Harry Jarvis stars as Jonty in the found-footage horror comedy, Followers.
From the producers of Anna and the Apocalypse and Monsters, and in the tradition of Get Out and “Black Mirror”, Terror Films’ Followers combines horror with black comedy to satirize today’s influencer generation while bringing a fresh new spin to the found-footage genre.
What starts as hilariously bad YouTube videos develops into a warning to the world about a shocking new strain of supernatural serial killer.
Jonty, a failing influencer with an ambition to reach over a million followers, will stop at nothing to become famous. A new start at university brings with it hopes of a resurgence in his popularity when a demonic presence appears in his student house. Jonty decides to stream his and his housemates’ experiences with this supernatural entity to gain the fame and fortune he’s most been craving. But at what cost?
To create an authentic found footage feel over 70% of Followers was filmed by the actors themselves.
Directed by the late Marcus Harben, and starring Harry Jarvis (Netflix’s Knight Before Christmas), Loreece Harrison (“Black Mirror”), Erin Austen (“The Royals”), Daniel Cahill (Anna and the Apocalypse), Nina Wadia (Aladdin), Orion Lee (Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi), and Tanya Burr.
Check out our interview with Harry!
How did you get involved with this film?
Harry: So the director, Marcus Harbin, reached out to me and showed me the script that he’d been writing which, at the time, was very much– have you ever seen Cabin In The Woods?
No, I haven’t.
Harry: So it was kind of based around that film. To give you a bit of context, it’s kind of like teens bought into a cabin in the woods, but they’re being monitored by an outside force the whole time and people are betting on them to die. So, when it was first sent across to me, that was kind of the stage it was in. It was more like this paranormal activity was happening with people monitoring the kids in the university and it slowly adapted to become more about cancel culture and, you know, followers themselves and what you’ll do to get it. So, Mark introduced me to that and I really liked the script, and we worked on it and had a lot of fun with it. And that’s how I got on board with the project.
What about the script really drew you in to join the project?
Harry: At the time, I felt like it was kind of ahead of its time. We shot this about five years ago and cancel culture hadn’t really come into effect as predominantly as it has now. So, at the time, I thought it was a really interesting concept, someone who’d been completely banned from that kind of area of art and everything they want to do because of some horrible comments, and reintroducing themselves back into that kind of public eye again. What it would take for them, what they would do to get back to where they wanted to be. And I thought that concept was really interesting and the comedy in the script was really interesting. And fun. So yeah, I think a mix of those two things maybe quite interested in both jaunty and the script itself.
Can you just give me a brief description of who Jonty is and then how you kind of got into character to play him?
Harry: Sure. He’s a terrible person. A really terrible person. Jonty is a privileged but under appreciated youth who is constantly striving for attention and constantly looking for the praise that he was never given from his father… And for me, in preparing to play Jonty, my biggest worry was that he would be so dislikable that it took you out to film because he really does some terrible, terrible things. And so for me and Marcus, the director, the balance was trying to find those spots of vulnerability, where you could see where all of this terrible behavior came from, and also watching him grow at the start of the film. We wanted him to be a really terrible vlogger. We wanted his attempts at vlogging to appear really corny and cheesy. I see a lot of those stereotypical vlogs online and we were trying to replicate those. And as the film kind of goes on, you will see him kind of get better at vlogging and become a more egotistical person again.
And so it’s about for me, it’s about managing the balance between ego and arrogance with skill and also with his growing self confidence and praise and all the things he desired, making him into a worse and worse person. So yeah, in preparing to play him, we focused on a lot of that and I’ve watched a lot of YouTube vloggers and some really big ones in the UK in the US just to kind of see how some of these people formulated their videos. Some of them are just truly terrible. I tried to replicate that in a lot of ways.
This is very much a found footage film and it’s my understanding that you all got to essentially film bits of it while in character. What was it like balancing parts that you had to film, to make sure you got the shot, while also acting at the same time?
Harry: So, the biggest proprietor of the camera, mostly actors, was Loreece, who played Zauna because her character very much is into filmography and cinematography and that’s her career path. So, she probably shot at least 30% of the movie. As Jonty, I had to do parts as well but he generally wants to be in front of the camera. So, whenever he does get the camera, she tells him to get off it. But I think, speaking on her behalf, she had to learn— first of all to film badly. She already had experience with cameras, so she had to learn to film badly so it felt more shaky and the quality felt more grainy. And then she had to learn, as the budget got bigger and as they got more investors involved, how to deal with these hugely complex industry grade cameras, the Alexa. Alexa and Red are the two most common cameras in the acting industry. And I think we had the Alexa onset and Rhys had to learn to deal with all these different focal points. We obviously had to have a focus puller so that everything would feel very authentic and as movie quality as you can. I found Director of Photography, Alan, was incredible with that. He coached and he taught everyone how to shoot badly and how to shoot correctly. And we also shot over 15 different cameras. We shot with a Sony Panavision, we shot with Canon, we shot with GoPros, we shot with the Alexa, we shot with iPhones— my Alexa just went off by the way (Laughs). I just found it fascinating watching how we had to deal with all these, usually it’s one, two, maybe three max, but this had all these different cameras and trying to grade all these different footages. For the actors, DOP and editor, it was a huge technical task to undertake to make it look somewhat similar and graded, but also as kind of different and contrasted as we wanted it to. So, I think filming wise while acting, it was really really tough, especially for her. She had so much on her mind with these cameras but also she’s trying to deliver her performance completely separate of that. And so yeah, I think for Zauna and Rhys, especially, that was a really really tough task, but very interesting.
Were there any moments that stuck out to you that would make great footage for a blooper reel?
Harry: We got a blooper reel as long as the film, easily. Yeah, we improvised so many lines. Like the script became very free flowing and loose. And Dan who plays Pete, he was given so much free rein to mess around and sometimes he would just say things that there’s no way you could ever say in a movie or on television. And we just all could not hold it together. In terms of bloopers, we have hours and hours. Also what was quite fun if they left the camp— I don’t know if you heard that the university that we shot, at we lived there during the filming process. Yeah, so we lived in all of our rooms and tried to make it feel quite method and actory and stuff. But we were left some of the less expensive cameras and told that if we wanted to stay in character overnight and film anything, we could. And as actors, we thought that sounded like a lot of fun. So we did. In some parts, like clips and snippets and things like us walking around ended up in the film. But we spent the entire set trying to prank each other with these cameras and pull different jokes on each other that were hilarious. And so I’ve seen blooper footage of some of that stuff. Dan waiting in my cupboard for an hour while I was downstairs with this camera just monologuing. Erin who played Amber, knew about this whole prank so she got me to wait downstairs for as long as possible to make him annoyed. And then as soon as I came into the room, she told me to tell her that I had feelings for her so that he’d be awkwardly stuck in this closet about to come out and now he’s stuckin this incredibly intense situation. He just stuck in this closet like terrified to come out as I’m professing my love for this girl knowing who’s hiding in the closet. And eventually he jumps out and goes, ‘oh my god, I got you!’ and I’m like, ‘ I knew you were there, Dan.’ He just goes, ‘thank god, I thought you were about to ruin the whole filming experience for everyone.’ But yeah, we hit it off and there were a lot of bloopers on that set for sure. It’s one of the most fun I’ve ever had on set, just messing around.
Now it’s my understanding that the writer and director Marcus Harbin passed away. Can you describe what it was like working with him on this project?
Harry: Yes, it’s tough. He he was great. He was fantastic. He brought me on board about a year, year and a half before we actually started shooting. So initially, we were just talking on the phone, texting and then we’d meet up, go to the pub together, talk about the script, talk about the character. We did table reads. We did so much before we even got on set that I got a relationship with Marcus. And he had so many different ideas for this project. He just really wanted to get so much out of the actors and he told us on set that he was going to push us and we agreed to all this stuff before but, you know, he made it tough at certain points on us actors to try and get different emotions out of them, which is exactly what you want as an actor that’s also a tough thing to go through. So, I found him to be one of the most intense directors that I’ve worked with in a very, very positive way. But on the other side of that, he was absolutely hilarious. You go from during this intense scene, were he’d put you in this place and he’d push you to put you in an emotional state, and then after you come out from it, he’s cracking jokes with you and around the set and all that tension is just released and relieved. It was a really interesting shoot process. And it was horrible when we found out he had terminal cancer and he did manage to see the film after it was made and he got to show it to family and friends before he passed away which I’m very grateful for because I know he really wanted to see it. But no, it was obviously really hard on everyone.
Is there anything that you hope the audience takes away from watching this?
Harry: Yeah, it’s always a tough one because you never want to dictate what an audience should take away from the film, you know? I think people will take different things from it. And I think that’s good. I think, for me, there’s a couple of different things to take away. I mean, one is, in large parts, this is just fun. This is just a very fun film. I feel like from start to finish, I always find myself laughing at it. And I think it’s just good to go and just lose yourself in that. I think the other side of what you can take away from it is to not let your ego dictate your life. I think it’s so important to be grounded by the people around you and think about what really matters. I think that’s a huge part of this film, what happens when you lose that sense of personal connection, what really matters in your life and instead, focus on fame and fortune. I guess that’s a dangerous path for anyone and it happens a lot in the real world right now, especially with social media. So, from kind of a more psychological aspect, that’s what I’d like people to take away from it, but also it’s a lot of fun. Just to enjoy it really, to enjoy it and appreciate the fun that actually went into it.
Are you working on anything else at the moment?
Harry: I just wrapped up a TV series in Scotland. Not sure I’m allowed to talk about— I should be allowed to talk about it soon. But I’m also doing a feature film called I’m Not You in a month, which is a really, really cool story about a kid who’s really struggling with gender and sexuality. And it’s about the kind of double side of family that can put pressure on that, but also the side of how sometimes people who try to be positive and help people discover who they are, can actually push people in the wrong direction, too. So I think it’s a really beautiful story about allowing people discover their own path instead of pushing them one way or another and it really kind of talks about both sides of the conversation, which I think is really interesting. And then I’m also doing a war film in November called The Last Seige, which I’m really excited about too.
If people want to follow you and stay up to date with your work, what social media platforms are you on?
Harry: Sure. I’m on Instagram @harryjarvisofficial. That’s pretty much it. I don’t even use it that often, to be honest. It’s hilarious. I just made a film about social media and I don’t really use social media. I find it can be problematic. I don’t really use anything other than that.
