A solid little psychological horror film, Black Cab shines a light on a darkness that lurks in the most unsuspecting places. The Shudder exclusive makes its debut this week and features a great performance from Nick Frost. Twenty years after the release of Shaun of the Dead, Frost remains a stalwart in the horror genre. Both Nick Frost and director Bruce Goodison sat down with FandomWire to discuss their collaboration and the process of bringing Black Cab to life.
Bruce Goodison joined because of Frost’s character
While some films bring the director on early, Black Cab started by adding Nick Frost to the crew. He jokes that producers knew exactly what they wanted when they brought him on board. “I think Sony wanted to see what would happen if you put Nick Frost in a black cab for ninety minutes and made him do bad stuff.”
Frost found the screenplay a great match for his personality as well. He explains, “We decided to do it through my production company, Stolen Pictures, and we got a nice team together. I was allowed to do a little writing as well.” Frost loved the character, but more importantly, he wanted a positive attitude on set. “I was thrilled. I love Bruce. Just the chance to make a film with lovely, funny, cool, smart, clever people is the dream.”
Goodison felt Black Cab allowed him to explore complicated themes in the story. “What was brilliant for me was that I’ve always enjoyed doing films where good people do bad things for very good reasons.” That maturity in the storytelling opened doors for Goodison. “You start off being very beguiled by this man. He does some horrible things. They’ve all got very complex reasons to find themselves in this space.”
Ghosts and Psychological Horror
When ambiguity and horror meet, the results are often satisfying. For Black Cab, Goodison wanted to embrace this aspect.”This was a psychological horror which involved the projection of ghosts that were possibly in Nick’s mind. They could have been projections, or they could have been there.” Whether or not these creatures or apparitions are real is almost beside the point. Goodison continues, “It was this sense of going on a journey, on a road movie, from the light of the city to a very dark place. That was a great starting point for the film and also a creative challenge of being claustrophobic in one space.”
Frost argues that his character’s turmoil becomes an important driving point for Black Cab. “What I really like about him, and what I like to do as an actor, is take a role where you shouldn’t like this person. You definitely have to be fearful of him, but there’s part of him which is flawed, broke, and really fucking sad.” For Frost, this offers up a compelling challenge. He explains, “That complexity is a dream for me as an actor. Be funny and charming, and then threaten to murder. Every human is every emotion.”
Aileen Wuornos Played into the Construction of Black Cab
Surprisingly, Frost pulled from one of true crime’s most notorious killers as he worked on his character. “This documentarian, Nick Broomfield, did an amazing documentary on Aileen Wuornos.” Broomfield’s two documentaries on Wuornos, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer and Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, remain two of the great true crime films ever made. Frost continues, “You watch that, and there’s time you think, ‘Oh, she’s quite nice,’ but then you see a change. I think the challenge to even try to pull that off was something I really wanted.”
Pressure Valves in Horror
While movies that build dread over time are effective, horror often requires laughs or moments away from the horror to let the audience breathe. This was on Goodison’s mind on Black Cab. “I think there are two or three pieces outside of the cab,” Goodison says. “One of them is in the garage.” Another later appears as a lair, away from the rest of the world. The results of both scenes provide the audience with a minute to catch their breath before plunging them back into danger.
Goodison knows these moments provide more intimate moments with the characters. When one of the characters asks if the cabbie lives in his lair, Nick’s character quickly retorts, “What would I be living here for?” For Goodison, this is a huge win for Black Cab. “You just get this window, these small exchanges where you go, ‘My God, this man’s life has been destroyed.’ I think it’s important that even in those moments, you feel equally trapped as well.”
While these moments are difficult to pull off, Goodison explains that creating the claustrophobia inside the cab was even tougher. “Practically speaking, yeah, it’s hard. But filmmaking is hard, and it’s a matter of problem-solving. This problem was solved by getting an old cab, cutting it in half, opening it up like a book, so you could shoot into the back seat and the front seat to retain those performances.” Frost jokes, “I didn’t look Synnove’s in the face for almost two weeks.”
Nick Frost’s Return to Horror After Shaun of the Dead
With the twentieth anniversary of Shaun of the Dead this year, it’s fun to see Frost in more horror movies. With Black Cab, Truth Seekers, and Get Away coming in a few weeks, he’s stayed relevant in the genre. “It [horror] enables you to do things you would never do as a human being. I feel quite responsible for the genre in terms of its viewers. I am one of those people who use it as a way to feel better as people.” Frost laughs and continues, “We use it to hide ourselves from the outside world, to protect ourselves from violence or alcoholism, so I feel I very much belong to it.”
Beyond his efforts as an actor, Frost also thinks he brings a fan’s eye to the genre. “I have a responsibility to make things that would make people like me feel a bit better at night. You know, [make sure] the killing is done well.” He admits that he’s critical of the genre because of his experience. “That’s the weird thing too, we’re all very critical when it comes to someone having their throat slashed, in terms of ‘that looks shit’ or ‘there wasn’t enough blood.’ It’s a nice chance to get the opportunity to say we should have more blood.” With Black Cab, Nick Frost adds another interesting piece to his horror legacy.
Watch Black Cab on Shudder starting November 8, 2024. Watch the entire interview with Nick Frost and Bruce Goodison here.
