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I think the first draft was written in about 1982 and was called SHORT STORIES, a title that remained in place until very recently. And it came about in the following way.
In 1980 I had formed the Mike Figgis Theatre Company to explore live mixed media ideas and during this time I began using film as part of this experiment. At this time I was fascinated by the idea of mixing film and performance and using the same actors in both elements, trying to create an artistic compound which would leave the audience with a confused memory of what they had seen. Not remembering whether a certain section had been performed live or on film. I did three pieces over the next four years and SHORT STORIES was intended to be the fourth.
I planned to rent a huge warehouse and use it as a film set and performance space. I wrote a collection of short stories and the intention was to film elements of all of the stories and thenperform the remaining elements. The audience was meant to 'promenade' around the warehouse in any sequence that they desired and by the end of the evening take away with them a collection of images which all had some kind of connection with each other but at the same time lacking a conventional linear structure. Obviously this was an immensely ambitious idea and expensive as well, but I was very excited by the challenge. I often wonder if I would have had the ability at that time to pull off such an event.
However, my plans changed when I got the opportunity to make my first pure film. THE HOUSE came out of one of the theatre pieces, SLOW FADE, and was commissioned by Channel 4. As a result of this exposure I was able to carry on and do my first feature, STORMY MONDAY, which in turn led to a stint in Hollywood.
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