{"id":2789,"date":"2016-05-20T22:18:47","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T22:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/"},"modified":"2016-05-20T22:18:47","modified_gmt":"2016-05-20T22:18:47","slug":"j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/","title":{"rendered":"J.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Georgia Straight \/ Adrian Mack<\/em><\/p>\n

The last time somebody adapted a J.G. Ballard novel for the screen, it was 1996, the film was Crash<\/em>, and it was banned in London. Director David Cronenberg\u2019s solemn take on the material was one thing, but in truth it was Ballard\u2019s perverse imagination that viewers found so upsetting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis prose style is like X-ray vision that just disassembles the modern world,\u201d says Ben Wheatley, talking to the Straight<\/em>during a recent visit to Vancouver\u2019s Vancity Theatre. \u201cFor me, it felt like fantasy when I read it. It doesn\u2019t feel like fantasy anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Brit filmmaker is on something of a publicity tour for his own demented version of Ballard\u2019s High-Rise<\/em>, opening Friday (May 20). The 1975 novel applies the author\u2019s gentlemanly nihilism to a British middle class fractionating into violent hierarchies inside a modern suburban estate that seems to trigger all their worst (and strangest) pathologies.<\/p>\n

Written by regular collaborator Amy Jump, Wheatley\u2019s take amounts to the kind of wild, orgiastic cinema we don\u2019t really see anymore; a mix of broad humour and shock that unfurls like a Mike Leigh\/Nic Roeg two-hander. \u201cIt could be one of the last big counterculture books that slips through the system and gets made into a movie that costs more than 10 quid,\u201d Wheatley muses with a smirk. \u201cWe all felt honoured that we managed to get it through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The precariousness of such a project aside, Wheatley saw the opportunity to indulge a more personal fetish with High-Rise<\/em>, expressed through the film\u2019s garish design, and\u2014in the case of Luke Evans and Sienna Miller\u2014performances that seem to channel Brit actors of a certain era like Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born in \u201972 so I\u2019m one of the kids in the tower block,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of that child\u2019s-eye view of what the adults got up to; the children\u2019s experience of the \u201970s, which was pretty rough, certainly in the U.K., where every other thing you watched was about drowning in a small pond or being electrocuted or the fear of nuclear destruction mixed with folk music and Nana Mouskouri and Paint Along With Nancy<\/em>.\u201d With a generous laugh he adds, \u201cAnd it\u2019s bookended by the Moors murders in the \u201960s. This is a proper kind of evil lurking the land, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably safe to say that the man who made Kill List<\/em> has a refined sense of evil lurking. While Ballard seemed to understand that the social experiments of the mid-20th century were doomed, albeit in obscure ways, Wheatley and Jump add an epilogue to their High-Rise<\/em> that\u2019s more direct in addressing the engineers of Britain\u2019s dysfunction. Remarkably, with all that, this most daring of filmmakers is looking at something like his first hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople went to see it<\/em>,\u201d he says, with theatrical emphasis, of the film\u2019s performance at home. \u201cAnd that\u2019s a relief. It means I can make movies. I\u2019m not just in a corner pleasing myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Georgia Straight \/ Adrian Mack The last time somebody adapted a J.G. Ballard novel for the screen, it was 1996, the film was Crash, and it was banned in London. Director David Cronenberg\u2019s solemn take on the material was one thing, but in truth it was Ballard\u2019s perverse imagination that viewers found so upsetting. … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJ.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"J.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Georgia Straight \/ Adrian Mack The last time somebody adapted a J.G. Ballard novel for the screen, it was 1996, the film was Crash, and it was banned in London. Director David Cronenberg\u2019s solemn take on the material was one thing, but in truth it was Ballard\u2019s perverse imagination that viewers found so upsetting. … Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-20T22:18:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/social-share.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"633\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gearbox_admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gearbox_admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/\",\"name\":\"J.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley - Thunderbird Entertainment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-20T22:18:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-20T22:18:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/41eb8208032d7ee9602156e61d6f6c41\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"J.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/\",\"name\":\"Thunderbird Entertainment\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/41eb8208032d7ee9602156e61d6f6c41\",\"name\":\"Gearbox_admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/239363dc97071e1a4eb9d0cc6971f646?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/239363dc97071e1a4eb9d0cc6971f646?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gearbox_admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/author\/gearbox_admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"J.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley - Thunderbird Entertainment","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"J.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley - Thunderbird Entertainment","og_description":"The Georgia Straight \/ Adrian Mack The last time somebody adapted a J.G. Ballard novel for the screen, it was 1996, the film was Crash, and it was banned in London. Director David Cronenberg\u2019s solemn take on the material was one thing, but in truth it was Ballard\u2019s perverse imagination that viewers found so upsetting. … Continued","og_url":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/","og_site_name":"Thunderbird Entertainment","article_published_time":"2016-05-20T22:18:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":633,"url":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/social-share.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gearbox_admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gearbox_admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/","url":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/","name":"J.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley - Thunderbird Entertainment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-05-20T22:18:47+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-20T22:18:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/41eb8208032d7ee9602156e61d6f6c41"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/05\/20\/j-g-ballard-gets-a-rise-out-of-ben-wheatley\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"J.G. Ballard gets a rise out of Ben Wheatley"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/","name":"Thunderbird Entertainment","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/41eb8208032d7ee9602156e61d6f6c41","name":"Gearbox_admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/239363dc97071e1a4eb9d0cc6971f646?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/239363dc97071e1a4eb9d0cc6971f646?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gearbox_admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/thunderbird.tv"],"url":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/author\/gearbox_admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}