Director Matt Huntley Releases Dark Comic Short Film 'Lobsters'

Written and directed by Matt Huntley, ‘Lobsters’ tells the story of Mark and his holiday park neighbour/soul-mate Tanya.  The short, dark comedy stars Steve Oram (‘Sightseers’, ‘Oram & Meeten’, ‘Paddington’), along with English comedian, Terry Mynott (The Mimic, Bad Robots) and Juliet Cowan (Pitch Perfect, Cuckoo, This Life).

Cleverly juxtaposing his visual storytelling with a revealing, Brummie voice-over, we watch Mark and Tanya seemingly happy in their lives together before things unravel and reality kicks in for the holiday park fantasist. 

Director Matt Huntley comments,  ‘I wanted to set a story in that world of English seaside resorts that I grew up with and to reflect on all the times I had weird crushes on complete strangers as a teenager.  I also really wanted to shoot something with an original structure/format. Shorts are a chance to show who are creatively and I feel that ‘Lobsters’ is a showcase for me both in terms of my directing and writing.’

When reflecting on his casting choices, Huntley comments ’I’ve been a huge fan of Steve Oram for many years, going back to his early live comedy/sketches with Tom Meeten.  I thought he’d be perfect for the lead- a basic Brummie guy trying to express his romantic desires and got in touch with him via a mutual friend. Thankfully he agreed to do it right away. The same happened with the rest of the cast (Terry Mynott and Juliet Cowan) and they were all incredibly supportive and generous with their time.’

The look is equally integral to the film, whose cinematic quality elevates it above others in its genre. Huntley comments, ‘the look is almost another character in itself. I’d worked with the DoP, Matt Fox on a number of commercials and we looked at some of our favourite photographers, specifically Martin Parr and Gregory Crewdson for reference. We then pulled in a lot of favours- beautiful anamorphic lenses/camera/grip from ICE, powerful lighting from Panalux and UNIT did all of the post (after Tenthree cut it) and were beyond generous with Flame work by Rob Ellis and grade by Scott Harris.’

UNIT comment, ‘We were delighted to support director Matt Huntley on this very comical short film ‘Lobsters'.  Cleverly written, brilliantly cast and superbly directed.  Matt is extremely talented and UNIT love to support creative talent in any way we can.  We were proud to collaborate with Matt and deliver post production in Grade, Sound Design and VFX.’

Their Senior Sound Designer Chris Southwell adds, ‘this was a lovely project to be a part of. Matt has created a complex love story, which is captured through narrative and brilliant performance. A simple but very effective approach to a short film.’

Rob Ellis, UNIT VFX Artist concludes, "Lobsters' was a treat to work on. It’s great when you see an offline and are so entertained by it. ‘

To find out more about the film, please contact anna@polestarpr.com

Matt cut his teeth first in the art department (having originally studied graphic design and photography) and as an AD (working on feature films such a This is England) before launching his career as a director. Matt has worked on projects for Barclays, Vodafone, Budweiser, Fiat and Samsung to name but a few and has collaborated with some of the world’s most successful and prevalent advertising agencies through his work as a director.   He also directed ‘Trimming the Fat’ starring Matthew Horne (Gavin & Stacey) for BBC Films, wrote and directed ‘Straw Donkey’ starring Joe Thomas (The Inbetweeners).