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On location [The Rocket Post]
For centuries the remote island of Taransay
was known only to a few, but the Castaways changed all that.
Now the makers of a film about a real life 1930s rocket scientist
have come ashore for the ideal location
CROUCHED next to his equipment on a deserted
beach, the film sound recordist pulls off his earphones in exasperation.
He complains that it is just too quiet and that all he can hear
is the sound of his tape-recorder going round and round. Accustomed
to the background hubbub of traffic and overhead aeroplanes on
more urban shoots, he can't get used to the eerie silence that
now envelops him.
We are all huddled next to him on an idyllic
white stretch of sand which looks like something out of Castaway
2000. In fact, it is something out of Castaway 2000. We are watching
the filming of The Rocket Post, a movie currently being made
on Taransay, the far-flung home for the whole of last year to
the 30-odd hardy stars of BBC1's hit reality TV show. "There
is a Hebridean silence," enthuses Mark Shorrock, the film's
producer as he leads me away from the beach and up the hillside
to survey the tranquil island which has been uninhabited - BBC
docu-soapers apart - for several decades. "It is a total,
peaceful serenity broken only by birdsong or the lapping of waves."
The Rocket Post tells the amazing true
story of an idealistic, and decidedly eccentric, German scientist,
Gerhard Zucher (played by Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen), who came
to the Outer Hebrides in the 1930s to develop a rocket to transport
mail between the inaccessible islands. The need for such a device
arose when, during a wild storm, a young mother got into difficulty
giving birth to the second of her twins on the island of Scarp
(nearby Taransay is doubling for Scarp in the movie because the
owner of Scarp forbade filming there).
On account of the high seas, no one was
able to get a message to the doctor on the larger island of Harris,
and the woman had to wait three days before travelling across
and delivering the second twin. When Zucher arrived in this remotest
corner of Scotland, he had to deal with local hostility not only
to new technology, but also to Germans - during the First World
War the Highlands and Islands had lost, per capita, the greatest
number of soldiers in the British Isles.
In the film, matters are further complicated
when the mistrusted foreigner starts to fall in love with the
beautiful local schoolteacher, Catherine MacKay (played by Shauna
Richings Macdonald, a newcomer who has taken a term out of her
studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama to appear
in this film).
The script, by James MacInnes and William
Morrissey, captures precisely the sense of a tightly-knit community
that unravels once it comes into contact with a magnetic outsider.
Shorrock sums it up as "Romeo and Juliet set on a Scottish
island."
The producer felt that such a gripping
story was just crying out to be made into a film. "It's
almost unbelievable that the British government would want to
send a German rocket scientist to the islands at that point in
time. It really is a case where true life has thrown up a story
that is more remarkable than anything you could invent."
The production has the precision and scale
of a major military operation. Fifty builders spent four weeks
on Taransay constructing a facsimile of a 1930s Highland village
complete with jetty and church hall. Everything from building
materials to fresh water had to be transported from Harris on
barges and helicopters. But it was worth it: the results are
breathtakingly convincing.
Gary Lewis, who plays Jimmy Roach, a Glaswegian
poacher, is knee deep in clear blue water, pointing his mobile
phone at the sea to convince the caller that he is actually on
Taransay. At the end of the call, the actor who played the father
in Billy Elliot comes over and pays tribute to the builders.
"The unsung heroes of this film are the art department and
the construction team. They should be lined up on the beach and
each presented with a bottle of Talisker whisky. The first day
we were here, the producers brought the islanders over from Harris
and Lewis, and the old locals were arguing that these houses
had been on Taransay for ages. Even the island's owner said:
'I didn't know I had these buildings on my land.' That's a real
compliment to the builders."
The shoot itself is no less of a logistical
headache, as 150 people have to be ferried onto the island each
day, using just four speedboats (the exhilarating, white-knuckle
trip over makes you feel like you are in the opening titles of
Miami Vice). The production base on Taransay resembles the camp
in M*A*S*H - all cavernous marquees draped in camouflage netting.
Provisions are in place for the cast and crew to overnight in
the dining hall marquee if the weather turns nasty during the
course of a day. Military invasions have been carried out with
less paraphernalia, and it is no surprise to learn that the Paras
have been involved in the planning of this production.
None of that will be visible on screen,
however. The Rocket Post aims to tell a simple story set against
a simple backdrop. Looking out over a scene that might be an
out-take from a particularly enticing Bounty advert, it is easy
to see what makes the island so photogenic (and what the BBC's
Castaways found so intoxicating about Taransay - unable to tear
themselves away, some returned earlier this year to help tidy
up the island).
Perched on a rock above a sea of limpid
blueness, Shorrock underlines that for authenticity's sake it
is essential that the events are shot in the area where they
actually happened. You can't, he contends, mock up the sheer
tranquillity of the Outer Hebrides.
"People think of Great Britain as
one big, overcrowded concrete jungle," he says, "but
then you come somewhere like this and see that it is almost a
wilderness. This place is unique because the sense of isolation
is so special. It also has an austere beauty; it combines Mediterranean
seas with Highland scenery. That doesn't exist anywhere else
in the world."
The production designer, Alison Riva, agrees,
chipping in with: "The sea sparkles here like it does in
Greece. It's like someone has thrown a handful of diamonds onto
the surface."
Not since Local Hero has a feature film
attempted to reflect the strangely transfixing ambience of the
Highlands and Islands on screen. And on the evidence of the rushes,
The Rocket Post has succeeded.
The actors have certainly found being on
Taransay an addictive experience.
"It does something to you,"'
declares Kevin McKidd. The Elgin actor, best known for his roles
in Trainspotting and Small Faces, plays Dr Thomas McKinnon, Zucher's
rival for Catherine's affections.
"You come to work through such beautiful
and untouched landscape that everything else just seems minor.
Being here gives you a good sense of perspective. You can get
very uptight on a film set, but the landscape here is so awesome
that it just humbles you. It helps you see what really matters
in life and stops you being obsessed with trivia like whether
or not you've got a double chin."
The Rocket Post will be released next year
James Rampton
Scotland on
Sunday 17 June 2001
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