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Filmmaker Marc Isaacs is one of Britain’s most experimental and revered documentary makers.
His first film Lift, where he set up shop in a council estate lift and interviewedresidents about their lives, was a moving and poignant portrait of a vertical community, and has become one of the documentary world’s most popular cult references.
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Fifteen years later and Marc is still making films that shine an intimate and revealing lighton modern Britain. FromAll White In BarkingtoOutside the Court, he will let subjects come to him – creating an often claustrophobic and intimate atmosphere where real people’s voices and stories are in sharper focus than often is the case.
His latest film for BBC Three, Men Who Sleep in Trucks, external,is no different, as he bases himself in lay-bys and car parks in a more intimate setting than ever:truckers’ cabins, where they rest their heads for the night.
We spoke with Marc to hear why he wanted to tell these stories and how he got such intimate access.
Image source, Marc Isaacs
Why did you want to make this film?
It was an interest in the lorrydrivers themselves rather than the particulars and mechanics of the job that drew me to thesubject. I was curious about people who spend theirdayson the road away from 'normal life' in a kind of transient state.I wondered what it does to a person to exist in this isolated bubble.
How did you go about finding them?
Adnan, the assistant producer on the film,discovered a truck stop in Cannock in the Midlandsthat also had a canteenand this is where we started the search for characters. We always arrivedat 6pm. Headswould turn as wewalked in. Theatmosphere was a mix of exhaustion andirritability (most men had been driving for 12 hours)and the smell of diesel permeated the air. Once the drivers had begun to tuck into theirhuge platesof food, themood calmed.
I would 'people watch'and try to identifythe interesting faces in the room. Interesting faces are,more often then not,a sign of an interesting life. Wewould gently engage peoplein conversations about the job and slowly move towards getting an insight intotheir personal lives.Some were not suitable characters for a film, others told us to "f***off", but many were more than happy to talk. I suppose that notencounteringanother soul for hours and hours every day either makes you desperate to talk or allergicto human contact.
Bob, Andy, Mike and Dave were the pick of the bunch. All had fascinating lives and could potentiallyprovide the film with the correct balanceof light and dark. Now I had to think of an approach, a way to film them, that would provide the film with a form and offer avisual way into the essence of their lives.
The night time atmosphere was strong and after Dave showed me where he sleeps in his cabin, I realised the film could be shot as these men were bedding down for the night. Of course, they thought I was slightly mador wanted to make a truckers porn film, but they soon got where I was coming from. We tend to view truckers as macho, etc but I wanted to show a vulnerability. The other truckers would wind them up about being filmed in their beds, but it was all in good taste.
Did it ever feel uncomfortablefilming these people half naked in their beds?
It was, of course, a very intimate space, filming in their tiny cabins as they layin their beds, but I liked the strangeness of it. I wanted to show their bodies whilst they were talking about infidelity, love, loneliness and so on. It wasn't difficult to get them to open up and I think they enjoyed the experience. We only spent two days with each character but there was a trust between us. They knew we were genuinely interested in their lives and nobody had ever asked them the kind of questions we pursued.
The film explores issues of mental health and loneliness in truckers. How prevalent do you think this is?
Many of the men we spoke to in the research for the film expressed feelings of isolation and a kind of loneliness, although some, like Bob, claimed to enjoy their own company and the 'freedom' the job offers. I'm not aware of any studies that have been made on the mental health of the drivers, but I can say that many pay a high price for being away from their families for so long. Maybe the film will inspire some further research on this.
Has making the film changed your views on truckers?
When I drivepassa trucker now, instead of being slightly intimidated by the size of the vehicle or irritated bythe bad driving, I wonder about the life of the driverbehind the wheel. But they may disappear foreversoon. Driverless vehicles are already in the pipeline…
You can watch Marc’s film Men Who Sleep in Trucks here, external.
