Damian Hurley has followed in the footsteps of his famous mother Elizabeth Hurley as he entered the world of acting as a teenager, starring in The Royals. Now, the model has turned his attention to directing as he releases his feature debut Strictly Confidential, starring Elizabeth and with her also attached as Creative Producer.
The thriller sees the Austin Powers actor take on the role of Lily, who is grieving the suicide of her daughter Rebecca (Lauren McQueen). On the anniversary of Rebecca's death, Lily invites Rebecca's college friends, including her best friend Mia (Georgia Lock), to her home in the Caribbean, but becomes increasingly suspicious over the circumstances of Rebecca's death. As Strictly Confidential is released on digital platforms in the UK, FILMHOUNDS speaks to Damian about making the leap from writer to director, working with family, and the sex scene controversy that has dogged his film.
Strictly Confidential is coming to digital release platforms on May 13. Can you tell me how you came up with the idea for the film?
I came up with the idea for this when I was 17 after I lost a very close friend of mine to suicide. It was a devastating time for me and all my friends. We were so young and it was the first time we really experienced loss. And I was moved by seeing the reactions of people around me who just couldn't come to terms with what had happened. I just thought it was a fascinating, horrifying, and such complex way of being, so much so that I sat down and came up with a story. And then my biological father passed away, also by suicide, A year later, so I definitely understood the idea of refusal to accept that it happened. I sat down, I wrote the story, and Strictly Confidential was born.
It's not my mission to make the next Godfather, Strictly Confidential is fun. Although there are some very heavy themes, it's not meant to this gritty award contender. That's never what the film was meant to be. We made it in a short time with not a lot of money, but I love it and I hope people do too. I have been writing and directing little short films since I was old enough to pick up a camera. When I got my first camcorder, all of my family and friends were forced to be in a Damian Hurley production.
As well as writing the film, you directed it and this is your feature debut. What was it like jumping from the writing room to behind the camera?
The transition from writer to director was intense, and one that I loved. The transition from actor to director was something I totally wasn't prepared for. As an actor, you're meant to lack awareness of a camera and act. As a director, your job is to be aware of every aspect of the camera so it was very strange to not just surrender myself to the material like when I am acting and instead analyse it.
The film is a mystery, and as such you need to reveal information at just the right time for maximum impact. How did you navigate that?
It's so tricky. When I read a good thriller suspense book or film, I'm always blown away as I can never guess the ending. While you don't want to give away what's going to come and you don't want to give people enough breadcrumbs that they can work it out, you also want to give enough that they can understand they're meant to be working something out, and not just be confused. It's a balance and I'm very pleased with how this film's come across. When we had our UK premiere, when one of the twists came into it everyone was genuinely shocked, which was such a genuine relief for me. It's really nice and rewarding to hear that people are responding to the mystery and what it's meant to be.
You have your mother star as Lily in this film. What was it like working together?
She was great throughout. It was really important to me to have someone who was unequivocally ‘Team Damian' coming into this. As soon as it was greenlit, I asked her if she would come on as Creative Producer. Everyone always tries to advise against working with family, but for me, I think I only want to work with family. It's an insanely supportive environment and there are no agendas. If someone says something, there's no slight or secret and they only want the film to be as good as possible. And that was mine and my mum's shared goal throughout Strictly Confidential. I had a wonderful experience working with my mum and she's been so ludicrously supportive of me for my whole childhood. Going into this I didn't expect the magnitude of logistical hell that is thrown at you for every conceivable angle of filmmaking. And the advice my mum gave me that has stuck with me is ‘Every single making of every movie is a war.' And it's true. I thought that was everyone being a little melodramatic at first. But no, no.
There's been a lot of discourse concerning Strictly Confidential and Lily's sex scene in the film. What has that been like for you? Was it a backlash you expected or did it take you by surprise?
When one makes a tiny, independent movie – we shot this in 18 days – the joy of streamers and press is that people actually get to hear about these movies and see them. Anyone sitting down and watching the film realises that the fuss about those scenes is ludicrous. There's no nudity and not much sex. So for me, I'm thrilled with anything that gets people to sit down and watch the movie, we've worked so hard on it that to share with the world is just such a privilege.
Strictly Confidential comes at a time when studies have found there are fewer and fewer sex scenes in films. Why do you think that is that audiences seem increasingly uncomfortable with these scenes?
Actors have been exploited for years throughout films. When you watch something from 10, 20, or 30 years ago, you can see ludicrous exploitation that just wouldn't fly today. And I think that's a phenomenal change. We can all read when we watch a movie and someone's topless for absolutely no reason we think ‘Oh, hang on, that actually isn't okay'. I had no nudity clauses put into every single one of my actors, my mother, into their contract. I didn't want my debut to have any sort of exploitation. There's not much sex, it's mostly a film about betrayal. None of it is sex for the sake of sex. And I think that is the biggest and most positive change that backlash towards over-sexualized films.
Lastly, what is next for you?
I have a very exciting project in the pipeline but I'm not allowed to say too much. It sees me as director and I'm really excited about the script – it's my favourite thing I've ever written. I wrote it quite a long time ago when I was pretty young and I've been working on it for years now. It looks like we're about to be greenlit touch wood. Hopefully, I can come back and we can speak again when I'm promoting the next one.
Strictly Confidential is available on digital release platforms now.
