10:32am Friday 14th March 2008
By Simon Fitzjohn
Art-house acceptance and multiplex adulation are generally considered mutually exclusive.
The chin-stroking brigade who over-analyse the works of Jean-Luc Godard or Michaelangelo Antonioni would probably recoil in horror if asked to share a cinema with the popcorn-munching masses reared on Saw and Hostel.
But up-and-coming British director Paul Andrew Williams is aiming to prove that both can co-exist peacefully as he unleashes his follow-up to the lauded London To Brighton, black comedy The Cottage.
Williams becomes the visiting professor at Kingston University's film department later this year and, for The Cottage, he has taken a sharp turn from the urban angst of his debut to a wildly comic, gory scare-ride.
And the London-based director is quick to offer the reasons for his change of genre.
Williams says: "I like to go to the cinema to watch different types of films. Depending on what mood I'm in, I like comedies, serious films, popcorn nonsense, so wondered why I had to stick to the same type.
"For me, it's always about the story - if I like the story, I'll do it."
The Cottage tells the twisty tale of two bungling brothers, played by Andy Serkis and Reece Shearsmith, who seek shelter in a countryside home after a botched kidnapping of a mob boss's daughter, played by Jennifer Ellison.
Unfortunately for the siblings, the cottage and its farmland hold a sinister secret which is gradually revealed.
Refreshingly for a young director, Williams is eager to deflect praise, insisting he had very simple aims.
He adds: "Horror films have so many identifiable moments.
"I haven't come up with anything original in this film - it's about a man who lives in the woods and cuts people's faces off to wear as a mask, after all!
"I have not tried to claim I have come up with a fantastic concept - it is just supposed to be fun."
With all the praise lavished on his big-screen debut back in 2006, Williams is acutely aware of the pressures.
But he insists he will simply take everything in his stride: "I know the movie will never live up to expectations. If I'd have done the same film I'd have been damned but now people can't fathom why I have gone and done something completely different.
"I believe in my work and, if other people like it, then great."
Williams will be hoping to pass on his new-found knowledge at Kingston University's film department from September. And he admits he's relishing the prospect.
He concludes: "As a filmmaker, I'm always learning and observing, so I'm hoping to gain as much from my students as they will learning how I launched my career."
The Cottage is on general release from March 14.
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