We sat down with Hereford Films VP Adam Stephen Kelly  to discuss his upcoming projects and get a steer on the current projects he is working on!

Earlier this week, a teaser poster was released for your new film Reckoning Day. What can you tell us about the film?

Reckoning Day revolves around a family man with an incredibly dark secret and a rather horrendous past that comes back to haunt him – and his family – in a major way. It’s a home invasion thriller but not in the typical sense. It’s really the polar opposite of my last film, Kill Kane, which was also based around a home invasion. I’m looking forward to working with an excellent cast that includes Chris Ellison, Janine Nerissa, Nick Moran, Danielle Harold and Red Madrell.

You mention how different Reckoning Day is to your last film, but how different is it to other genre films?

Reckoning Day is much more of a drama with a sort of gangster movie window dressing. I almost want audiences to anticipate somewhat of a by-the-numbers London gangland picture, and be pleasantly surprised by what they actually get, which, as written at least, is something far deeper than the usual genre fare. Reckoning Day has its fair share of twists and turns and I think it’s pretty hard to predict where the story’s going and where it takes the characters. As you can tell, I don’t want to say too much yet!

What made you want to become a filmmaker?

I think it all stems from my childhood holidays to Florida. I went several times with my family throughout the ‘90s and they were all very much theme park holidays. We’d spend the whole time at Disney, MGM and Universal Studios, so between the three parks and the rides, props, backlots and sets, there was a hell of a lot of film history there. For me, the term ‘movie magic’ was exactly that when I was a kid, and I always saw films as being these epic and enchanting, almost otherworldly experiences. I think those times in Florida are what planted the seed, but I didn’t actually consider making films until I was about 16. I’ve always had a flare for writing, so as far as a potential career at the time it made perfect sense to pursue something in that field, I just didn’t know what other than journalism. When I was about 17, I saw a film called Disturbia, which is basically a remake of Rear Window, and for some reason I came across the script online the next day and read it from beginning to end. It was the first script I ever read, and immediately I thought it was something that I wanted to try, so I started reading more and more scripts. Before long, I was adapting short stories I had written into my own scripts, and it all just went from there really.

What is your proudest achievement to date?

Without a doubt, my short film Done In. It was my first produced script as well as my directorial debut and the response was genuinely incredible. To this day I’ve still never seen a negative review. Some truly incredible people who I’ve grown up huge fans of, like Mark Hamill, have seen the film and given me the kindest of words. It’s really amazing, and five years later, the film is still finding audiences. It just keeps going. I’ve been invited to discuss it in classrooms, university students have written essays on it, and some really notable people have told me that they use it as examples of how to tell a story in a really short space of time. I could honestly talk about that film all day long, and hearing reactions to it – and to the ending in particular – never gets old. I’ve actually seen reaction videos on YouTube and people gasp and their jaws drop at the ending. It’s satisfying to say the least! The film has also taken on a different meaning to me recently, as I lost my dad last Christmas and he was so immensely proud of me having made that film. Of course, parents are always going to be proud of such things, but he absolutely, truly loved it. He was its biggest fan and just wanted everyone to see it. He thought it was brilliant. I still have – and now cherish – my original DVD of the film in a plastic case which he scrawled ‘Done In’ on in biro.

What was it like working with Guy Henry on Done In?

I have all the time in the world for Guy. He’s a fantastic actor and a fantastic person. I just saw him the other day at a little housewarming party he had at his beautiful new home in South West London. He’s a very funny man and a true pro and I would love to have him in every film I make. He was originally going to be in Kill Kane but unfortunately his busy Holby City schedule made it impossible. It was an absolute delight working with him on Done In, and I could’ve have asked for a better person to be the first actor I ever directed!

Which do you prefer: writing or directing?

They’re both very different challenges in their own right so it’s hard to really compare the two, but I’ve certainly written far more than I have directed. I guess the fundamental difference between them is that you can essentially write whatever you want, whenever you want, but obviously you can’t do that with directing. Directing a film is certainly a bigger undertaking than writing, but they’re both huge jobs with huge responsibilities.

You’re currently training to be a pro wrestler. How do you balance your filmmaking career with your grappling studies?

Filmmaking and pro wrestling each require a colossal amount of passion and dedication, so I think it would be extremely hard to balance the two if I was initally pursuing them both at the same time, but now that I have a foothold in the film industry and I’m actively making films, it’s something that I’m realistically able to do. The hustle never ends in the film business and you’re always busy and working on new things, but I’m very much part of the industry, so I’m not chasing it in quite the same way as I am with wrestling. Wrestling is just another facet of who I am and if I didn’t pursue it I know that I would regret it forever. Chris Jericho is someone who I look up to immensely because he never just talks about anything that he wants to do, he simply goes and does it. He has so many interests and has wanted to achieve something in just about all of them, from wrestling and writing, to acting and music, and he very much has. He’s always been a big inspiration to me. Of course, I’m only training, and in the grand scheme of things it’s pretty early on in the process, but I seriously love every second of it and I feel distinctly privileged every time I get to climb into a ring. A wrestling ring is hallowed ground to me.

Who are your 3 favourite wrestlers?

I always find these kinds of questions difficult to answer, but I’ll have to say Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart and Randy Orton. Michaels could really do it all inside the ring and everything he did looked so smooth. He really knew how to tell a story, as did Bret Hart. He and Michaels were pivotal in ushering out the Hulk Hogan era back in the early ‘90s in what was the WWF at the time, and really laid the groundwork for the kind of wrestling we see today where athleticism means more than size and strength. As for Orton, he’s probably got the best look of any wrestler I’ve ever seen and is one the purest wrestling bad guys of all time. Everything he does means something. There is no wasted motion. Every movement seems premeditated and meticulous. There is logic and meaning behind everything he does.

Would you like to make a film about wrestling?

It may seem like a natural fit for me to make such a film, but I don’t think so, no. I mean, what do you do? I think if I did it would have to be something fairly serious, but who’s going to top The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke? There aren’t many wrestling films, but that’s definitely the best by far. I do have a soft spot for Ready to Rumble from the late ‘90s. It’s actually pretty fun. It’s completely ridiculous but in a good, knowing way. Other than The Wrestler, the most mainstream wrestling movie to date is probably Fighting With My Family, which comes out next year, so it’ll be interesting to see how well that does as it’s a biopic. I think biopics are really the only way you can go these days as far as wrestling films go. There’s a Vince McMahon movie in the works which is probably the ultimate wrestling biopic there could ever be, other than a Hulk Hogan movie, which seems like something that will happen at some stage.

You have said Jaws is your favourite film – would you like to see it get a(nother) sequel or remake?

Absolutely not. There was a time many years ago when I sort of wanted to see a sequel, but that ship has definitely sailed. I don’t want to see a Jaws film with a CG shark. I’m generally not averse to remakes, but I think there are some films you really can’t touch. I’m fine with a remake if it’s going to do something different with the original story rather than just rehashing it, but films like Jaws no one is ever going to be able to top, so what’s the point? I don’t think there’s any need to exploit the Jaws brand with new films because killer shark movies have been doing pretty damn well for about 20 years solid now. Just having the concept of a killer shark is really all you need. The Meg was one of the biggest films of the summer, and I bet 99% of everyone who saw it had no idea it was based on a book. The film’s success was nothing to do with the book – people just wanted to see a huge shark eating people.