris Hayward: I remember thinking David was quite shy at first and I thought, "Oh, I might scare him off."
David Earl: Did you?
Chris Hayward: Yeah, I think I was like, "He's quite [inaudible]." And also, he's very different. His persona is as Brian Gittins is very different to who he actually is. Yeah.
David Earl: All right. Steady.
Chris Hayward: In a nice way.
David Earl: Right. I like Chris's quirky, funny brain.
Chris Hayward: Oh, thanks.
David Earl: Yeah. Duane, I really like your top, by the way.
Duane Fernandez: Oh, thank you.
David Earl: Yeah, genuinely.
Duane Fernandez: I appreciate that. Thank you. It's very comfortable, first and foremost. It's very soft and comfortable.
Chris Hayward: [crosstalk] podcasting.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. But I appreciate that. Thank you so much.
David Earl: That's all right.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. So-
Chris Hayward: That's why I like David. He would always compliment me on things and just set me at ease.
David Earl: Yeah. Okay.
Duane Fernandez: I get it. I'm here for it. And so, I'm going to just insert myself right into the squad because I mean, I'm here for the compliments.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: That's incredible. That's so awesome. As I watched this movie... And first, bravo. This is truly such a beautiful, magical film that every time... I watched it twice. Every time I watched it, I took a little bit more away from it and it really sat in my soul for like the last 24 hours. And I'm like, "How'd they pull this off?" Because it's actually a very complicated movie to pull off in the style in which you did it. And so, one, congratulations.
David Earl: Thank you.
Duane Fernandez: And two, did you imagine, looking back David at this character you've created for at least... I mean, how long has the character been around? 12, 13 years?
David Earl: Like 15 or something? Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Did you imagine you'd be here and seeing it on the screen like this?
David Earl: No. No way. I've been doing it stand-up for 10 years and just had of my fair share of terrible gigs. Because I used to perform as Brian and his role was as a bad standup comedian. So I'd go on stage to just make it a bit awkward and make people feel uneasy. And if it went down well, it was really good. But I had some terrible nights. So, along the way, no way when I was dying on my in London did I think I'll be making a film. Yeah. I don't know how we got here, really.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. I read a bunch of interviews you've done, learned a little bit about the character and the background of it. And I learned about your collaboration and how it all came to be, especially with the short and all that. And I'm like, "This movie's... It took everything to, everything had to line up perfectly." And I have to imagine, seeing I've worked in the studio system, I've made a lot of independent films, this just came together like magic. Because there's a lot. I mean just from production design and if you took away just your performances and acting, you just like the production design and all things that had to line up to actually achieve that look on this on screen, you have to be very proud.
David Earl: Like the day after we finished shooting, Wales went into lockdown. So we had just wrapped the film and then 24 hours later, we already had to stop anyway. It's bizarre. Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Just lined up. That's magic, right? Everything kind of lines up perfectly.
Chris Hayward: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: You did this short, and I haven't seen this short. Is there a component of it in the film or is it just completely adapted as a new piece?
Chris Hayward: Yeah. It's different to the film. We just wanted to make a little self-contained story. I think the characters are slightly different as well. Someone said recently Brian's... He's a bit meaner in the shorts and his attitude towards Charles is a bit meaner. But in terms of the setting and the tone, we were trying to emulate that. And whenever we got lost with the story and trying to work it out, we'd always refer back to the short and what we liked about that, what we wanted to keep.
Duane Fernandez: When you go from making the short and having the conversations and turning this into feature, how much time did it take from getting the green light, in a sense, to making this feature, to first day of production? Is that like two years, three years?
David Earl: Well, we were ready to go. We were going to shoot March, 2020, weren't we?
Chris Hayward: Yeah.
David Earl: And so, I think we had a script commission filmed for... It was really quick. I think it was like the end of 2017. So we wrote it for 18 months or two years, 18 months. And so we were going to film March 2020 and then a week later, went into lockdown. COVID hit. So then it was delayed by eight months. We thought our film would be the first one that would get shelved and never get made. But it feels like a really quick... From the commission to ready to go on set wasn't long at all.
Duane Fernandez: Had you written a feature-length script before?
David Earl: No. God, no.
Duane Fernandez: How'd that feel jumping into that and formatting and knocking that script out?
David Earl: Oh, man. When we first started, I couldn't imagine keeping someone interested for 90 minutes, just seems like such a lot... The amount of films I turn off after 10 minutes, it's like, "Oh, God. We got to do that?" Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: That's crazy though.
Chris Hayward: That was the hardest part, was working out a plot that would sustain people's interest. And also, because it's quite weird, we were always worried that people were going to think, "Oh, this is too bizarre," and switch off. And so, it was a balancing act of getting the emotional part of it there while also keeping the weirder elements.
Duane Fernandez: To your credit, the balance that you keep, where it never tips past the point of feeling surreal or feeling something... You keep the audience engaged this entire movie. And I honestly thought, when it ended, I'm like, "That went by so quickly." And I'm like, "Is that movie 60 minutes?" And I'm like, "Wow, it's a 90." It felt very short. You really took care of the audience. You took care of the viewer in a way that I felt was really respectful. So, again, incredible work on that.
When you look back at the film and you remember writing the script and putting together that initial draft, was there a lot that didn't make it into the movie? There was a lot of improv that took place? I can only imagine, with your backgrounds, what it was actually like to actually make the film.
Chris Hayward: Yeah. Well, we did have another plot strand in there as well that we were trying to... I think our first draft was a bit more complicated and we had a bit too much in there, almost. So we had to strip it down. And we had a good note, actually, from Film4, that was saying, "Always remember, this is about Brian and Charles." So whenever we had some scenes that had the bad guy, Eddie, there was more involving him. But whenever we went down that road, it seemed to take attention away from Brian and Charles.
It's almost like sculpting. You put everything in there to begin with and then kind of just finally chop it away until you've got something a bit more streamlined. I think that's how we ended up doing it. And there was also lot of trial and error, just thinking what felt right and what felt it had to go.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. David, when you jump into production on this, what was your main goal with Brian, what you were trying to achieve?
David Earl: My main one was to get through this filming without getting ill. I thought I'd get a cold, I'd get the sniffles or something.
Chris Hayward: You lost your voice at one point, didn't you?
David Earl: I lost my voice. Yeah. There's a couple of scenes in there. I'm talking a bit like that. I was so nervous about taking on the role just because I'm in nearly every scene for 90 minutes. I thought, "God, if you don't like me or the character, you're going to hate this movie." So I was just really worried about taking it on because I've never done anything like that before, especially over 90 minutes anyway. But working with Jim and Chris and Rupert, we're all friends, it was lot easier.
Duane Fernandez: Incredible.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: And Chris, what was your goal? What was it you were trying to achieve in this?
Chris Hayward: First of all, I was worried that people weren't going to believe Charles as a character, that they would see it as me as a man in a box. And I think when we made the shorts, there are a couple of shots where it's quite clearly my legs. I mean, obviously, even in the feature, you can kind of see as person in a costume. But yeah, my initial was are people going to see that as a separate character and not see it as a prop? I think on the first day, we heard some of the crew members talking to Charles as if he was real. I can hear people saying, "Oh, look at Charles," and kind of referring to him as an individual. So thought, "Okay, we might be able to get away with it."
Duane Fernandez: Absolutely got away with it. What are some challenges you didn't anticipate while making this movie?
David Earl: How damp Wales was for me. How damp and drizzly. And it was damp for four weeks.
Chris Hayward: Yeah. My feet were freezing for the entire shoot. The shoes that I was wearing as Charles just let the water in all the time. So they had to pack these heat packs into my feet, into my shoes, to try warm my feet. But-
David Earl: We'd have the days sellotaped on our kitchen wall, wouldn't we, of the scenes we'd have to do each day?
Chris Hayward: Yeah.
David Earl: We all stayed together in the same flat and we would go, "Oh, my God, we got to do that."
Chris Hayward: I mean, for the most-For the most part, it was good fun. For me, the hardest bit was there's a scene where I'm in the back of a truck and the weather was so terrible. It was just torrential rain. I'm dressed as Charles. I'm facing the wrong way. I can't see anything, so I'm getting motion sickness because I can't see where this truck's going.
David Earl: And it was about 2:00 AM.
Chris Hayward: Yeah. At 2:00 AM, I was having to shout the lines of dialogue at David so he could hear them because we're driving about 20 miles an hour or something. And I just thought, "It's in the middle of winter in Wales, I'm dressed a robot, and it's during a global pandemic. It's the maddest thing I've ever done in my life."
Duane Fernandez: That's amazing. I mean, it sounds wet and cold, but looking back, it sounds like you all enjoyed it. It sounds like it was quite a special event.
David Earl: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Duane Fernandez: And what's interesting is that you took a unique approach to it. You're creators, you're actors. I'm sure you're involved with creative decision-making on set. How are you able to jump in and out of being a character and then... As a producer, how was that? Or as a creator, how did you manage that? Did you find that tricky at all?
David Earl: No, weirdly. Because I've been doing Brian for ages or versions of him, I just don't. As soon as I put the glasses on and just [inaudible], it's really weird. So, no. What I did find hard is just, like I said, I was in virtually every scene, so it'd just be, "Right. Change costume. Into that one. Into that one." It was so quick. But with regards to coming out of character, in character, no, I was okay.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. How quick can you get into...? Is it something that you're just naturally in and out of?
David Earl: Really easy.
Duane Fernandez: Wow. Yeah.
Chris Hayward: So good.
Duane Fernandez: Wow. So quick. That's amazing. That's actually incredible. If you could have gone back to yourself a year before making this movie, what advice would you have given yourself in preparation that you did anticipate? Something that you're like, "You know what? This is going to be okay, this is going to be tricky." What would you go back and tell yourself?
David Earl: Not worry so much. Don't know. Well, not worry so much, prepare, let go, and just have fun and embrace the opportunity. Yeah. Not worry so much. How do you do that? How do you not worry so much?
Duane Fernandez: We're shifting the podcast and focusing strictly on how to worry less.
David Earl: Yeah. That.
Duane Fernandez: How about you, Chris?
Chris Hayward: Yeah, I'm the same. I think just relax. The problem is, because of the pandemic that was always hovering over us, even when we were filming it, there was an anxiety of this could get pulled any moment or the rules could change. And like we said, Wales went into their whatever it was called, firebreak lockdown the day after we filmed. So that was always a kind of threat over our heads. Even when we finished filming, it was more like relief to be going, "Oh, wow. We actually got it done."
David Earl: Yeah.
Chris Hayward: Yeah, because even during filming, we were worried that someone was going to test positive for COVID or all these things that could change. So it was an extra element of difficulty that we had to juggle.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. I can't imagine. I mean, it was a very complex time. On a more positive note, when you look back, what is something... Maybe it's something you see when you watch the movie or it's just a memory that you have. What are your favorite moments about making this film? Like a specific moment in time.
Chris Hayward: I remember with the scene where we're all together in the yard and I'm dancing in front of Eddie. I remember just really enjoying that. I could just go mad with the dancing and I was mainly trying to see if I could make people laugh. And so, that was just really enjoyable. I could hear people laughing and stuff. And also, how we imagined that scene, it came out exactly how we imagined it, with the tension between those two, and the weather was perfect. So, yeah, I'm really happy with that scene.
David Earl: Yeah. Same with me, actually. That's my favorite scene because of the tension there, and I'm supposed to be fearing Eddie and taking it all very seriously. So having Chris next to me doing the Irish jig was just...
Chris Hayward: Yeah. And everyone's there, like Hazel and Eddie and the twins.
David Earl: Yeah.
Chris Hayward: Everyone's involved.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: It's such a beautiful scene. Location. We talked about the location quite a bit. It's a character in the movie, right? How did you decide on where to film this?
Chris Hayward: Well, we shot the short film not too far away, actually, which is Snowdonia in Wales. And it just had such amazing scenery that we, yeah, decided to set it in a similar area for the feature. Because it has a real character to it. And there are some shots that are amazing shots that makes it look a bit like the Wild West. Some of the trees remind me of the kind of bleak Wild West sort of landscape.
David Earl: It took Jim, Jim doing the wreck. I don't know if he did it with Rupert, but it took him a while to find that cottage, knocking on a lot of doors or... Or maybe the location manager. But yeah, but we sort of really struck gold when we got it because we didn't have to change a lot. Because inside Brian's workshop it was all there, just leads and pipes and tools.
Chris Hayward: It was already really [crosstalk] and just looked incredible. So all we had to do was chuck in a cuckoo clock and we were good to go.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: That's incredible. Do you spent time in Wales regularly?
Chris Hayward: Well, I grew up not too far from Wales, so yeah, we'd have a lot of weekend trips there. I grew up on the border, so I knew it pretty well. Because it has a bit of a fairy tale quality to it, the film, and just some of the scenery is kind of fairy-ish. So it just felt perfect for it.
Duane Fernandez: 100%. It's so perfect. It's absolutely perfect. And every little detail in there is, again, thinking about the production design and art department and even in the wardrobe, every little detail, I'd pause the movie and just look at everything in the room, on the characters. Every single scene throughout this movie is so well-curated.
Chris Hayward: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Incredible intention. Did you spend a lot of time on a character Bible and just the background of this stuff or did that all happen naturally?
Chris Hayward: Well, we just had a really great production department and a wardrobe department who just came up with so many brilliant ideas. We were sort of spoiled for choice [inaudible] to what we could go with. And I think they had a lot of fun as well, especially with the inventions. We would give them a list of ideas and then it was just really good fun seeing what they had come up with.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah.
Chris Hayward: So yeah, I really enjoyed that part of it.
Duane Fernandez: I was thinking about that while I was watching. The inventions alone, you had to spend a lot of time coming up with ideas for the inventions. I mean, that had to have been an entire year of just brainstorming inventions, right? Or were those some of the things that, David, over time that you had already kind of curated?
David Earl: Well, we had some inventions in the script, like the egg belt and whatever. But on the day, I hadn't seen any of the inventions in that shed, so Jim wanted me to go in and react and capture my reaction for the first time. And then I'd have to tell Jim exactly what I was attempting to build. So in those moments, that was me trying to go, "Right, what the hell's this?" So a lot of those were surprises to me as well.
Duane Fernandez: That's awesome.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: I love the trolling shoes. I thought that was a wonderful little scene.
David Earl: Oh, yeah.
Duane Fernandez: When you imagine this movie coming here in North America and you have entirely new audience of available to you, what are you hoping that, when they watch this movie, that they take away or they sit with?
Chris Hayward: Well, first of all, I think it's brilliant that it seems to be going down well in America because I think sometimes it feels so British. You think, "Is this going to translate overseas?" So that's really positive. And I always just thought, "Well, I just want people to really have a good time with it." If we can really make people laugh and have a good time, then that's enough for me.
Duane Fernandez: Beautiful. David?
David Earl: Yeah, same. I want that. If people could have that warm feeling when they leave the cinema, that they just fall in love with the characters and to have a nice time.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. Well, I am very impressed with what you've created here. Are you starting on another project? Are you working on another feature yet? Is this something that you've looking forward to doing again?
Chris Hayward: Well, yeah, we're talking about some ideas at the moment, feature ideas. It was just so fun doing a film and I've just really enjoyed the process of seeing it all come together. And having been involved in various TV roles in a small capacity, I find film just more interesting. That probably means I'm never getting any TV work again though, but I just find it more of an interesting process. So, yeah, we're talking about various other ideas and even the idea of a sequel's been kicked around. See what happens.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Same with you, David? Do you feel the same way?
David Earl: Yeah, I do. I haven't really thought of movies before and now we've written that, it's sort of all I'm thinking about now. I really like how they just exist in that 90-minute bubble and you can watch it again and again. With TV, you're not going to watch a TV series again. Whereas, with film, you just come back to it and... Yeah, I'd love to do more. Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: The format is just so perfect. The amount of time that you have with the audience is, I think, the perfect amount of time. I think that on set when you're actually making it is the most fun and you feel like you've created a whole family. You show up to the first day of set and you're like, "Oh, some of these people, I'm meeting for the first time." Then, all of a sudden, we get through this and we're family. We're all family now. And that's a special feeling.
David Earl: It is. And it's really sad when you say goodbye. You're like, "Oh, right. Bye. I thought you were my friend."
Duane Fernandez: Yeah.
David Earl: [inaudible] my friend. Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Well it's always a good sign of a great project, is where you get to the end of it and everyone feels that way and there's not a dry eye in the production. That's a good sign that you've made something special. And I think that feeling's addicting. It takes a lot out of you. It's exhausting. But at the same time, you can't wait to do the next one.
David Earl: Yeah. Absolutely.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. Well, I have two last questions for you all and they're a little bit off-topic. One, are you all football supporters?
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Okay. What's your clubs?
David Earl: Well, I'm Man United, but I've just... Are used to talking soccer?
Duane Fernandez: Yup.
David Earl: I've just started supporting Exeter, who are in league two, but they've just been promoted. They've gone into league one. So I'm bang it. I've got a season ticket.
Duane Fernandez: That's awesome.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: How did you fall into that fandom?
David Earl: Because I just moved down here and I was like, "I've never..." Supporting Man United, there's always been like a five hour drive away, so I've never really gone to watch live football. So I thought, "Right. I want go and watch my local team." I want it to be a ritual. Every Saturday, I drag the kids. I want to go on a Boxing Day and wear my Christmas jumper.
Duane Fernandez: I love it.
David Earl: Yeah. And I really loved it. Really loved it. Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Chris?
Chris Hayward: I'm more of an American football fan.
Duane Fernandez: No way.
Chris Hayward: Yeah. I like the 49ers. I watch the World Cup, and that's when I watch football. And sometimes, my dad loves football, so I'll watch the matches with him. But yeah, David is much more of a fan than I am.
Duane Fernandez: Wow. That's so funny. I would not have guessed that. I grew up here, but I've spent a lot of time in Europe. My mother's Danish, so I lived in Copenhagen for quite some time. So there's a lot of Danish players that go over the EPL and I'm a big Arsenal supporter mainly because of-
David Earl: Oh, my dad lived in Norway.
Duane Fernandez: No way.
David Earl: Yeah. He said the Danes are the loveliest people he's ever met. That's what he said.
Duane Fernandez: That's true.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: That's amazing. That's so wonderful. My last question is, comfort food. What is your comfort food? When you're having a bad day and you're like, "Man, this is the only thing that's going to make everything feel better." What do you eat?
Chris Hayward: Oh, I've got a terrible sugar addiction, so anything. Cakes, biscuits, some terrible. So anything like that. Yeah.
David Earl: Yeah.
Chris Hayward: Not anything but cabbage.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: David?
David Earl: I like cereal. I really like cereal.
Chris Hayward: I love that.
David Earl: [crosstalk] I have porridge, sprinkling of cornflakes with some berries on top. Little bit of maple syrup.
Chris Hayward: Just berries.
Duane Fernandez: You can't go wrong with that. That's fantastic.
David Earl: No, it's great. [inaudible] used put a lump of ice cream on top of that.
Chris Hayward: Wow. That's nice.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: That's incredible. Does it matter what flavor ice cream or you just do you have a go-to?
David Earl: Vanilla, because then it melts into the milk. It's really good. It's genuinely good. Yeah.
Chris Hayward: What's yours?
Duane Fernandez: Oh, that's a good question. No one's ever bounced a question right back at me. It's funny, I love just classic oatmeal. It's my go-to every single morning. It makes me feel nice and warm on the inside. It used to be mac and cheese. And then I ate too much mac and cheese during the pandemic and I'm like, "Okay, can't do mac and cheese anymore." But yeah, I do like them warm. I like something warm that, I guess in a weird way that oatmeal and that mashed potato have. Or mashed potatoes or mac and cheese have that same consistency.
David Earl: Yeah.
Duane Fernandez: Oh, man. Now-
Chris Hayward: I'm getting hungry.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. Now I'm going to get something to eat. Gentlemen, thank you so much. This is-
David Earl: Duane, genuinely, where did you get your top from?
Duane Fernandez: There's a little company in Los Angeles called Aviator Nation.
David Earl: Okay. Looking now.
Duane Fernandez: Yes. They're absolutely incredible. The founder of the company was obsessed with rock and roll t-shirts and she didn't understand how in the 1970s, rock and roll t-shirts could last 40 years and the new t-shirts don't. So she went and studied for a year and did the research to find the same materials and the same machines that actually made all this classic '70s sweatshirts and t-shirts.
David Earl: Oh, wow.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. She recreates them and they do a limited run every season and they're extraordinary.
Chris Hayward: Great.
David Earl: I'm there now.
Duane Fernandez: Yeah. The lightning vault. I watch a lot of movies throughout the year and this is my top favorite. This is my favorite movie I've watched in the last 24 months. It is truly magical. It made me feel really warm on the inside. I like movies that make me that I'm not alone in the world. And this movie really connected with me in a really powerful way all while laughing. I mean just chuckling the entire time and smiling ear to ear. And then it was so rad because like I said, I was able to then watch it again through more of a production lens. I watched it as a fan the first time. I watched through filmmaker lens and a production lens. And now we're just like, "Man, this is truly extraordinary." This is a wonderful film for every element of it. There's nothing that you've all did wrong. You just hit every single note for 90 minutes. So congratulations. And I'm excited for the world to see it.
David Earl: Thank you. Really kind.
Duane Fernandez: All right, gentlemen, have a wonderful day. Enjoy your press day.
Chris Hayward: Thanks so much.
David Earl: You too. Cheers.
Duane Fernandez: Thanks for listening in. Brian and Charles will be in theaters on Friday, June 17th. I encourage you to support these types of films, smaller, independent, artistic films that don't have massive budgets, but they have so much heart. Without these types of films, without supporting these types of filmmakers, actors, storytellers, and smaller studios, the world would be so fucking bland and homogenized.
So yeah, let's support those storytellers and studios that share such beautiful cinematic stories with us. And also, if you have a couple minutes, we'd really appreciate if you could leave us a rating and a review. Those two simple actions really help us in tremendous ways. So that's a wrap on this episode, kids. Thank you for supporting us and love you, mean it.
Brian and Charles:
Directed by Jim Archer
Written by David Earl and Chris Hayward
Produced by Rupert Majendie
Executive Produced by Damian Jones, Mary Burke, Lauren Dark and Ollie Madden
Starring David Earl, Chris Hayward, Louise Brealey, James Michie and Nina Sosanya
The Smith Society Podcast: This is the Smith Society, a podcast about storytellers and storytelling. In this episode we feature the writers and stars of Focus Features’ “Brian and Charles.”
Find us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesmithsocietypod/
Host: Duane Fernandez
Email and ask a question or share a thought: info@voksee.com
The Smith Society theme song by: Steady Cadence
Steady Cadence is a brilliant father daughter duo out of North Carolina. There is an episode later this season about the theme song, their unique sound which blends together analog and digital, their inspiration, creative approach and how Cadence, who is currently in middle school, has so much soul.
The Smith Society logo: Designer, Chris Scott
Edited by: Marshall Baker
