Synopsis

“I can’t stand it any longer; I need the fuel to make my fire bright; so don’t fight it any longer; come to me again in the cold, cold night”

It is the anniversary of John’s wife’s death, a lung cancer victim. Still a smoker himself, John’s grief drives him to quit. He launches himself into the task with passion in an attempt to honour his wife’s memory. After a successful run, the addiction comes creeping back to him in the lonely night. Set to the White Stripes song “In The Cold Cold Night”.

“And I know that you feel it too; when my skin turns into glue; you will know that it’s warm inside; and you’ll come run to me; in the cold, cold night”

Director's Notes

Cold Cold Night spawned out of the wrap party on Michael Stanmore’s previous film, Press Play. The conversation had turned to how a member of the crew had had an eye-opening event that caused them to quit smoking. In the 90's she had been a champion gymnast but after retiring from the sport started smoking. In August 2005, when trying to play football at the park, she found she could barely run ten yards without a rest and could finally see what smoking had done to her. She quit cold turkey that very day, pledging to get back in shape. She had become almost spiritually aware of how a person must take care of her body. She managed to successfully handle the cravings and everything, and by November had definitely succeeded.

By the time of Press Play she was having the odd smoke at the pub. It’s a slippery slope from there.

Michael Stanmore was familiar with the White Stripes song “ In The Cold Cold Night”. The lyrics are so seductive and sound so much like an addiction speaking to an addict. So Cold Cold Night was conceived as a silent film set to this song about a man who’s wife has died of lung cancer. After an anniversary visit to her grave he resolves to quit and never smoke another cigarette again. He appears to succeed, only for the loneliness to finally get to him in the end. John-Christian Bateman, who smoked for years but has now quit, was perfectly suited to play the lead, and could bring a great sense of frustration to the role. He had such a personal connection with the character, that he came on board to produce the film, as well as act. The cast was completed by Amanda Zahab, playing John’s stricken wife.

Shooting started quite badly on a rain hampered morning in Barnet, taking a very long time to get the first scene in the can. From there, though, the team, now getting used to each other after several OTT shoots, hit their stride, and were able to shoot a lot of scenes quickly.

Just as on Press Play, Chris Patterson headed up the camera team, and performed well under very different dramatic conditions, with stillness and inner conflict replacing the frenetic action of Press Play, he had great help from KC Thiruchelvam and Lutfi Hady. Anna Sternik took care of the makeup and hair, and did a great job on the special effects makeup required for the later stage of Amanda’s illness.

The shooting concluded the next day with a superb scene in an alleyway where John’s character cracks and finally smokes. John puts in a skin crawling performance full of the frustration that comes with knowledge of failure.

There was an aggravating break between shooting and editing, while a new HD edit suite was being put in at Montobello Media, but with that finally online the editing began. It will be targeted at various European short film festivals.