Graham Henman's directorial debut, Bone In The Throat, features Gossip Girl's star, Ed Westwick in a highly overstretched crook tale. Filled with delicious dishes, amazing people and horrifying murder, Henman's adaptation of Anthony Bourdain's 1995 mystery novel, develops a rich, clever and humorous gangster film we've yet to see in a very long time.
This past weekend, director Graham Henman and screenwriter, Mark Townend attended the 2015 South by Southwest film festival in Austin, TX for the world premiere of their new film. With new ideas in mind, transitioning Bourdain's novel into a movie wasn't so easy.
"Actually, we completely fought with the book if you really wanna know," said Heman. "The book is great and the premise of the book is really great, so that's what we did. We took that, but the character's in the book were not really connected. There was a disconnection between them. We wanted everyone to be related in some shape or form to all the events that were going on, so for us that was a better dramatic storytelling."
Based on Bourdain's novel, the film is a gritty fast paced story about a young ambitious chef, who is mixed up with the East End London mob. While showing off his culinary skills, he finds himself stuck as a witness to a murder in his own kitchen. Westwick, who plays the young chef Will Reeves, must then try to keep him and his girlfriend (Vanessa Kirby) safe from both the mob and the cops.
Working with talented stars, like Westwick and Kirby was incredibly amazing to Henman.
"I got to work with just killer, stella, fantastic British talent, who are total professionals, they show up for work, they give great notes and they're just great. They all become your besfriend. It was a really fun experience, said Henman."
Bone In The Throat
Narrative Spotlight, World Premiere: Wednesday, March 18, at SXSW Austin's Topfer Theatre.