Five Questions from Quarantine: Tim Hamilton
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The Circle Productions director chats about how he'd loved to be holed up with Eno, how lockdown has him binging puzzles, and his kids' delightful ditty: Pooping in your Pants.
What's your self-isolation set-up at the moment?
I’m not the first to say this, but I’ve been in training for social isolation my whole life.
When I’m not casting, scouting, or shooting, I normally work out of my home, usually alone. In fact, I find it ironic that my self-isolation work set-up is less self-isolated than normal.
Now when I turn to that old screenplay idea I’ve dredged up, I’m inspired by the sound of my children singing a new song they’ve written called Pooping in your Pants.
Then, when they finally leave, my wife helpfully pops her head in and suggests eighteen handyman jobs I could be doing.
It's lockdown; aside from your family, which four people, past or present, would you most like to be quarantined with?
- Brian Eno - So I can have some musical entertainment and long discussions about creative theory.
- Kurt Vonnegut - I think he could appreciate the absurdity of this moment.
- Bjork - I think she’d be fun in a pandemic.
- Ingmar Bergman - We can watch Shame together and get even more bummed out.
We need entertainment, what's your favourite short film?
I could have mentioned my own short films such as Truth In Advertising and The Catsitter available at timhamiltonfilms.com [and below] but of course that would be unethical so I won’t do that.
I’ve personally been enjoying some lo-fi projects I find on Twitter, including these by fellow Canuck Matt O’Brien: Car Commercial and Wine Review.
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Truth In Advertising – Truth In Advertising
Tim Hamilton – The Catsitter
You've completed Netflix. And Amazon Prime. And Disney+. It's on to the hard stuff; board games. What do you pick and why?
I’ve been on a puzzle binge.
My kids and I have been playing a card game called Asshole which they enjoy, if only for its name.
We’ve also been playing a card game called Up the River which seems to work metaphorically with our current situation.
On a serious note, how do you think this situation will impact you individually, and the industry as a whole?
I’m trying to remain hopeful that there will be positive results that come out of this difficult time.
Perhaps a sense of camaraderie amongst citizens of the world for instance, and a renewed belief in facts.
For me, it’s really hard to see how this will change our business. As someone who works a lot in different countries, I wonder if the idea of working remotely even for castings or PPM’s might become more common.
As a comedy director I hope for a welcoming of work that makes us laugh. Although perhaps many clients will find humour inappropriate at this time.
As an individual I see laughter as a useful creative reset.
