Interview with Tom Jolliffe (Screenwriter and Producer)
1. "The Baby in the Basket" has just been released in the UK and US. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the film and what drew you to this particular story? It started with a very rough idea that my mate Nathan Shepka (the co-director and co-producer on the film) had that was essentially a baby gets left on the door step of a Church and then it quickly goes into The Omen territory. I’m a big fan of gothic horror so what started as spitballing an idea turned into forming it into a treatment and then a script. We’re both quite keen on 20th century cinema, and so gothic horrors of the 40s to the 70s became a huge source of inspiration. We were also drawn to Powell and Pressburger films, particularly something like Black Narcissus. We wanted to dip a toe into that old style melodrama, but in a more 21st century, appropriate style. I was also a little inspired by films showing a descent into madness, which you also get in The Red Shoes (and Zulawski’s, Possession). The...