Little Ashes: Paul Morrison and Matthew McNulty interview

The director and star discuss their drama about the Madrid social scene in the 1920s that included Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel.

It has been five years since Wondrous Oblivion, the last film by director Paul Morrison. That was the story of a Jewish boy growing up in 1960s London and, in that respect, a very personal film. Before this, Morrison made his feature debut with Solomon and Gaenor, a cross-cultural romance filmed in English, Welsh and Yiddish that earned him an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Film. He also has a passion for art, which he explored in earlier documentaries like Bitter Earth (1989) and small-screen dramas including Degas and Pissarro Fall Out (1994). It was an interest in the surrealist movement that inspired his latest work Little Ashes.

Javier Beltrán as García Lorca and Robert Pattinson as Dalí.

Robert Pattinson, star of teen franchise Twilight, plays the artist Salvador Dalí opposite Spanish actor Javier Beltrán as the writer and revolutionary Federico García Lorca. The film investigates the complicated relationship between them which helped spawn great works of art and even greater misery at a time (the 1920s) when homosexuality was prohibited. Mancunian actor Matthew McNulty is caught between them as Luis Buñuel, the groundbreaking filmmaker of Un Chien Andalou (1929) who isn't as free-thinking as you might expect. (The 27-year-old was recently seen in popular BBC series Lark Rise To Candleford and will next appear in Ken Loach's footballing comedy drama Looking For Eric.)

McNulty talks to us about the trauma of being cast only three weeks before filming whilst Morrison reveals why getting Pattinson pre-Twilight was a stroke of luck. As he explains though, his biggest concern during filming was to keep his Spanish producers happy with a portrayal of their national heroes that was as sensitive and accurate as possible.

Little Ashes is released nationwide in UK cinemas on Friday 8th May 2009.

Interview and text: Stella Papamichael; Video: Stephen Bailey | Published 8th May 09