Meet Saxon Logan | Film. maker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Saxon Logan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Saxon, how do you think about risk?
Risk can so easily be equated with recklessness by those outside of film making but I am sure most singular non careerist film makers agree, it equates to courage. I think my whole vocation has been built on taking risks – some came out good, some not so – you live with this because it was your decision, your responsibility.

To give an experience of risk, I was the first film maker to tackle the dreadful poaching of Black Rhino in Southern Africa, then taking place in the Zambezi valley, Zimbabwe. It was my first commission and I accepted it on condition that it would not go over its pitifully small budget. It was apparent to my Executive Producer in London that it would exceed its budget and he sent admonishments to wrap and return. I decided to ignore his entreaties and continue filming. In a bitter sweet turn of events we went into the bush the next day to find an infant Rhino poached for its horn that barely measured an in inch. We filmed this and the real time response of those trying to save the Black Rhino. It was a denouement that moved its audience to the point I recall receiving poems and pictures from kids who saw the film – I was the inducted into the Royal Geographic Society’s honourable members. Risk can always equate to luck and luck is just good timing. A film maker is left to make that call.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I have been lucky. Luck is understated among filmmakers, perhaps overlooked by many. Luck is good timing – nothing more. If one is innately uncompromising you need a heck of a lot of luck. I am a vocational film maker, not a careerist. I have never made a film to pay a mortgage or make a name. I have just been among the right people who trust my integrity.

I am only interested in making films I have a personal connection with – this has had its disappointments but being prepared never to compromise, something mystical always happens to even this out. For example: I made a film entitled Sleepwalker. I felt fated. It was invited to both open and close the Berlin Film Festival and did so to great applause and acclaim. I thought I was made. I could not have guessed wrong. On returning to the UK, it was reviled – it was a satire on the decay of the country, using the familiar trope of a horror film set in an old grand house. Apart from two critics, it was denounced and the cans of film lay in my attic for 2 decades, unseen by the public. Then an extraordinary individual Darrell Buxton (one of the UK’s top film historians) contacted me and said he had heard of the film, and could he arrange a screening. I was skeptical but agreed. After the screening to a full house, I realised it connected fully with those there. The upshot, is the very establishment who spurned it originally, bought the rights to the film and incrementally, it has reached a worldwide audience. A big thank you to Nicolas Winding Refn, who subsidised the film being digitised from its original print and released throughout the world on DVD /BluRay.

Subsequently, having written a two hour screenplay AT THE GATE OF THUNDER, I am working with Lucas Foster, one of America’s great and most prolific A list Producers. Lucas is a wonderful collaborator. He has his finger on the pulse of and audience and knows just how to propel a narrative. We work closely. .

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As much as Cape Town is without doubt beautiful weather wise and has some beautiful districts, it is good in parts and extremely poor in others – like many great cities. I would suggest exploring two very special towns, a mere hour’s drive out on good roads: Franchoek and Hermanus. Franchoek is set in a valley below a vast mountain range and is referred to as “wine country” – the best wines from South Africa originate from this region and it boasts some of the best restaurants in the world. It is hard to beat La Petite Colombe. The cuisine is considered some of the finest worldwide. Hermanus is by the ocean and you can watch whales within the bay up close as well as go cage diving and witness Great White Sharks in their habitat. Cape Town itself is a foodie paradise. The promenade is one of the finest in the world. Paragliding is almost a constant feature. And of course we have Table Mountain, which can be visited and the scenic view from the top is breathtaking. In all honesty, one needs more than a week as there is so much to do, the days fly by… its a city that allows a visiting individual to make it their own.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Without any doubt, my mentor Lindsay Anderson (This Sporting Life, If…. O Lucky Man! and Britannia Hospital) is whom I feel most indebted to – gratefully so. I was 18, and so keen to get into movie making (there were no film schools open to all, unless you came from a wealthy background). I wrote letters to many eminent Directors in the UK: Schlesinger, Attenborough, Forbes etc., and none responded. I was the proverbial “Lucky Man” as I also wrote to Lindsay Anderson, who did respond. We met at the Royal Court Theatre, where he was an Associate Director. (I spent a year at the Royal Court Theatre, working with actors and indeed directed my first play, which transferred to the Edinburgh Festival to great success. I was nineteen.)

Lindsay asked me about myself… the filmmakers I admired. As is mystical I had seen If…. and had been greatly taken with it. I had my cinema ticket, and had written down the Director’s name : Lindsay Anderson. Just as a reminder. Later when he agreed to be best man at my wedding, he explained he took me on as his assistant because I had the right type of ambition: idealistic ambition. I learnt everything about filmmaking and other great films and their makers from him. My debt of gratitude I feel can never be repaid. He financed my first short film, which made 11 pounds profit accompanying The Tenant as the pre-short film. I also cannot omit Bill Douglas – by no means prolific but a pure filmmaker. Bill acted in my short films. He was an inspiration – a truly great film maker. As an aside, all the best movie makers to emerge from the UK were Scots: Lindsay Anderson, Bill Douglas, Alexander MacKendrick, Robert Hamer etc., I cannot in all conscience over look the sacrifice and support of my ex wife and my current life partner. Both women have always supported me with robust honesty and love.

Website: saxonlogan.com

Facebook: Saxon Logan

Image Credits
Kayo Fusejima for the Main portrait and John Hale for the O Lucky Man! picture.