Welcome to the weirdness of The Goob, an atmospheric trip through the wacky world of Britain’s Norfolk badlands. Like a fairy tale from the crust-punk countryside, this film makes a faraway place endearing and relatable, taking viewers through a coming-of-age adventure with newcomer Liam Walpole, a.k.a. “the Goob.”
Walpole’s skeletal frame and countryside cool guide this tale's wandering camera through a rarely featured landscape of rural Britain. When we met the actor at SXSW in Austin, he was fresh off the set of a modeling gig that may signal the coming of a new multihyphenate It Boy. Not a bad year for a first-time actor.
Below, we chat with Walpole and The Goob director Guy Myhill at the film’s North American premiere.
WILLIAM NIXON: How did you two find each other and come to make this film?
GUY MYHILL: It was 2 o’clock in the afternoon and [Liam] had just woken up when he stumbled into someone from our casting crew. We were getting close to the wire before making the film, with teams of people going out into these market towns in the area where The Goob takes place. We saw his face and it was this mixture of Bowie and Spock from Star Trek, with this wonderful otherworldly quality that just seemed great. He had never acted before. We were blessed with his physicality.
LIAM WALPOLE: The only stuff I’d done prior to this was in school—like middle school, Christmas plays. To prepare, I would take a few moments to myself between each scene, brace myself, [and] read through my lines. Just think it through beforehand.
What is the weirdest thing that happened on set?
GM: [One time Liam] legged it off—he ran off. We had to chase him over the fields. I think he owed money to some travelers or gypsies. Anyway, it’s kind of difficult because where we were filming you can’t really drive, so we had people sprinting round tryin’a block him off. He got to a McDonald’s and he was hiding out there.
Dazed compared the film to Gummo.
GM: I’m not sure about the comparison. I love Gummo; I think it’s terrific. Maybe it’s just our world having a similar kind of atmosphere. But I think really The Goob leans more to the atmosphere of The Last Picture Show or Two-Lane Blacktop. When I was a kid my dad would sit down with me and we’d watch these things that I probably didn’t grasp at the time, but it sits in your psyche. I think it owes more to that—with probably a bit of [Terrence] Malick thrown in—than it does to Gummo.
Who are some visual artists who’ve influenced you as a filmmaker?
GM: Visual art was my first love as a kid. Big influences were people like Bob Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and on through to Warhol and that whole movement. Certainly when I was a little kid and I’d be picking out art books in the school library, it’d be those boys and pop art and that culture of consumerism. In college I specialized in printmaking and drama. I collect stuff and stay aware of keeping art in my life.
As for favorite films, you could ask me my top five right now and then ask me again at half past four and get another five films. It’s not like your favorite soccer team. That will always remain the same, but films are fluid.
Liam, when you first read the script, did your character of “the Goob” remind you of any other characters?<