Written and directed by Moin Hussain, ‘Sky Peals’ opens in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 9 August 2024. The unconventional sci-fi drama is about alienation in modern Britain, shot on 35mm film, it stars rising talent Faraz Ayub (SCREW, SUSPICION, LINE OF DUTY), who was selected for the BAFTA Elevate initiative in 2019. Support comes from Natalie Gavin (ALI & AVA, THE ARBOR), Claire Rushbrook (ALI & AVA, SECRETS & LIES), Simon Nagra (LOVE WITHOUT WALLS, THREE GIRLS),Steve Oram(SIGHTSEERS, A DARK SONG) and Jeff Mirza(WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?, MOGUL MOWGLI).
In his mid-thirties, Adam works nightshifts at a burger restaurant in a motorway service station and lives a small and lonely life of isolation. When his estranged father, who had recently been trying to contact him, suddenly dies, Adam tries to piece together a picture of a man he never knew, who, his uncle tells him, believed he was ‘sent here from somewhere else’. With the strange black out episodes Adam has been experiencing lately, along with his inability to communicate and connect with people, he begins to wonder if his father was actually a being from another place. And if he was, what does that make Adam?
We have a one on one chat with Faraz who plays Adam.
Stephen: Faraz tell us a bit about your backstory as an actor for the guys at home who don’t know about you.
Faraz: I’ve been acting now for more than 10 years. I started off just kind of a jobbing actor. You know, I was at the the workshops and classes, and I’ve just kinda been out there, just hustling a lot a long time, and I’m just grateful to kind of get to this point where I’m being offered work now, which is interesting and work which is challenging and work where I get to kind of really showcase the acting. Initially, when I first started, it’s hard, it’s really funny to think about it, but it’s it was really, really hard out there for actors of color.
I’ve just kind of been one of these people that was just being in the background, kinda just coming along and hopefully now you know I get to show a little bit of some of the stuff that I can do.
Stephen: So your character Adam works night shift at a motorway service station, lives in a small lonely city, small lonely life. So not giving too much away, the father has a bit of a backstory there where he doesn’t actually feel part of where he’s living, and his son played by yourself starts to develop a similar story within that that world. So I guess my question for you is how did you get into the character of Adam? You carried it very well.
Farah: I appreciate that. Thank you, Stephen. Um, no. I’ve got no experience with any of the things that the character goes through at all. I would say there was a lot of rehearsals and we were lucky enough where we got to really work with Moin beforehand with a series of workshops where we really got to explore the character.
The rehearsals were a really great sort of education, and that was really great training for the film because that allowed us to really explore and you don’t really get that level of creativity always in this profession. The character really came out of that. I took character traits from people around me also and it was through that process, that the character was created.
Stephen: So the character himself, he’s convinced that he descends from an alien race to some extent. Do you do yourself believe in aliens?
Faraz: No. No. No. No.
None of that. I should say, yeah. Yeah. But, uh, um, no.
I mean, for me, it’s just a play on identity. You know? I mean I don’t personally believe in it, but it’s kind of, like, we’re all looking for who we are and where we are from and I think it kind of plays on that obviously to an extreme.
Stephen: And what was the casting process for the role? was it something that you got contacted about through your agent?
Faraz: Yeah. Through the agent at the time, um, I never knew Moin Hussain. We were unaware of each other. So it was basically the audition process. I went in several times, so it was kind of they’re they’re trying to find the right character or the right actor to play him, and they said they’d been through quite a lot of people.
The producers obviously want to see you do several scenes to see, and they wanna be sure whether you’re the right person for the part or not. So it was, yeah, it was quite arduous, actually, going back and forth and working on it and to be honest was probably creating this individual through these sessions.
Stephen: how far did the character differ from the audition phase to what what was actually delivered in the end? Were they quite similar to what your initial take was, or was it pushed a bit more or pulled back?
Faraz: I would say we turned it up a notch. There’s a certain rhythm of speaking that I brought in based on, like I said, the individual that I knew. I thought, okay maybe this might fit. But I think in terms of the insularness of the performance, I think that was probably sort of made more the character was made more insular, definitely more withdrawn, but, um, not by too much. It was more sort of the relationships he has with others and how much withdrawn he is that, uh, in terms of every day that we kind of brought into the final kind of process.
Stephen: Have you worked with Moin Hussain before this?
Faraz: I’ve never worked with Moin. I didn’t know too much about Moin before. I know that he’s done several shorts, and very much up and coming, really one to watch out for. But in terms of direction, Moin gives you a lot of creative freedom. I think he’s somebody that a lot of actors would love to work with because I think he’s somebody that allows for creative discussions where your voice is respected in terms of what you wanna bring, and then he kind of knows how to cultivate that and bring it out.
Faraz: But he definitely gave a lot of sort of creative freedom and was very open to ideas and things like that too in terms of where he saw the character and how much contributions that he wanted. It was great to have these discussions of character.
Stephen: Had you worked with the other cast members before either? Natalie Gavin or Claire Rushbrook.
Faraz: No. None of the cast. No. No. No.
I’ve got to know them, they’re all brilliant actors, but, no, I’ve never worked with any of them before.
Stephen: The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Did you go? What was that experience like?
Farah: It was amazing. It was an amazing, amazing experience. Yeah. I did go it was amazing. I honestly recommend everybody go there.
Faraz: It was just it’s sort of a fantastic experience, sort of celebrating the creativity and film, it’s great for celebrating creativity, and you know, really great sort of platform that allows great cinema to really shine and showcase this kind of new and exciting upcoming filmmakers. And, um, it was just kind of awesome to be in an environment which celebrates the range of cinema from around the world that we want to see and that I think there’s an appetite for.
Stephen: Who was kind of your inspiration growing up in the industry to say-look this is who I want to be like or aspire to be like.
Faraz: I I would say that Wesley Snipes was a big kind of influence on me growing up.
The early films that he’s in the early nineties, things like ‘New Jack City’ and in particular ‘King of New York’ were films that really stood out for me. I would say he was a big influence on me. His energy and his sort of sort of electric charisma that he had and just sort of confidence that he had and just that kind of era of movie star that he was inspiring. You know he’s celebrated amongst my peers a lot.
Riz Ahmed is doing very well. Uh, it’s good to see that and yeah, it’s just great to see all these young actors now that are have been given this opportunity.
Stephen: Just before we finish up, a couple last questions. Is there maybe a part 2? And the second question is, was there any parts in the movie that we didn’t see? anything that obviously ended up on the cutting room floor?
Faraz: Okay. I’ll answer your last question first. Yes. There was a lot you didn’t see. Uh, definitely, it was a lot longer.
We did a lot more filming. I actually was surprised to see I mean every single scene that you can imagine Yeah. How many how much more there was. Yeah. There literally was a lot more than that.
But you know the edit was perfect-independent movies are not necessarily seen by everyone, and I think the timing that they got it down for, I think it’s perfect. But there definitely was a lot more scenes that were cut, definitely, including some of the scenes that you see in there. I don’t wanna give any away but there definitely was for example, well, I’ll just say there’s a scene where she’s looking for a daughter, which was a lot longer as well.
Stephen: Oh yes and the first question was, um, will there be a sequel?
Faraz: It’s funny enough because I’m on set right now, uh, on something else that I’m doing, and, uh, I was just talking to one of the actors who said he wants to go and see it this week, he’s an up and coming actor, and he asked me if there will be a part two ‘I said hey you never know’ there might be a sequel, we’ll get you in.
SKY PEALS had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in Critics’ Week last autumn; its UK premiere was at the BFI London Film Festival.
Sky Peals is released in cinemas on 9 August and on BFI Player on 23 September.
