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Naqqash Khalid: A Few Of My Favourite Things
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The new Somesuch signing shares the notes, the nose and the non-linear habits that help him build a film.
Freshly signed to the Somesuch roster, Naqqash Khalid’s ideas rarely begin on a blank page.
The writer-director behind In Camera, his darkly comic debut feature about an actor navigating a surreal and increasingly unsettling film industry, has since collaborated with Riz Ahmed and co-written Good Boy, starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough.
For his Favourite Things, he shares the places, tastes and slightly obsessive rituals that help those fragments start to resemble a film.
The Notes
This is where every idea begins.
Most of my writing process consists of me Frankenstein’ing my notes together.
I never start with a blank page.
I’m always building from ideas I’ve put down when on the go.
Constructing a project feels a bit like torrenting something from my brain.
You get these bits and pieces in a non-linear order that somehow end up making a whole.
The Park
One of my favourite things about living in London is how green it is.
Walking around the park has become essential to my work.
I usually figure everything out in the park.
The Ginger Shots
Hit me (!!)
The Perfume
I assign every film I work on a scent, and sometimes individual characters are given their own scents.
It helps me get into the world of the film and then ends up marking a period of time for me...
As I’m typing this, I’m at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt and had the opportunity to make my own scent for the lead character of my next film at the Museum of the Future.
You fill out a questionnaire, and your answers determine the notes of the perfume.
The one I made for my film smells metallic, with sharp shades of rose, grapefruit, oud and vetiver.
The Gelato
My favourite spot right now is Gelupo on Archer Street.
Their fig flavour is pure cinéma to me.
The Contax Film Camera
I love taking photos on set.
It’s always the most random photographs, never composed or considered.
I take “point and shoot” very literally...
But those mostly bad photos always represent the feeling.
The Books
I can't stop buying books.
I like being surrounded by them when I'm working.
I’m always carrying two or three books with me.
Lately, I've been reading a lot of Natalia Ginzburg.
She’s fast becoming one of my favourite writers.
She writes with such precision and so simply, I'm still trying to figure out how to do that in my own way.
The Gallery
I like doing a lap around a gallery to reset my eyes and brain, and feel inspired again.
I’m always collecting gestures from paintings and photographs.
