Perdita
15-04-2016, 19:40
Coronation Street's Ben Price and Jack P Shepherd team up for an enthralling short film
Their on-screen brotherly relationship on Coronation Street is often turbulent to say the least. But off screen, actors Ben Price and Jack P Shepherd have now teamed up for a thought-provoking short film which couldn't be more different to life in Weatherfield.
Price, who plays Nick Tilsley on the cobbles, has once again taken a turn behind the camera by writing and directing new production Taubman. Set in the future, the intriguing piece explores an unsettling exchange which follows when a man seeks a passport.
Shepherd, better known as David Platt on Corrie, plays an arrogant and infuriating interviewer who refuses to let the man travel abroad to see his son. Ian Puleston-Davies, who played Coronation Street's Owen Armstrong between 2010 and 2015, plays the passport seeker.
Speaking of the new project, Price told us: "Jack plays this snotty interviewer. Ian's character goes in to get a passport, but the interviewer says there's a problem with his application. Then you find out that it's because of his religion. His family changed their religion from Jewish to Catholic in the past and they changed their name.
"The story had a personal connection for me, because there's also a Jewish heritage in my family, which got changed and morphed. The family surname was Taubman, which is the name of the film. The same thing also happened to my wife's family and my best man's family.
"The two characters in the film start sparring as it goes along. Ian's character starts questioning why his travel is being restricted and why he can't see his son who's abroad. And Jack's character just has this annoying attitude of: 'It doesn't really matter what you say or think, I'm just here for you to get angry at and it's not going to change'.
"But there is a twist at the end. So it's a film about status, origin, religion, restricted travel and what that means. So there's some big themes in there. It's just those two characters in a room for 16 minutes."
Price previously worked with Puleston-Davies on another short film titled I'm Sorry To Tell You, which told the story of a doctor who was struggling with the prospect of delivering some devastating news.
Both short films were produced with help from the wider team at Coronation Street and have been submitted to various film festivals.
Price continued: "The first film has been doing really well. It went to New York, London, Barcelona and it also opened the Manchester International Film Festival.
"I think we're going to be able to put it into the BAFTAs in October. I don't know if it will get shortlisted for that, but it's done really well already.
"When you submit a film like this to the festivals, nobody knows Jack, nobody knows Ian, nobody knows me and nobody knows Coronation Street. So they take it completely fresh, which I think is fantastic."
While Price has been quietly working on his short films for the past two years or so, he hasn't been able to release the productions publicly. Festivals have strict rules stipulating that submissions have to stay private before the judging process.
Asked whether it's frustrating to have to hold the work back, Price replied: "Yes and no. I think I'm so used to all of my work being 'out there' so quickly. In some ways, you make the film because you want to make the film, regardless of how many people see it. You want to make a piece that's very, very different and it doesn't really matter whether 4 people see it or 4 million.
"It will come out in a year's time when it's been in the festivals and people will be able to see it. People will see how good Jack and Ian are in it. But I quite like that it's held back a bit.
"I'm also planning a third film and possibly a fourth film. It's great being at Corrie - it's really fantastic, but sometimes you need another outlet for your ideas. On Corrie, my character's stories are always dictated by someone else, but here I can tell stories that I want to tell. It's a different discipline."
Digital Spy
Their on-screen brotherly relationship on Coronation Street is often turbulent to say the least. But off screen, actors Ben Price and Jack P Shepherd have now teamed up for a thought-provoking short film which couldn't be more different to life in Weatherfield.
Price, who plays Nick Tilsley on the cobbles, has once again taken a turn behind the camera by writing and directing new production Taubman. Set in the future, the intriguing piece explores an unsettling exchange which follows when a man seeks a passport.
Shepherd, better known as David Platt on Corrie, plays an arrogant and infuriating interviewer who refuses to let the man travel abroad to see his son. Ian Puleston-Davies, who played Coronation Street's Owen Armstrong between 2010 and 2015, plays the passport seeker.
Speaking of the new project, Price told us: "Jack plays this snotty interviewer. Ian's character goes in to get a passport, but the interviewer says there's a problem with his application. Then you find out that it's because of his religion. His family changed their religion from Jewish to Catholic in the past and they changed their name.
"The story had a personal connection for me, because there's also a Jewish heritage in my family, which got changed and morphed. The family surname was Taubman, which is the name of the film. The same thing also happened to my wife's family and my best man's family.
"The two characters in the film start sparring as it goes along. Ian's character starts questioning why his travel is being restricted and why he can't see his son who's abroad. And Jack's character just has this annoying attitude of: 'It doesn't really matter what you say or think, I'm just here for you to get angry at and it's not going to change'.
"But there is a twist at the end. So it's a film about status, origin, religion, restricted travel and what that means. So there's some big themes in there. It's just those two characters in a room for 16 minutes."
Price previously worked with Puleston-Davies on another short film titled I'm Sorry To Tell You, which told the story of a doctor who was struggling with the prospect of delivering some devastating news.
Both short films were produced with help from the wider team at Coronation Street and have been submitted to various film festivals.
Price continued: "The first film has been doing really well. It went to New York, London, Barcelona and it also opened the Manchester International Film Festival.
"I think we're going to be able to put it into the BAFTAs in October. I don't know if it will get shortlisted for that, but it's done really well already.
"When you submit a film like this to the festivals, nobody knows Jack, nobody knows Ian, nobody knows me and nobody knows Coronation Street. So they take it completely fresh, which I think is fantastic."
While Price has been quietly working on his short films for the past two years or so, he hasn't been able to release the productions publicly. Festivals have strict rules stipulating that submissions have to stay private before the judging process.
Asked whether it's frustrating to have to hold the work back, Price replied: "Yes and no. I think I'm so used to all of my work being 'out there' so quickly. In some ways, you make the film because you want to make the film, regardless of how many people see it. You want to make a piece that's very, very different and it doesn't really matter whether 4 people see it or 4 million.
"It will come out in a year's time when it's been in the festivals and people will be able to see it. People will see how good Jack and Ian are in it. But I quite like that it's held back a bit.
"I'm also planning a third film and possibly a fourth film. It's great being at Corrie - it's really fantastic, but sometimes you need another outlet for your ideas. On Corrie, my character's stories are always dictated by someone else, but here I can tell stories that I want to tell. It's a different discipline."
Digital Spy