It's only rock and roll...Ralph Little and JJ Feilds talk 'Telstar'!

Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll, the three must have’s that any adventurer going into the music business may well run in on (well if what we see is anything to go by anyway), with latest cinema viewing, ‘Telstar’ it’s clear that sometimes you get it in spades.

Directed by ‘Lock, Stock’ original, Nick Moran ‘Telstar’ is the true story of legendary record producer and maverick musical genius Joe Meek, creator of a string of #1 hits in the early 60s including ‘Telstar’ – the biggest selling record of its time and the first British single ever to top the US charts.  Named after the first communications satellite which launched in 1962, Meek’s pioneering single went into orbit later that year, topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic for Meek’s band The Tornados, all from a modest flat on the Holloway Road.  Despite his musical illiteracy, Meek went on to create the weird and wonderful recordings that earned him iconic status in the world of British pop until depression, heartbreak and paranoia ultimately led to a cataclysmic downfall.

Set in the London music scene of the early 1960s, the film boasts an eclectic cast including Kevin Spacey, Ralf Little, James Corden, Pam Ferris and JJ Feilds alongside a tour-de-force from Con O’Neill in the lead role.  They are joined by a host of musicians including ex-Libertine Carl Barât and front-man of The Darkness, Justin Hawkins. Sixties rockers Clem Cattini, Jess Conrad, John Leyton and Chas Hodges who recorded with Meek, appear in cameo roles and are portrayed on screen by James Corden, Nigel Harman, Callum Dixon and Ralf Little.
 

Little admits he has an interesting relationship with ‘Telstar’ that goes back a few years. Being introduced to it for the first time courtesy of a friend going to a test reading before the play had even made its full arrival on stage, Little sat in awe amongst an audience of twenty all watching a story unravel that (at that time) the actor didn’t think would develop to anything other than the stage. Now after 11 years and massive critical acclaim Little is thrilled to see it finally on the big screen.

Feilds who plays Tornado’s bassist Heinz Burt however, was not as keen with his first encounter. Son of Tim Feilds, member of the 60s band, The SpringFeilds and not quite having the musical talent pass from father to son, Feilds’ idea of getting behind a microphone with a guitar wasn’t on the top of his to do list (particularly after his Dad laughed his head off at the news of what role he was down for). Considering the massive musical aspect the film had, the actor was worried that the lack of musical talent would prove a bit of a problem, but as Feilds explained Moran thought this was actually key to the character.

“Nick phoned me up and I basically admitted, ‘look Nick I can’t play the guitar – I’m tone deaf, I can’t sing at all’. ‘Perfect’, he said, ‘Heinz was rubbish’ (laughs).”

Willing to put at least some effort into the musical side eventually Feilds learnt the guitar, now finally coming to terms with the result it would have on his fingers.

“It really hurts your fingers, does it ever stop hurting?”

When it came to Little getting the part of Chaz, the actor appreciated that there was a responsibility to be carried when playing him. Without sounding too cold, Little explained...

“Anytime you play a character and they’re still around you’ve got to give them some respect. Chaz was keen to get involved and was delighted I was doing it, which was great as you’re always worried what they might think – course it might be because he was just really chuffed as I’m quite thin (laughs).”

Little made it clear how he tried to have plenty of meetings with Chaz to get an idea about the man that he would eventually portray observing particular mannerisms and paint a decent picture of the star that would eventually add his name to ‘‘n’ Dave’.

“I just wanted to sit down and hear the stories, the history and the details that’d be necessary. When we first met he sent me an address to come and meet him – didn’t know anything about it. It was a pie and mash shop in East London. I was having pie, mash and jellied eels with Chaz out of Chaz n’ Dave – it doesn’t get cocknier than this.”

Ralph even managed to take away some very important lessons from the British legend...
 
“Chaz actually said something once that kind of stuck with me; I asked him what it was, what was it that you guys were doing and why, he said ‘you know what we just wanted to play music and have fun – you’re generation didn’t invent lads. We did.’

“They’ve all got great senses of humour.” Feilds said, admitting that their liveliness is still as strong now as it was then.

“This is from a time when it was the beginning of the bad boys of rock n roll. They loved certain scenes and still debated over the events they’re connected, but in a jokey sense. They used to argue about who won this fight or who did that and what Heinz did, they loved the fun and the humour of it.”

JJ  was in a much more difficult situation compared to Ralph Little, stepping into the shoes of a man who had long since passed, there were no conversations, no get together between actor and the man he was supposed to play, for JJ it was intense DVD sessions and a new doo...

“Becoming Heinz was something that I’m mostly thankful to Nick for, the script he wrote and the massive preparation. We all had these packs to each one was jammed with DVDs, photographs, literature.  I just had my DVDs on a loop, and just talked to myself trying to find Heinz voice, I drove myself completely nuts. Until I felt I was talking to myself – then I peroxided my hair – yeah, my performance is all in the hair (laughs).”

JJ went on to discuss Moran’s desperation to get the story told, even resulting to the most daring lengths...

“We went to Holloway Road and I don’t know if we should say this but we didn’t have the rights, so Nick had a bunch of people dressed up as policeman cutting off the traffic (laughs) – I didn’t know, took him aside and he just explained, ‘yeah none of these are policeman’ (laughs)...”

...proper guerrilla filmmaking – love it.

“...As for the majority of the sets”, JJ continued, “they were all filmed close together, (six in total) to add to this claustrophobia. Nick actually stayed there most nights to get it right, plan the shots etc –it was such a labour of love for him.”

One of the surprising highlights of the film is that between the likes of James Corden and Ralph Little there’s a brief appearance from some fella named Kevin Spacey – who, judging by the lads, was kind of a big deal – even if he was ginger.

“Kevin is a great believer in British cinema and theatre and this reflects his support for it,” Feilds explained, “he now lives in London and runs the Old Vic so he’s a firm believer in British film and talent.”

But as dedicated an artist as Spacey was, was it still daunting to see Keyser Soze walk on stage looking like a ‘Postman Pat’ character?

“Of course. I was really excited,” Little says. “He walked on to the set and gave an outstretched hand and I didn’t quite clock that it was him, there he was in this ginger wig and this ginger ‘tash and said, ‘Ralph, right? I’m Kevin,’ and I was gone, I was just like ‘uh, yeah I know actually’ (laughs). Kevin was brilliant, we’d finish a scene and then go off and he was really one of the lads – we’d have a laugh a bit of banter, he didn’t have any of that stereotypical nonsense.”

As you’d expect in any film it seems that with this cast there was no time to be starstruck, the story they were planning to tell was an important one. “It was that kind of excitement about forging a new path into new territory had never been done before it was such a massive deal,” Ralph explained, “I mean, I think my generation always thought that the Beatles started rock music but after this [filming ‘Telstar’] it was kind of re-education, there couldn’t have been a Beatles without Joe Meek, he was almost entirely responsible for laying the platform to help British rock grow.

“He’s still a hero to the early recorders,” JJ adds. “They don’t know how he managed to record sound on two track, he was the first to split sounds into different rooms. He was the first to separate tracks which we now take for granted.”

But like so many innovators before him, Meek would eventually hit dark times and the gradual shift between the good times and bad was something that was carefully handled amongst those involved as JJ explained...

“We took every scene independently, which you have to do with any film that has a huge journey to it. You see a scene that’s hilariously funny and just live that for whatever it is, and then with people like Con O’Neill (who plays Meek), threading underneath. To gently season it with what’s to come, that’s the brilliance of Nick’s directing, that’s probably because he lived with it for so long.”

Little added “Con has been with it just as long as Nick has and to go through that every night – in fact the film must have been a breeze, at least you got a breather every night. That was so great about his performance; you can all be doing these comedic scenes and having a laugh, then Con makes it easy to remind you how dark it’s going to go. When you’ve got someone delivering that kind of performance it’s not hard to just slot everything else into place. I mean I’ve said a couple of times how we always used to go off and have a laugh – but that was with the exception of Con. Not because he wasn’t up for a, but it’d be a case of him needing time to himself. He worked hard, don’t think for a minute because he’d done it for this long he didn’t have to work, he worked hard and it shows.”

‘Telstar’ opens this week in cinemas.