Interview with Director Richard Paris Wilson (A MONSTER CALLED CHARLES)

Played at the Fantasy/Sci-Fi FEEDBACK Film Festival – July 2017

“A MONSTER CALLED CHARLES” was the Winner of BEST PERFORMANCES at the festival.

 Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Richard Paris Wilson: I’m fascinated by monsters and magic and I was just drawn to the idea of a beautiful fantasy that was born out of a very dark reality. The bleaker the boy’s home life became the more his visions of the monster crystallised. That felt like a very rich clash to explore.

The idea of actually making it into a film started because I was teaching 14 and 15 year old kids the importance of media at the time, in a council-run centre in South London. I thought if we could get these kids involved in making an actual film together, I could spark a bit of creativity in them, and perhaps demystify a lot…