Blow The Whistle

Explaining his theatrical fanaticism, long-time friendship with Ben Wheatley, and the near decade-long journey to getting Klokkenluider made, Neil Maskell tells Sab Astley about trying to make a truly independent British film.  

There are few actors as involved in the British independent scene as Neil Maskell.

Best known for his breakout role in Ben Wheatley’s Kill List or perhaps his singular performance as RB in Utopia, Maskell is finally turning his hand to feature film directing. His debut, Klokkenluider, follows a whistleblower couple and the bodyguards assigned to protect them, and received its world premiere at the 2022 London Film Festival.

Maskell’s creative style is richly layered with everything the actor and filmmaker has learned from the worlds of both theatre and film, firing on both cylinders to construct something that feels as much like Samuel Beckett as it does Ben Wheatley. A pervading off-kilter atmosphere clashes against disarmingly mundane conversations between the two couples, with sly jabs and cutting remarks sprinkled all the way through.

Klokkenluider is claustrophobic – mostly contained in one house, with a handful of players, there’s a theatrical framework. Having originally trained in acting at the Anna Scher Theatre from age 11, Maskell grew up immersed in theatre. “I'm a big Harold Pinter nerd – I could probably do the Mastermind questions on his work,” he tells MASSIVE. For a time, he worked as a director at North West Kent College’s Miskin Theatre, and has a love for darker playwrights like Caryl Churchill, Edward Bond and Brent. Maskell even had the opportunity to work with one of his favourites, Dennis Kelly, when he was cast in Utopia. “Dennis’s work grabbed a hold of me at 16/17, I feel like After The End fed into Klokkenluider – the sense of characters in a confined space, feeling like they can’t get out is a rich line for drama and comedy,” he says.

Over the past two decades, Maskell has worked with the likes of Nick Love on The Football Factory, Charlotte Rogan on her 2018 short film Little Monster (“I really hope me and Charlotte get to do a feature together”), Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, and more recently, Paul Andrew Williams on Bull. Despite many different genres, subject matter, and in some cases whole other worlds, Maskell outlines a throughline that connects them all. “What’s strange is that they’re all very singular, different filmmakers but they all share this trait of trust – letting you feel trusted to try things and encouraging your choices,” he explains. “It’s an incredibly edifying feeling.” They’re also all directors whose work encompass strong emotional portraits of windows into time, or difficult relationships, something that Maskel conjures no matter who he’s playing – something that even the likes of Tom Cruise complimented him on the set of The Mummy. 

However, there’s one director that Neil has worked with more than any other – Ben Wheatley. “I like to give Ben the credit for changing my life – there isn’t an aspect of my life that isn’t better for him giving me the opportunity of Kill List,” Maskell says. Having originally met on BBC sketch show The Wrong Door in 2008, the two became close friends, with Maskell leading psychological thriller Kill List in 2011 and 2018’s comedy-drama Happy New Year Colin Burstead, as well as appearing in 2015’s dystopian High-Rise as minor role P.C. White. Wheatley was also instrumental in encouraging Maskell to pursue filmmaking after watching his 2010 short film Shitkicker. “Ben, to me, is that close friend who pushes you to keep going even when it doesn’t seem like it’s working,” says Maskell. For Klokkenluider, he called on a number of Wheatley’s collaborators including editor Jason Rayton (“I hope I spend the rest of my life working with Jason”), cinematographer Nick Gillespie and sound designer Martin Pavey. Just as Wheatley introduced Maskell to others, Maskell hopes to follow suit with his productions. “Being able to open these lines of communication between super fucking talented people and seeing them collaborate – everyone’s talent on Klokkenluider was essential,” he says.

“I was a bit reluctant about turning to Ben and Andy [Starke, Wheatley’s longtime producer] just because I feel as though they've done enough for me, which possibly goes against me in this industry!” Maskell says of not asking his past collaborators for help on his debut filmmaker. He jokes, but is also right – Klokkenluider took eight years to transition from script to the actual production stage, in no small part due to difficulty in acquiring financing. “There's a great expression about making money with films – if you want to make a small fortune in the movie business, start with a large one,” Maskell says. Independent British film still struggles to get funded. And surprisingly enough, it was actually Mar Vista, an offshoot of Hallmark, who eventually financed Klokkenluider.

Shot during lockdown, Klokkenluider’s structure suits the bubble-like filming conditions, driven by the relationships between characters rather than expansive storylines. That’s what appeals to Maskell. “There's something I'm acting in now, the scripts are so granular with these tiny, fragmented pieces that every plot point is in – it's incredible,” he says. But I'll probably never be able to write like that. Everything I do is led by the people I'm working with, and tends to grow from them. It's always more likely to be character led instead of a surgically precise plot.”

Willem Dafoe comes to mind when reflecting on Maskell’s chameleonic work. Both have an extensive background and love for the theatre, a humbly open attitude to any project big or small, and intimately layered acting styles. Maskell jokes that he could die happy now upon hearing the comparison. “I love his stuff – his amazing performance in The Florida Project performance with the detail he brings,” he says. Maskell sings the praises of many actors he’s worked with – Tom Burke, David Tennant, Margarita Levieva and more. “Working with people like them is like going to play tennis with Rafael Nadal,” he says. “These people are just at the very, very top of their game.” 

We’re speaking the eve before Klokkenluider’s world premiere at London Film Festival, and Maskell still can’t quite believe the script he started isn’t just finished, but premiering at the same festival also screening the 25-year-old Nil by Mouth, newly remastered and Maskell’s first ever acting credit. “I remember going to Sura one day and saying, ‘I think we're gonna get to make this you know…’” he says. “For ages, it'd been almost like the old car in the garage I was tinkering with that I liked, and I'd be like. ‘Get this started one day, drive this down to the coast!’”. Even during production, watching his script come to life was at times overwhelming for him. “I found myself a couple of times quietly weeping in front of the monitor at just being able to have this opportunity and watching this thing happen that I'd written, much more brilliant than I could have ever conceived of because of the supremely talented actors I had in front of me,” he says. It’s a monumental moment for Maskell – perhaps one of Britain’s most underappreciated creative gems.

Klokkeinluider will be released in UK cinemas later this year – stay tuned for updates as they come in.