ANYONE visiting Bottom Mossley over the past few weeks might have said it looked like a warzone.
Smoke, graffiti, and weaponry have overnight become a common sight off the edge of Manchester Road, where a maze of ramshackle huts and tents have sprung up on the nearby field.
But luckily the people of Tameside have little to fear from their sudden guests – a local team of indie actors working on a brand new apocalyptic flick.
The group from Ember Productions have so far spent nearly a year on their flagship movie, N.E.S.T. Project.
Filming has so far taken them from Mossley to Liverpool and the Lake District and beyond. Though a release date is yet to be confirmed, Ember Productions has confirmed the movie will be shown at next year’s Cannes Film Festival.
A solar flare careening into the Earth has left half of humanity starving, and the other half dead. In a desperate hunt for food, supplies, and power, the splintered fragments of humanity have joined together in a fight against ‘the Nest’, a government entity which holds enough power to save them – or to kill them all.
The field beside Manchester Road has been transformed from grassland to a winding hive of shelters, all hand built from palettes donated by local businesses.
Actor Johnny Wilson – who plays lead character Mako – says that businesses involved in the project will also be fully credited upon the film’s release – as will the local actors who have volunteered to get stuck in themselves.
“We’ve filmed everywhere,” he told The Correspondent. “We’ve had so many local businesses, and we like to get them involved. We’ve had food sponsors which have come along and helped feed the cast and crew and we give them a big shout out and credit in return.
“I’ve personally been camping here for 12 days,” he says. “We have our little campfire for the cast and crew who also stay, so it’s all been quite authentic and ‘method’.
“We’ve about ten here, and there’s a lot more on the way as well. We’ll have another 30 from an agency in Chester who have come to support, with a theatre company with children and stuff like that. They’re all being chaperoned to be part of the cast and crew.
“It’s really important for us to get local people involved, because we’re offering people an opportunity to get involved in the movie industry. If they’ve had no experience before and have always wondered how to get into it, they can just come along and learn.
“That’s also how we’ve just grown and grown and grown from that. We’ve had over 300 people be involved from all over the UK.
“We’ve had people flying from Europe, composers flying from Milan. We’ve had people coming from everywhere just to support us and be involved in this amazing project. It’s been great.”
Formerly a warehouse worker, Johnny’s own start in the film industry had come only three years ago, after appearing as an extra on upcoming Mancunian film ‘The Geezers’, starring Shaun Ryder.
He added: “I’d seen an advertisement for a supporting artist on another film, and I thought, ‘I’ll just turn up’, and it was a film called The Geezers. It was a Manchester-based film, which has not been finished yet, with Shaun Ryder and Bez and some of the big names.
“That’s how I started, as an extra in that. And since then, I just sat in the background, I watched, I learned, had people showing me what to do with stunts and fights and things like that, and the director said, ‘You’ve got a great look, good personality, would you like to come back?’
“I came back and it’s just gone from there, and it’s just opened so many doors for me. I’ve been involved in so many different films and productions all over the UK. And now, it’s all about meeting new people all over the country and just showing them that I’m here to help them, too.”
For now, Johnny hopes his first brush with the stars won’t be his last, as he and the team look ahead to the 80th Cannes Film Festival next May.
He said: “The end game of this is to premiere at Cannes Film Festival. We’ll have all the cast and crew and have a great big celebration on the red carpet at Cannes with everybody welcome to join us.
“But at the moment we’re concentrating on these scenes. We want to reach out to local businesses and local people to get in touch with us to become a part of Ember Productions and part of this amazing journey.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to be in the movies and to see yourself in the cinema next year. We’re making history here in Mossley.”
Filming has now wrapped up in Mossley, though Ember Productions do plan to return with just a month left of filming.
Updates can be found via their Facebook page.