Last night I finally read the first draft of White Angel 2, the sequel to our ‘90’s serial killer thriller White Angel (aka Interview With A Serial Killer) that was so successful for us. I had lost touch with Harriet Robinson who played the lead in the original, and always sensed a sequel would be great – then earlier this year I tracked her down when I was in LA (thanks Facebook)! We met and now the sequel is on the cards. If you are interested you can buy the DVD (with Urban Ghost Story here)
So author Rod Duncan penned the first draft for us, and I have got to say, we are all very happy with it. Structurally, it’s all there, and tonally, it builds on the original, which was a bout about a crime writer who is blackmailed into writing the biography of a serial killer. This time there is a switch, with lead character Ellen Carter, serving out her life imprisonment sentence, and the story explores her relationship with a notorious ‘lifer’ female serial killer – wh at ensues is a cat and mouse game of intrigue and murder, all set behind bars in a female high security wing.
It only took about an hour to read last night, and I did it one sitting, which for me is unusual as I am a slow reader. All good signs. Just waiting on feedback from others before we go back to Rod with our notes, but everything is looking good so far.
We are of course taking out own medicine with the project, by keeping the story contained, using characters that are inherently fascinating (such as a female serial killer), and keeping it short. I was delighted when the first draft Rod delivered was a tight and succinct 80 pages and not a sprawling 147 pages.
With a near all female cast, we also hope to be able to draw from the immense talent pool of British actresses who, traditionally, get overlooked once they pass a certain age, often to reappear years later when they can play mothers or grandmothers. It’s a shame there are not more great roles for these fabulous acrtresses.
Onwards and upwards!
Chris Jones, Film Maker and Author