CULT – Hardware

Published on: 2nd September, 2009

CULT - Hardware  | read this item

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Mankind has a strange relationship with technology. If modern cinema is to be believed, our downfall will not be from a natural disaster or an alien invasion but from our very own creations. We build our computers and robots to think independently, in essence giving them life, and inevitably the monster will turn on its master. From the literary works of Philip K. Dick and William Gibson to the images of James Cameron and the Wachowski Brothers, storytellers have become obsessed with the concept of artificial intelligence and the dangers that it may cause. Released one year before Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which depicted mankind’s last stand against the A.I., independent filmmaker Richard Stanley created his own monster with Mark 13, the remains of a robotic killing machine that slowly rebuilds itself to fulfil its mission – destroy everything.

Having experimented with Super-8 films, South African born Stanley entered the industry by shooting music promos for a trio of producers; Paul Trybits, Nicky Bell and Trix Worrell. His earlier assignments included two videos for a newly formed goth band called Fields of the Nephilim. Depicting a strange man in a hat and long coat (lead singer Carl McCoy), brandishing a robotic hand, their collaborations inspired by their joined affection for cyberpunk and Italian horror, most notably Dario Argento. The producers were impressed with the young filmmaker and soon he suggested that they should make a feature. At first the company were hesitant, as at this point they had only produced four-minute videos for pop groups, but their opinions soon changed when he presented a script to them.

Allegedly inspired by a dream he had when he was thirteen years old, in which a stranger roamed the desert, eventually finding a metal skull buried in the sand, Stanley had created two science fiction shorts. The first, Rites of Passage, would similarly show a man walking aimlessly across the desert, whilst the second, Incidents in an Expanding Universe, would lay the foundation for the post-apocalyptic city that the protagonists of his script would inhabit. The principal characters of the latter would be a soldier and his girlfriend, who would be recreated as Mo and Jill for the feature. Stanley had taken these two stories and fused them together, adding a robotic antagonist to avoid the depressing atmosphere of the shorts and to give the narrative a purpose.

Confident that their project had commercial potential, they began shopping the concept around, presenting themselves as a music video company. They soon came to the attention of Stephen Woolley, who had formed the successful independent empire Palace Pictures in the early 1980’s. Fuelled by the films that he had screened at the Scala Cinema, which he had owned prior to setting up the company with his partner, Nik Powell, Woolley had used Palace to distribute both art-house features and exploitation flicks, their most famous being The Evil Dead. Further assistance came from Miramax, the independent production company owned by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who had recently formed a genre label entitled Millimeter (that would eventually become Dimension), as well as British Screen Productions, then primarily known for developing costume dramas.
Although co-produced by Trybits’ Wicked Films, Palace also brought in JoAnne Sellar, who had been in charge of their music projects, to help oversee the project. Unable to work under the watchful eye of the union due to their lack of budget, the filmmakers were forced to shoot away from professional studios, instead settling on the Roundhouse, a popular music venue that had been abandoned and would serve as a suitable base of operations for the production. With the majority of the script being set in one apartment, the crew began building the set on top of an elevated platform. Other locations that would be used throughout the shoot would be Port Talbot and Baglan Bay in Wales, which would provide the industrial landscape, whilst the last few days of filming would take place in Morocco.

By this point, Stanley had only create a handful of short films and music videos and felt that he had to prove to both his producers and himself that he was capable of depicting a world ravished by war and poverty. Together with collaborators Carlos Mavroleon and Immo Horn, Stanley went out to Afghanistan to shoot a short documentary entitled Voice of the Moon. Upon returning to England, pre-production was underway and the producers began drafting in crew members who had worked with them previously on music videos, including cinematographer Steven Chivers (who would later shoot Dust Devil for Stanley). Inspired by his love of Italian horror, Stanley decided to bring in London-based composer Simon Boswell (Phenomena, Demoni/Demons, Deliria/Stage Fright) to create the score.

Although forced to work with a low budget (approximately $960,000), the producers were determined to hire the same special effects crew who had worked on Clive Barker’s terrifying Hellraiser, a film that had won acclaim for its groundbreaking makeup. Bob Keen, who had been responsible for the impressive ‘rebirth’ sequence in Barker’s film, would be on hand to watch over such talented artists as Little John, Shaune Harrison (who would later work on the Harry Potter franchise) and William Petty. The robot itself would be designed by Paul Catling (who recently lent his talents to The Wolfman remake) and operated by Andrew and Peter Stone. Assisting Catling was a nineteen-year-old called Chris Cunningham, whose obsession with technology and robotics would later fuel his own bizarre music videos (including Björk’s All is Full of Love).

At the insistence of Harvey Weinstein, the lead role of Mo was given to American actor Dylan McDermott, who at that time was recovering from a break-up with Julia Roberts. He had not been Stanley’s first choice, but when Miramax gave him a choice of three (the other two being Psycho III’s Jeff Fahey and Last Exit to Brooklyn’s Peter Dobson), he felt that McDermott was the most suitable. For the heroine, Jill, Stanley cast Stacey Travis, against the wishes of the studio, who felt that she lacked the experience to carry the movie. Supporting roles would go to John Lynch, William Hootkins (Star Wars, Flash Gordon) and Motörhead singer Lemmy, who would be hired as the tax driver after their original choice, Sinead O’Connor, became unavailable. Punk legend Iggy Pop would provide the voice of DJ Angry Bob, a part originally written for former Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon. Echoing the old Fields of the Nephilim videos, McCoy would cameo in the opening sequence as a drifter who first discovers the skull.

Due to McDermott’s religious beliefs, he commented on the robot’s moniker, Mark 13, resembling a passage from the bible (And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days), and so Stanley decided to open the movie with the quote ‘No flesh shall be spared.’ Filming took place throughout October and November 1989, whilst the final few days would relocate to Morocco, albeit with a skeleton crew. Hootkins, who would portray the creepy neighbour with a taste for voyeurism, would often improvise his perverse monologues, each one becoming more obscene than the last. Sadly, he would lose the battle to pancreatic cancer on October 23 2005. Travis, providing to be a dedicated lead, would perform the majority of stunts herself, often resulting in minor injuries.

The premiere for the movie, eventually titled Hardware (after briefly flirting with Mark 13), was in Notting Hill in London. Due to the similarities between the story and SHOK!, a strip that had been published several years earlier in a Judge Dredd annual, the producers were forced to make an out-of-court settlement and include the creators – writer Ian Rogan (Steve MacManus) and artist Kevin O’Neill – in the credits. Hardware would receive mixed reviews upon its initial release, with Variety stating that, ‘Hardware veers loonily out of control and becomes a black comic exercise in F/X tour-deforce that’s ceaselessly pushing itself over the top.’ The New York Times, meanwhile, commented that, ‘Watching Hardware is like being trapped inside a video game that talks dirty.’ Entertainment Weekly, however, criticised the film’s supposed lack of originality; ‘If you’ve never seen Alien, Blade Runner, The Road Warrior, or RoboCop, you may think the scrap-metal action thriller Hardware is vaguely original.’ Naturally, the film has since become a cult classic.

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