Living in Hope - Meet The Cast

Tom Harper (Posh) on Living in Hope

“

The limos, the helicopters, the penthouse suites were all too excessive. “No!” I said to the producer, “we don’t need these things, let’s be real and gritty”, and so it was.

My first night, before filming in Bristol, was spent in an attic, with no curtains, I did actually moan about this, couldn’t do it for six weeks, and so I ended up sleeping with the producer… in his house that is.

For the majority of the people involved in the film, it was a fresh experience, and something about this gave the six weeks work an interesting dynamic, plus I got to be a student again, this time without the worry of handing in a 700 word essay, actually scrap that idea, I’m doing my essay now, so yes it was back to being a student again.

It was great fun, the four of us got along very well, which I think comes across in the film, and all the people behind the camera had a generally relaxed and excited attitude towards the work, which meant all of us could get on with it and enjoy what we were doing.

After a day’s shoot we didn’t have to travel too far for a drink as very conveniently a lot of the filming was in and around one pub or another. It seems to me that John and Guy, with an incredibly low budget, wanted to create a raw and truthful impression of Bristol university life, focusing on a small group of boys and girls, and their first term experiences.

For my money (I’m still awaiting payment!), I think they more than achieved their vision, and it was a great collaboration of which to be a part; plus having made some great friends, I can quite easily quote ‘Harry’ in saying “I’ll be trying to lose this lot for the rest of me life”.

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