INTERVIEW: Corin Hardy on his journey from ‘The Nun’ to ‘Gangs of London’
Photo: Gangs of London’s first season is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Photo courtesy of RLJE Films / Provided by KWPR with permission.
Gangs of London, the hit British television series that is now available on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States, had a dream team of directors and cast members for season one — all of them tasked with bringing to life the crime-riddled, seedy, power-hungry underbelly of London amidst a rise in gang activity. Corin Hardy, director of The Nun, was a pivotal presence during Gangs’ first season, directing several episodes for co-creators Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery. He has also signed up for season two, which is currently in production.
It has been a remarkable journey for the director, but it hasn’t necessarily been easy. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schedules and dashed expectations. Hardy knows this all too well.
“I do feel privileged and lucky ultimately because for some strange reason our industry has been given a bit of a protection and ability to keep working, which so many people haven’t, so I can’t complain,” Hardy said in a recent Zoom interview. “It has been also incredibly f-ing hard to operate. I’ve just finished shooting the first two episodes of season two of Gangs of London, and it was a really incredibly intensive, difficult ride and an exciting ride because we were striving for the same level of production as the first season — and, in fact, surpass that. But we also have these conditions, and everyone who has lived through the past 14 or 15 months has also had their own experiences. So it’s been difficult, but also has been possible.”
Going back more than a year, Hardy had just completed the final shots of season one when the world became undone, and the pandemic began to spread. He remembers traveling into London to finalize edits on the final episodes of the inaugural season, and there was no one walking on the streets. To him, it felt like an apocalyptic scenario — perhaps a setting for one of the horror movies he has directed.
“I was heading in with my backpack, and I was desperate to finish the show that I had spent a year and a half on,” he said. “And I didn’t know whether that would be the end of me.”
Hardy became attached to the TV project after striking up a friendship with Evans. They both share a love of genre movies, in particular horror flicks and action movies. Hardy was making The Crow — a film project with Jason Momoa that never finished — and he wanted to pick Evans’ brain about some action processes he planned to stage in the film.
“When we chatted, this was about three or four years ago, he approached me, telling me about Gangs of London, the TV show he was putting together,” Hardy said. “I wasn’t available at the time, and when [my other project] finished, I was. So I agreed initially to do an episode, which turned into three episodes and then four episodes and five episodes, then turned into season two. It has been an unexpected journey, and something that I got a lot out of. [It] was very challenging and felt like I was stepping nicely out of my comfort zone of horror, which I love, into a different world of grounded, family-driven crime action cinema. It has been very enlightening.”
Evans gave Hardy 100 percent freedom to artistically breathe on set. The episodes that he directed were ultimately his episodes to commandeer, and he left his original spin on each chapter in this crime saga. For Hardy, the difficult work of making Gangs of London, which airs on AMC in the States, was akin to creating a movie project.
“It was like each episode was a feature film,” he said. “I suppose because Gareth kindly chose me as someone to collaborate with and then Xavier Gens, the French director — we all shared a similar sensibility. … Thankfully we were trusted both by him but also the producers. I must say, I felt like we were able to do whatever we wanted, and that was quite refreshing. We just went completely mental and went for it, within reason, but I suppose if you choose the right people you’re already on a certain level. I did a lot of reading and rereading of Gareth’s first scripts for the first two episodes and reread those scripts an incredible amount of times because it was very complex, the character relationships, back stories, emotions and continuity. It was an undertaking.”
Now audience members have a chance to see the fruits of Hardy’s labor. Many fans of the TV show have probably already experienced the director’s work, whether it was the indie film The Hallow or the big-budget scare-fest The Nun, which is an offshoot of the successful Conjuring movies. Hardy looks back on his experiences on The Nun with obvious delight.
“I’m sure more people saw The Nun than The Hallow,” he said with a laugh. “[Making The Nun] was a good experience, and it was my first foray into studio filmmaking and Hollywood. We shot in Romania. We shot in real locations. Romania is a fantastic opportunity, and that script really allowed me to have a stab at something I love, which is Gothic horror and old school. It felt like an opportunity to do my Dracula movie. It felt like it had a world. It’s a very different world than Gangs of London, but they both have worlds that are immersive. With The Nun, it was an opportunity to go more Gothic and much more visual and stylized. … Ultimately I want to create an immersive world, whether it’s The Nun or Gangs or The Hallow or The Crow, and I want that to feel at times believable, real and emotionally relatable, whilst also having the ability to be extraordinary and take you to places you can’t really get to.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Gangs of London, season one, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Click here for more information.
