Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely’s Departures is about to send the BFI Flare audience on a trip of a lifetime. We caught up with Eyre-Morgan to chat about the film.
“I think we should skip to the fucking end.”
This is the starting point of Lloyd Eyre-Morgan and Neil Ely’s Departures. The film, which is getting its world premiere at BFI Flare, starts with the end of a relationship. Benji (played by Eyre-Morgan) and David Tag’s Jake are breaking up, quite nastily too, but things weren’t always like this. Once upon a time, the pair were sharing passionate getaways in Amsterdam but even the most toxic relationships often begin in a haze of love and affection. And great sex, of which there is plenty of in Departures.
There’s a lot to relate to in Departures, which is “inspired by all the dickheads that fucked us over” as the film’s opening screen informs us. Many of us have been caught in a relationship where the power dynamic was questionable at best, toxic at its worst. The script, which Eyre-Morgan wrote, is based on his and Ely’s own experiences.
“I’ve obviously adapted that into a story, like a narrative that’s more accessible to everybody, but it was born from heartbreaks that I’ve experienced, and also the co-director had experienced as well, and we kind of merged those two stories into one,” Eyre-Morgan tells me over Zoom.
The writer and co-director shares that he wasn’t in a great position when writing the script but shooting the film offered a rare opportunity to process through a lot of stuff. Eyre-Morgan confesses that making Departures felt therapeutic, but assures me he’s in a much better place now.
Departures was shot on location in Manchester and Amsterdam. As full time filmmaking is beginning to feel more and more like a luxury for those based in London and already financially stable, Departures was shot mostly on weekends and Eyre-Morgan and Ely, who is a painter, were putting their own wages into the project.
“Neil was painting and decorating companies’ buildings to get lights, doing anything we can to try and source stuff to get the film made,” the filmmaker says. “It was pretty grassroots filmmaking to be honest.”
One major theme that Departures tackles is body image, especially in the queer community. It’s another element that came from Eyre-Morgan himself.
“I’ve always felt quite body conscious in the gay community. I’ve always struggled with my weight up and down, and been very aware of it,” he tells me. The decision to include such a difficult, personal topic came from the realisation that queer cinema rarely showcases different types of bodies. Instead, there’s one body type that shows up on screen again and again.
“I think there’s quite a lot of people like David Tag’s character in it, who are very well kept, very muscly,” the writer ponders.
“I find it more difficult to stay in shape, it’s an ongoing battle. Because the film is born from so much truth, I think it’s just me pouring myself into it, and that’s come from that.”
Suggested product
Film Stories issue 53 gift bundle: Magazine + Nic Cage scratch poster + Nic Cage coasters!
£30.00
Ely and Eyre-Morgan met over a decade ago when they used to date. Eyre-Morgan admits to “absolutely raging” after the break-up but the filmmakers later reconnected and decided to combine their creative powers. Working with someone like Ely also helped Eyre-Morgan with such a personal role.
“He’s brilliant working with actors, and I think he got a really good performance out of me. I felt [I was] in safe hands, because I’ve known him for so long, so I could trust him,” Eyre-Morgan says.
While it was both challenging and therapeutic to act in the film as Benji, the work didn’t stop there. Eyre-Morgan would also spend weekends, when they weren’t shooting, editing the film. Editing often means watching hours of footage over and over again and stitching everything together. It can be an arduous process and in this case, Eyre-Morgan was watching himself on screen.
Read more: Queer coding is as old as Hollywood | How has it changed?
“I had to detach myself from it quite a bit when editing, and put an editor hat on,” he admits and describes being numb to it now, after watching Departures so many times over the whole process.
Eyre-Morgan also mentions that a few people, while not meaning anything by it, told him he looked a lot bigger on camera. “I think it’s so instilled in people when they see images, to comment on what somebody looks like, which obviously comes from the press and I think people feel safer to say it if they see it on screen.”
Queer films are still an anomaly, at least on the big screen. Things have certainly gotten better over the years, but queer films, especially by queer people, are still a rarity to see in your local Vue or Odeon. It’s certainly rare to see films with such graphic, realistic sex scenes, but the filmmaking duo never considered making Departures any other way.
“We just made it,” he shrugs. “I don’t think it was in our minds about sanitizing anything or changing anything. I think we just were telling what we were feeling.”
Departures isn’t the last time Ely and Eyre-Morgan will be collaborating either. The filmmaking duo is currently in the early stages of developing a new feature film, titled Inappropriate Adult, which they hope they can start filming later this year.
Inappropriate Adult will look at LGBTQ+ sex work, which Ely has experience in, according to Eyre-Morgan. With Anora just having won Best Picture at the Oscars, sex work seems to be something we’re much more open to discussing and Eyre-Morgan agrees.
“Neil can probably comment on it more than me, in terms of his experiences and opening up to that, but we want it to come from a place of truth and authenticity and just tell a story that we as filmmakers have felt and hope that translates onto the screen and hope people like it.”
Departures screens at BFI Flare on 23rd March. Buy tickets here.
