FACTUAL
Morris and producer Bernadette Higgins set about developing relationships with the two victims, Pernilla and Cecilie. By the time the cameras rolled, they were all very close. “It helped that the women in the film are of a similar age to me.” Together with producer Bernie Higgins, they spent hours talking on Zoom, including all parties sharing details of their dating history. “We were just very conversational, very chatty, us sharing things about ourselves and our love life and them sharing things about their love life,” says Morris.
Documentary as movie
“I know that there are some directors who tend to step back from speaking to contributors before they get them in front of the camera. But I think in this case, it was really important that they understood exactly how the process was going to be. And we explained at length that they were going to have to take themselves back to how they felt at the time.”
These pre interviews and the extensive social media archive helped Morris to draft a script which ran to 140 pages. Her mantra in her approach was that the documentary needed to feel like a movie. “For me, it’s
all about how can we elevate it to feel like you don’t need to watch the movie of this, because you’ve already watched the movie.”
As in all Raw productions, the pacing and narrative twists were carefully thought through. “This is a retrospective story, we were very carefully thinking about how it unfolds, and how it would if it was scripted.”
throughout. Each character had their own theme tune, whose tone changed as the story darkened.”
In some cases that meant telling the story through social media. Editor Julian Hart and assistant producer Jean-Mark Bou Mansour crafted nearly a third of the film in the edit by bringing to life and screen recording the phone messages of the victims and Leviev. “They created over a thousand of those graphics, just tirelessly typing,” says Morris.
Lover turns monster
Music also plays a big role in the film, with a soaring score composed by Jessica Jones accompanying the many plot developments. “The film goes from being a romance, into a horror, to a revenge thriller,” says Morris. “So thematically, the music had to change
ABOUT HOW IT UNFOLDS, AND HOW IT WOULD IF IT WAS SCRIPTED
THIS IS A RETROSPECTIVE STORY, WE ARE VERY CAREFULLY THINKING
Whilst initially the production reached out to Leviev, his insistence on being paid, as well as a series of faked media which he sent Morris, put them off interviewing him, choosing instead to allow his WhatsApp trail to depict him.
This trail includes some chilling voice messages that Leviev sends to a third victim,
Ayleen, once she recognises him for the con artist he is. “Before we got hold of Ayleen’s WhatsApp, we had never heard him lose it in the way that he does with her,” says Morris. These voice messages helped cement the production team’s decision to depict Simon through his phone. “We knew he was going to be in the film, and we knew we didn’t want the film to be a platform for him,” says Morris.
“There’s definitely a character arc for Simon in the film, where he starts off as a loving boyfriend and ends up as a bit of a monster.”
televisual.com 21 BD
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