“When I first said I wanted Pete Postlethwaite for our film, everyone laughed because he was so out of our league. We’re complete nobodies and he’s an Oscar-nominated A-lister."
Franny Armstrong remembers what seemed like a pipe-dream, of getting the star of The Usual Suspects and In The Name of the Father, to appear in The Age of Stupid- a documentary set in the future looking back on the tragedy of this generation's failure to halt climate change, and this week announced as one of the finalists for the prestigious PUMA Creative Impact Award, which recognises documentary-making for its social impact.
Armstrong goes on, "But then I discovered from the local press that he was putting a wind turbine in his garden, saying “it’s everybody’s responsibility to do what they can about climate change”, and that was a life-changing moment for me.
“Pete Postlethwaite was the best actor of his generation because of his integrity - you can see it in every single performance - and climate change is the most important issue of our time. So it’s no coincidence that he came to be involved in our film, it wasn’t just luck.”
That was how Postlethwaite, who died earlier this year, came to be involved in what looks set to be this year’s An Inconvenient Truth. For former drummer and self-taught filmmaker Franny Armstrong, he was a godsend for a documentary that had been a labour of love for her since 2002.
” “As a filmmaker, it was an absolute no-brainer which issue I wanted to tackle,” explains Armstrong, who has previous documentary successes with Drowned Out (2003) and McLibel (2005).
“The challenge was bringing it into the mainstream, not just making something for signed-up environmental types.”
In testament to the determination of Armstrong and her producer partner Lizzie Gillett, The Age of Stupid has been through several different incarnations with varying success.
“We originally spent three years making a documentary with five interweaving characters all involved in the issue, trying to bring out the fact that there’s no right or wrong, and everyone’s connected, with their own point of view.
“Basically everyone who saw it who was interested in climate change thought it was fantastic and powerful, and everybody not into climate change thought it was a complete mess. So it was all a big disaster, and we had to go right back to the drawing board. There were definitely a few black months until we hit on the idea of setting it in the future and looking back.”
Even then, the plan had to be changed from making the main characters teenagers – what Armstrong realised would be unbearable, “going to the cinema to be lectured for wasting resources by a couple of angry brats” – another disaster. Finally, the production team realised they needed an older actor, who would show regret and sorrow that our present generation did so little to save the world.
This was evidently the right decision. Since the film was finished two years ago, The Age of Stupid has been the cornerstone of the 10:10 Campaign, aiming to cut carbon emissions by 10% in one year. The Campaign has been launched in 46 countries, with over 120,000 signing up, including companies from Microsoft to Tottenham Hotspur FC, governments including the UK, and cities from Paris to Mexico City.
Armstrong sits on the board of the Campaign, although she humbly recalls only that “one thing led to another”. While she rejects making a choice between filmmaker or activist – “I leave labels to other people” – her commitment is clear, defying even death threats from certain climate change sceptics, to continue her campaign.
“Climate change is the most important issue of our generation, and possibly that has ever affected humanity,” she says. “So to have people going out and doing something as a result of our film is very gratifying.
“This is what the award’s about. For me, I’m far more proud of being nominated for this award than if I’d been nominated for an Oscar - not that I know what feels like. This was my whole reason for making films, to help change the world.”
WATCH:
The Age of Stupid is one of the five finalists for the PUMA Creative Impact Award, which recognises the social impact of documentary-making. The winner will be announced in London on 11 October 2011. Each Friday, the Huffington Post UK will feature the finalists in turn - next week: Burma VJ.