Homecorp.tv hosts video clips of two interesting scenes from Third Star. Two of Hattie Dalton's short films, One of Those Days and The Banker, are also featured on the site. Enjoy.

TVBomb interviewed the cast and crew of Third Star at the closing night gala of Edinburgh International Film Festival.

A brief but interesting clip of the film can be seen in this EIFF round-up by The Movie Geek.

The Skinny interviews cast and crew:

“The film industry's a small business in Britain, so invariably you'll know who you're working with”, JJ Feild remarks, and with Third Star, Edinburgh International Film Festival's closing gala film, the statement couldn't be truer. Almost everyone involved in the film somehow knew each other before: Feild and his co-star Tom Burke previously worked together and both already knew another of their co-stars, Benedict Cumberbatch, whilst Third Star's writer Vaughan Sivell and the fourth of its primary actors, Adam Robertson, have known each other for many years, and set up the Western Edge Pictures who produced the film. For a feature that relies heavily upon the interaction between its characters, it is comforting to know that the friendship continued off camera as well as on. “We were all in a little cottage together for four weeks – with one bathtub. If you're shooting for only a month, you don't have time to slowly get to know each other,” Feild explains.

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Throughout the interview Feild and Burke share anecdotes and make fun of each other and it is precisely this natural rapport that makes the characters so enjoyable to watch, something that shines through in the final film. “We improvised some moments, and JJ would always rip the piss out of my character,” says Burke. “In real life I'd probably rip the piss out of him just as much but in character I'd absolutely clam up. I think that was to do with the actual character dynamic, rather than not being able to think of what to say.” Feild confirms this, “We were trying to shoot so many scenes each day, you just don't have time to sit on a chair doing a crossword between scenes, so you're just in character the whole time – and not in some intense method way, you just have no other option. So we really sparked off each other really quickly. We found our role and the dynamic worked, so you get four very different human beings on one journey together.”

 

Edinburgh Festival Guide:

The film is about James (Benedict Cumberbatch), a young man who has been diagnosed with cancer and wants his best friends – played by Robertson, along with Tom Burke and JJ Field – to take him on a lads’ camping trip in memory of better times. ‘I play Bill, who’s the one of the four that just wants to have a good time over the weekend... He’s the one that actually can camp, as opposed to the other three who can’t really do it... He’s like Burt Reynolds in Deliverance!’ laughs Robertson. Field and Burke are equally mirthful when I interview them together. ‘I got the call that the film was closing the Edinburgh Film Festival, which I thought sounded quite bad,’ deadpans Burke, while JJ cracks up beside him. They end up describing each other’s characters, to avoid the risk of appearing self-serving in any way. ‘JJ plays Miles, who is closest to James, but is terrified of his illness, so he uses a lot of... what’s the phrase, trench humour?’ Burke asks. I suggest ‘gallows humour,’ which seems to be the right answer. ‘Ah yes, gallows humour – it’s trench foot I was thinking of. Right, so JJ has trench foot, he limps everywhere...’ The jokes subside again in time for JJ to discuss Tom’s character, Davy. ‘Tom’s character has been the closest to James through his battle with cancer, and he’s sacrificed everything to nurse him, both physically and emotionally. And my character feels threatened by that, and finds it somewhat disingenuous. So there’s a lot of friction. He’s also the best dressed, with the best facial hair,’ adds JJ, before the conversation descends into further silliness with discussion of 3D hair effects and green-screened eyes to be applied in post-production. 

 

Benedict Cumberbatch talks to Scotland on Sunday:

Hattie Dalton's Third Star, which closes the Edinburgh International Film Festival next weekend, is the kind of deceptively familiar material that Cumberbatch relishes. Terminally ill, his character has summoned three of his closest friends for a life-changing final trip together with the intention of setting their lives straight. However his friends also have some things they'd like to get off their chest and the film twists into something funnier and more unpredictable than a simple plot summary might suggest. "I think it explores sides of friendship that are often neglected," says Cumberbatch. "The streaks of competitiveness, support, love, irritation and trust are all here. But I also liked the idea that being robbed of your life too early doesn't give you the right to tell others how to live."

More reviews for Third Star.

The Independent gives three stars.

The acting is generally strong. J J Feild offers just the right measure of arrogance and vulnerability in his role as Miles, the alpha-male type who seems to get what he wants very easily (even if he can't fulfill himself as a writer.) Cumberbatch brings a prickliness and a streak of perversity that stops him from seeming like a Tiny Tim Cratchit, however weak and incapacitated he may become. There are some memorable comic set-pieces along the way, among them a full-blooded brawl in a country pub and an improvised firework display that goes badly wrong. 

Five stars from Edinburgh Festivals Magazine.

Third Star is a fine example of something that British cinema does almost better than any other in the world – treating a difficult subject with the seriousness it deserves, as well as a light touch that elevates a potentially grim story into the realms of the charming and delightful. This is the first full-length feature from director Hattie Dalton, but her confidence and vision lead the viewer on a path that is sad, funny and ultimately heartbreaking. 

A review with a huge image at tvbomb.co.uk.

The relationship between the four men is fractious, funny and genuinely convincing, thanks to an assured script from Vaughan Silvell and great performances from the four leads.

Excellent reviews for the film have appeared. Matthew Turner's review from Edinburgh a fantastic one.

Impressively directed and sharply written, this is a powerfully emotional British drama with superb performances from all four leads...Of the four, Cumberbatch is moving and dignified as James, while Feild adds several layers to Miles in the more obviously charismatic role (as well as demonstrating an impressive ability to cry underwater), but there's strong support from Burke and newcomer Robertson, both of whom find touching moments of their own.

The Times has a 4 star review in today's dead tree version and another brilliant online review from Hey U Guys The Screen Daily review is not quite so fantastic but they do have 4 lovely stills from the film.

WalesOnline interviews Third Star's writer and producer Vaughan Sivell.

As a producer, Sivell wanted to do something quite different.

“With this film I wanted to step outside what we usually do in this country at this level which is make a lot of short films that aren’t really worth a lot, financially,” he says.

“Adam (Robertson, who co-produced the film and plays one of the leads) and I wanted to do a feature film and have something marketable and sellable.

“And this is where the Film Agency For Wales were so great, they said to us ‘Don’t try and make this for £500,000, hold out for more, we have to do this properly’.

“We didn’t make things easy for ourselves even then, we wanted to use film rather than digital, we wanted to shoot on location, all of those things that make life that much more difficult for filmmakers but we didn’t really see much point in compromising.

“And it worked out really, really well. Even if I’m blowing my own trumpet a bit here, I think we’ve got a substantial achievement in this film. And it only took us four years as opposed to the usual nine that a debut feature takes to come to fruition.

 

Read the rest of the interview on WalesOnline.co.uk.

The makers of Third Star have a new blog. The contents of the old Barafundle Bay blog can be found there, and hopefully we'll soon see some new posts.

Visit http://thirdstar.wordpress.com/ for updates.