Up and Running

All right. Time to get this blog up and running. Now that we have an official title and an official release date and the film is nearly done I will have time to actually write here and keep you all up to date on the happenings of the film and, to a lesser extent (although as always happens I'm sure it will end up being to a fuller extent), myself.

First topic of business. Our new title. Now to those who have gotten used to "This Side of the Truth" and fear the title "The Invention of Lying" -- let me explain it simply.

It was the original title of the film. It was the original title of the script. From the very first draft of the script it was the title I had in mind. And when Ricky and I began working on the script together it was still the title.

It was the title on the script that Ricky and I sold to MRC, and they in turn sold to Warner Bros. and Universal.

The title fit within the world of the film. It's what the characters within the film would have called it. It's a more "classic" title, I think. A bit bolder. It's not scared to be what it is. To me, it was the right title.

But during the re-writing process Ricky and I got a bit bored of the title. It's just sort of what happens when you write all day for weeks and weeks. And we decided, let's start looking around at other titles.

Well, I had always liked this Dylan Thomas poem "This Side of the Truth". And Ricky and I agreed it was a good title. A strange, esoteric idiom and the title of a good poem that has nothing to do with the film. I think the poem is about a king. Or nature. Or being drunk. Also we enjoyed annoying the studio by naming our film after a Dylan Thomas poem. Take that you Harry Potter-making bastards. Stick some Dylan Thomas up your ass!

But as the film got on and we started feeling pressure from the studios to change the title back it donned on us... it really is the right title. And I won't lie, we might not have changed it back if the studios hadn't told us they really really really really missed the old title. We might not have questioned if it was the right title again without that nudging.

But we didn't have to change it. No one forced us. They would have released the film with the old title regardless (albeit potentially with slightly less enthusiasm). It is still our film, through and through. As is every scene, cut, line and song within the film. It's all ours.

Setting teenage rebelliousness aside, it was always the right title for the film and I was relieved when we were finally able to embrace it as our own.

So that's that. The Invention of Lying. I trust, in time, you'll agree. Or you might just hate the movie altogether in which case, god bless you in all your passionate glory.

My plan is to update this blog every few days until the release of the film... and on. So check back often. In the coming months we'll start to be able to release lots of fun stuff like clips, set photos, trailers, posters, etc.