| Project History |
| I read " The Guinea Pig" in the DIVA Book of Short Stories when I was in my 3rd term at the London Film School. I didn't have any plans to shoot a film of my own at that point, but I was so compelled by Jeanie O'Hare's story and the way it was unfolding right in front of my eyes that I just knew I had to give it a chance. What fascinates me most about " The Guinea Pig" is the complexity and thus credibility of its characters. When you read the script, which is in some ways quite different from the original story, you will see that neither of the protagonists is necessarily good or bad. They all have their virtues, and they all have their little flaws. I truly believe that anybody will be able to identify with at least one of the characters, because the story presents an abundance of very human traits and situations. It confronts us with conflicts resulting from love and jealousy, a lack of trust on more than one level and a certain helplessness to one's own feelings, which, all too often, results in the innocent suffering. From an actor's point of view there certainly is a lot to explore with Mariane going through a vast range of emotions, but never quite letting them take a hold of her until the end, when she abandons the little boy on the motorway. |