EXCLUSIVE: Behind the Scenes of In the Hands of the Gods

By Michael J Edwards / June 24, 2011

In The Hands of The Gods and raved about the quality of this British-made documentary. With it's impending release I have hunted down a number of cast and crew members in order to give you, our loyal Obsessed With Film readers, more of an insight into what makes this film so special. (Well, I say hunted down, I mean got invited to a round-table with them, but the end result for you guys is the same.) Anyway, sitting down with two of the freestylers, Jeremy and Woody, as well as producers Ben Winston and Leo Pearlman, and directors Ben and Gabe Turner I realised that I was there on a mission: I had to prove to the film-viewing public out there in the vacuous ether of the internet that this was the number one film to be seen this week in the UK, and not just the most recent recipient of my hyperbole-prone reviews. So here goes: The story of the five lads who journey to America, with the intention of busking their way to Argentina to meet their hero Diego Maradona is an inspiring one, surely that's a given. But the background to the film has a story of its own. The lads dreamed up their plan, and thought that it would be great if they could get their journey filmed - so set out to find someone crazy enough to do it. Unsurprisingly they met with a lot of sceptisism, director Gabe recalled challenging the boys to prove how much money they could make by busking for cash and then eating at the best restaurant they could, fully expecting a pizza to be headed their way. But no,

"at the end of the day they had enough money for a three course meal at the Savoy. They went in in their tracksuit bottoms with their pound coins in an American Football helmet, ate their meal, then tipped the money out on the table. Then we were like, ok, we'll do it."

Sitting around the table with these guys it's not hard to see how the freestylers bonded with the production team, in the same way as the boys displayed their gutsiness in setting up the journey the producers and directors of Fulwell 73 (the company headed by the Turners, Winston and Pearlman) were leaping into the unknown with their first feature. Ben W was more than happy to draw the parallels of the importance of the film to the two groups:

"We set up our company, Fulwell 73 about 3 years ago, Gabe and Ben are obviously brothers, me and Gabe were in a band together and our mums were best friends, Leo is their cousin, so we were like family... so there was definitely something in the fact that we were four guys who'd never made a film before and had this dream of making a film and it makes me chuckle that these five guys were busking their way across the world and we were sort of busking our way across the world too."

As they travelled it was inevitable that the 'stars' and crew on the film would become closer. Ben T pointed out that they

"were very lucky that they were prepared to be so honest with us along the way... I don't think they realised untl we got there that the things they wanted us to film the least were the things we'd want to film the most."

And there were many stories about points at which the crew felt torn between the success of the boys on their quest and the ultimate goal of the documentary, the group recall one instance in particular where they had been basically stuck in a car park in Dallas for weeks and couldn't think of a way out, and one of the boys suggested stealing a car. Now on the one hand - this is clearly a ridiculous idea, but on the other, it's a documentary! You can't interfere. You never see David Attenborough leaping in front of an advancing lion to save a gazelle right? Right. And so it was resolved that the crew remained completely detached from the decisions made in the film. And this is very much to its credit, the natural development of Woody, Danny, Jeremy, Sami and Mikey through the film comes across crystal clear on screen, unencumbered by the interference of outside. Of course, they did still talk, but never did the production team lead on matters relating to the journey, or in drawing the multifaceted backgrounds of each of this diverse group out into the open, as Leo summarised:

"This wasn't a film where they were interviewed. It was a film where when they wanted to talk they talked, and what happened, happened on screen.... We didn't have any preconceptions of how we were going to portray this film."

The purity of the documentary's voice isn't entirely due to a stoic detachment however. I did draw the directors into some comments on style and influences. When I asked about the absence of the sprawling scenery shots ubiquitous to the more ponderous travel tale, Gabe responded offhandedly that

"It's like, in Shane Meadows films he uses musical montage scenes of walking to control the pace. For us, the places were just a way of controlling the pace... so when we came into a place, as long as we had one slate which summed up what it was like and what you were meant to feel at that point in the film that would do the job."

In the Hands of the Gods does indeed manage this feat, but I am reluctant to believe that it was easy as he made it sound, but then he's a man who knows documentaries. Cited among his inspirations prior to making the film are the classic documentaries Dogtown and Z-boys, Spellbound and Štre et Avoir, of which he went on to say

"It's just great because its a real human story. But for us that was stylistically quite important because that film is a documentary shot like a piece of fiction and whereas nowadays a lot of feature films are shot documentary style. We tried to do the reverse like in Etre et Avoir... We wanted you to feel like the sixth member of the group."

A welcome move indeed in a cinematic climate rife with 'mockumentaries'and exagerrated claims that films are based on real events. This release goes back to the heart of the documentary by telling a story, and capturing the essence of events as they happen rather than contorting ideas to fit a neat template or preconception. Now it's all well and good me harping on about the finer points of a 'good documentary', and posturing romantically as to the origins of a piece of cinema, but I am also aware that you all want to know some behind the scenes stuff. What did the cameras miss, and what was left on the cutting room floor? Well, given that filming produced over 150 hours of film it is not surprising that there were a few extra stories to tell! Nothing prepared me for the revelation from Jeremy, the softly spoken devout Christian:

"me and Sami, actually made a deal, and i don't think you all knew about this - if we happened to find a sparring place - we would've had a spar... we'd have put gloves on and we'd have had it out."

Certainly an idea with DVD bonus material potential! Of course, another aspect of the trip that would never have made the final cut was anything involving the Fulwell 73 troops, Ben W recalls one instance where he discussed with Woody the potential success of the film

"sitting on the back of a chicken bus in Guatemala... and remember really playing it down"

getting Woody prepared for being happy with a DVD release. Among his funniest memories, Jeremy recalls two instances which did not make the final version. One in which he balanced the ball on his head and proposed to a stranger - a feat which earned him the princely sum of $2 - and one in which, exasperated with their failure to earn money, he and Danny lay down in the middle of the Vegas strip at 3am, balanced their footballs on their noses and played dead. But the stories discussed by Jeremy and Woody are not limited to the funny side of the journey. Woody recalls one night spent in a mud hut with a family in Guatamala, a particularly significant scene in the film, and promptly runs into a proclaimation that

"no-one should feel sorry for them in any way, the reason being that they are really happy people. They don't know the materialistic crap we know about and we're surrounded by... They're happier with the finer things in life, with waking up in the morning, with the sun blazing and with their families.. if only people in this country would realise what opportunities they've got."

Perhaps such morals seem a little trite when they stand alone, but they are nonethless heartfelt, and the growth in character of all of the pilgrims is borne admirably well in the film. In my humble opinion, In the Hands of the Gods provides as compelling a tale in itself as the story it relays. I suggest that those of you looking for entertainment this weekend spurn the seedy attractions of Knocked Up and Superbad, and go and see something infinitely more absorbing, funny and real. You'll certainly get more out of it and at the same time support a bit of low-budget, high-quality British cinema. It's win-win!