Director Jonny Campbell on J.K. Rowling and the Unique Morality of HBO’s The Casual Vacancy
We live in a world where people from all walks of life—especially public figures, for some reason—love to align themselves with Jesus Christ. People who feel misunderstood often liken themselves to the man who hung out with prostitutes and others shunned by society, but also claimed to be a good guy—the good guy, in fact. And while there have been many films and TV specials that have taken on that story and the New Testament, we don’t often get (or may have never gotten before) is an interesting work that really ask the question, “What if God was one of us?” In the case of the miniseries The Casual Vacancy, an adaptation of J. K. Rowling’s first novel written for adults, the question seems to be, “What if God was one of us, and then he suddenly died, and we had to see how the people around him fared without someone rooting for them—and how those against him carried on with their dastardly deeds?” It’s a big question for sure, which is why it’s rather spectacular to see it addressed with tragedy and comedy, in a narrative that takes its characters and their stories very seriously, even as it pokes fun at the silliness involved in small-town politics, high school life, and relationships between the young and old.
Paste caught up with director Jonny Campbell to talk about tragedy, comedy, and how he and writer Sarah Phelps adapted the work of one of one of the world’s most famous authors.
Paste Magazine: I love that Barry represents this moral compass that doesn’t necessarily exist anymore. He takes care of his family, his neighbors, and then he goes on this sort of very short crusade for his whole community against Sweetlove house. Can you talk about shooting the scene where he gives that amazing speech in the Church? How did you and Rory Kinnear approach it?
Jonny Campbell: Well first, yes, he is sort of the personification of brotherly love and goodwill—it’s this almost Jesus-like approach. And so the vacuum that’s created when he dies is symptomatic of the vacancy in their lives without this particular spirit. And that’s included in the name—J.K. Rowling chose his name [Fairbrother] deliberately, in a similar way to the way a Dickens character might have a name that aligns with their sensibility.
With Rory that was obviously the scene. Now, it’s a nightmare to shoot those scenes from the director’s point of view. There are so many people and so many angles you need to get. We rehearsed it the night before in the actual church and that meant that the following day—the whole day—was spent shooting that scene, but they’d all gone to bed the night before with a better idea of what the scene was going to hold. And that helped a lot. And Rory gave a very professional performance because he was so consistent, and with each camera angle he’d bring in a new little element to the speech. It sort of shut everyone up, every single time he did it (laughs).
Paste: It’s a great moment. And throughout the series there’s such great comedy, and then of course such great tragedy. Just one example is the scene in the final episode where Shirley confronts her husband with the computer, and he starts to have a heart attack. My jaw was on the floor because it was both terrifying and hilarious. I’m wondering what it was like for you when you first read the script. What scenes really drew you to the project?
Campbell: In part it is the moments like that, that you search for as a director. It makes you feel kind of intrigued, and it makes you laugh and then it makes you feel sort of embarrassed that you’ve laughed. So it tosses you around a bit on its surface, like a wave. And I do like that—the black humor and the darkness, and that scene is one of the best examples of something that starts being slightly cheeky, and frivolous, and full of humor and we think we’re going to enjoy this awkwardness and this humiliation, because we don’t like this character—we don’t like either of them, actually. When we first see her and that salami pops up we know what’s coming, but we haven’t actually seen it. We haven’t seen them snogging. And then suddenly you almost feel pity and feel sorrowful for this woman. I love stuff like that. I just love the kind of drama where you think it’s one thing, and it takes you one place and then it becomes this potential life or death situation, within seconds.
Paste: You’ve talked about how you’re a big fan of Charles Dickens, and you mentioned him earlier. Why was it important for you to embrace that vulnerability in the young characters who really become a huge part of this narrative, which—at first—appears to be about the adults of this town?
Campbell: The youth are, as it turns out, the life and blood of this piece. This story is really about the next generation and what they face. And it’s also about their different starts in life. There’s a variety of characters who all attend the same school, and it’s about how their decks are stacked. That’s one of the things that J.K. Rowling has done with this story. She depicts how those lives can be intertwined, and how some children don’t have the opportunity to be children. And obviously one of her particular fortes is writing characters who are teenagers or children. She feels for them, and for their plight, and it comes through in the writing and in the adaptation as well. It comes through with Robbie at the end of the story—I’m keeping things open and keeping people talking about his fate and what it might be.