Sally Potter

On the 15th anniversary of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Sally Potter’s film, RAGE will be released as it was originally conceived, on Instagram, as a series of real-time posts over seven days, starting on 23 February.

This will be the first feature film to be released on Instagram.

The film was prophetic in 2009 but is still ahead of its time: the first feature specifically designed to be watched on smartphones, using a cinematic syntax that is inherent to the medium.

Michelangelo, an unseen schoolboy armed only with a mobile phone, goes behind the scenes at a New York fashion show during seven days in which an accident on the catwalk turns into a murder investigation, and his interviews with key players become a bitterly funny expose of an industry in crisis.

The story unfolds shot by shot, over the period of the week in which Michelangelo shoots and posts his interviews. The film was shot as a series of to-camera monologues. These will be released in sequence across a 7-day period from Friday 23rd February, with each shot as a new Instagram post, posted throughout the day.

15 years on from the original release, the technology that the story is based on – a phone-camera in the hands of a 12-year-old boy, posting interviews to an audience in a way that an older generation could barely believe possible - has come to be more real, powerful and omni-present than was imaginable back then. When RAGE was filmed, few people had video-enabled mobile phones and the iPhone was still a new toy. Only now will the film be fully experienced as it was conceived and shot.

Behind The Scenes

  • BTS with Sally Potter and Lily Cole
  • BTS with Sally Potter and Lily Cole
  • BTS with Sally Potter and David Oyelowo
  • 'A revolution in film-making' The Independent
  • 'Part of the appeal of 'Rage' is the way it manages to convey the tense minimalist theater of a fashion show without ever depicting one.' The New York Times
  • 'Changes the way we see movies.' CBS News
  • 'Jude Law gives the most remarkable performance of his career.' The Times
  • 'An extraordinary feat of storytelling' Little White Lies
  • 'Filmmaking at its most basic and unadorned….a reminder of how effective a close-up can be.' Film Four
  • 'With its visceral portraits of the fame-obsessed, RAGE plays like shrewd performance art.' The Daily Beast
  • 'Sheer bliss! Rent the DVD and view it on as big a screen as possible. Actors this good deserve to be seen in all their wonder.' TrustMovies
  • 'Where Rage impresses is as portraiture: not so much of its broadly cartooned social types, though some are vividly entertaining, as of the actors themselves, their faces and mannerisms.' Jonathan Romney, The Independent
  • 'Law's is the most glittering and trenchant among the many star turns in Rage, a wildly uneven yet fascinating bare-bones film set in the fashion world.' The Daily Beast

Interview with Sally Potter

QUESTION: RAGE is a murder mystery set in the New York fashion world, but where you never see New York, the fashion world, or the murders. Why?

SALLY POTTER: We have been so oversaturated with images of the fashion world that we can no longer see beyond them. Similarly, New York itself is, in a way, overfamiliar. Thus the solution of not showing the city or the fashion collection; the world around the characters is created in the imagination of the viewer, from clues on the soundtrack, from things people say and things they don’t say.

Q: There is a detective in the film, but – unusually for a thriller – he’s not our POV character.

SP: This particular detective is atypical, in that he's a Shakespeare-quoting character, somebody who sees himself performing a role – the role of detective – and dresses for the part.

Q: As do all the characters – none of whom are what they appear.

SP: We live in a culture obsessed by appearance and fame, but parts of the fashion industry are dependent on an illegal workforce, whose invisibility is a survival strategy. Likewise, Michelangelo (who is interviewing the characters) is invisible and unheard throughout, a diminutive witness whose steady eye and non-judgmental gaze allows the characters to open up to him.

Q: He’s invisible, but making others visible – especially the people we don’t usually see, like the garment workers and bodyguards.

SP: Maybe it’s his antidote to a value system based on celebrity, power and wealth. He is equally interested in the pizza delivery person and the mogul.

Q: Was that reflected in how this film was made?

SP: Everyone worked on equal terms for very little money. Each actor gave themselves completely to the situation without complaint and with great dedication.

Q: It sounds like just the film for the “credit crunch” era. Was that part of your intention?

SP: I saw it as a celebration of “poor cinema”; using minimal means, concentrating on text and performance, a return to the basic elements of storytelling by exploring the landscape of the human face. It's the lowest budget feature film I've ever made, shot in photographers’ studios, using a greenscreen as background. On set, there were only three of us at any time; the actor, me, operating the camera, and Jean-Paul Mugel recording the sound. The process was as intimate as the final product.

Q: So the film was shot as if you were Michelangelo?

SP: Yes. At times, I tried to embody him, and to shoot and frame following his emotional responses to the character. But as a director it also meant I was extremely close to each actor physically and we were able to work very intensely, a luxury that this minimalist setup afforded us.

Q: Is the film a rage against fashion’s constructions and impossible aspirations?

SP: Actually, there's a lot of tenderness in the film. The setting may be the fashion world but the issues could apply to people working in any high-pressure industry – the dynamics of power and powerlessness, fears of redundancy and failure, confusion about youth and ageing. The rage is the quieter rage against an economy that ruins lives and turns people into things, that forgets what's important about being alive.

Interview by So Mayer, author of The Cinema of Sally Potter.

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Credits

Cast

ADRIANA BARRAZA
BOB BALABAN
DAVID OYELOWO
DIANNE WIEST
EDDIE IZZARD
JAKOB CEDERGREN
JOHN LEGUIZAMO
JUDE LAW
JUDI DENCH
LILY COLE
PATRICK J ADAMS
RIZ AHMED
SIMON ABKARIAN
STEVE BUSCEMI

Director

SALLY POTTER

Writer

SALLY POTTER

Produced by

CHRISTOPHER SHEPPARD

Producer

ANDREW FIERBERG

Executive Producers

BOB HIESTAND
CHRISTINA WEISS LURIE

Director of Photography

STEVEN FIERBERG ASC

Editor

DANIEL GODDARD

Costume Design

MARINA DRAGHICI
ES DEVLIN

Sound

JEAN-PAUL MUGEL

Casting

IRENE LAMB
HEIDI LEVITT

Associate Producer

DIANE GELON

Line Producers

MICHAEL MANZI
JENNY SCHWEITZER

Additional photography by

MIA BARKER

Camera Operator

SALLY POTTER

Digital Imaging Technician

JAMES BARNETT

Casting Associates

LAUREN FERNANDES
URVASHI CHAND

Production Lawyer

LAW OFFICE DIANE GELON

LONDON CREW

Production Coordinator

SARAH FOX

Hair/Make-up Artist for Judi Dench

LINDA DE VETTA

Hair/Make-up Artist for Jude Law

MORAG ROSS

Hair/Make-up Artist for Lily Cole

CELINE BOPP

Assistant Costume Designer

CAMILLE BENDA

Set Costumer

CHARLOTTE ESPINER

Wardrobe Interns

SOPHIE CANALE
HIROMI SANO

Additional Costumes

ANGELS THE COSTUMIERS
CARLO MANZI RENTALS

Floor Runners

FRED KENNY
SUSHIL MIRCHANDANI
GEORGE MITCHEL

Production Runners

GEMMA ADDY
HENRIK POTTER
CALUM REES
MALGORZATA TOLAK
DMITRY TOLONEN
BELLA WING-DAVEY

NEW YORK CREW

Production Manager

ANGELA C. LEE

Production Coordinator

DAVID MANDEL

Assistant Production Coordinator

LOUISE GOUGH

Assistant to Andrew Fierberg

HENRY PRINCE

Key Production Assistant

JAMES MORRISON

Make-up Artist

LEO WON

Hair/Make-up Artist for Lily Cole

LISA AHARON

Wardrobe PA

DAVID YOON

Production Runners

TOM CRYAN
WILLIAM HARALDSON
DOUG LENOX
DARIN QUAN

POST-PRODUCTION CREW

Post-production Supervisor

MICHAEL MANZI

Post-production Accountant

TARN HARPER

Assistant Editor

JAMES BARNETT

Post-production Runner

CAROLINA GONZALEZ

Re-recording Mixer

VINCENT TULLI

Assistant Re-recording Mixer

JAMES CORLESS

Re-recorded at

SHEPPERTON STUDIOS

Sound Editors

DANIEL GODDARD
VINCENT TULLI
PAUL DAVIES

Dialogue Editor

PETER SHAW

Additional Sound Effects recording

JACK GILLIES

ADR Coordinator

LIONEL STRUTT

ADR Mixer

TOM DEANE

ADR recorded at

MAYFLOWER STUDIOS

Foley recorded at

HACKENBACKER AUDIO

Foley Artist

RUTH SULLIVAN

Original music by

SALLY POTTER and FRED FRITH

Guitars

FRED FRITH

Music recorded at

THE PREMISES STUDIOS
STUDIO MERJITHUR

Recording Engineer

PETER HARDT
SAMY BARDET

Recording Supervisor

FRANCK LEBON
AMOR Y CELOS

Performed by Juan D’Arienzo

Composed by Padula/Roldan

Published by Perrolli (SADAIC)

(P) RCA-BMG (Argentina) 1965

Digital Colour by

DIGIMAGE

Vice President

OLIVIER DUVAL

Head of Digital Cinema

TOMMASO VERGALLO

Post-production Supervisor

JUAN EVENO

Post-production Coordinator

CENDRINE GADY

Technical Supervision

FRANÇOIS DUPUY

Digital Operators

TINA LIN
MATHIEU LIRON
CAÏQUE DE SOUZA
THOMAS TERTOIS

Grader/ Laboratory Coordination

SERGE ANTONY

Lighting Equipment

PANALUX

PANALUX Contact

EDDIE DIAS

Insurance Services

D.R. REIFF & ASSOCIATES

Laboratory

LABORATOIRE ARANE GULLIVER

Head of Production

DANIEL PEREIRA

DOLBY DIGITAL

FOR UK FILM COUNCIL

Head of New Cinema Fund

LENNY CROOKS

Head of Production Finance

VINCE HOLDEN

Head of Physical Production

FIONA MORHAM

Senior Executive New Cinema Fund

EMMA CLARKE

Senior Business Affairs Executive

GERALDINE ATLEE

World Sales

SIX SALES ENTERTAINMENT

Distribution Advisory Services

CINETIC MEDIA

SIX SALES

CINETIC MEDIA

With thanks to

JOHN BERGER NELLA BIELSKI GIULIANA BRUNO
ACHIM KORTE GEORGE SHEANSHANG BART WALKER
Agent Provocateur Amos Field Reid
Anthony Logistics Atelier
Auberge de Chassignolles Beth Franz
Cargo ‘Blu Ray’ Make Up Carlo Manzi
Digital Laundry Emile and friends
Fay Fullerton Gianfranco Ferré
Giorgio Armani Glitterati Jewellery
Hugo Glendinning Jaeger
John Galliano Jonathan Lipman
KAS Lighting M.A.C. Cosmetics
Moschino Pelerin
Rizvi Millinery Ruby Crystal
Stephen Masters Schneeman Studio
Steven Weiss Thomas Coates-Welsh
Vera Wang

The events and characters depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or firms is purely coincidental.

Ownership of this motion picture is protected by copyright and other applicable laws in the United States and other countries, and any unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition of this motion picture could result in criminal prosecution as well as civil liability.

An

ADVENTURE PICTURES

Production

In association with

VOX3 FILMS

Made with the support of the

UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund

Developed with the support of the MEDIA Programme of the European Community

© Adventure Pictures (Rage) Limited & UK Film Council 2009