Interviews: Director Jed Hart and actor Lyndsey Marshal on neighbours from hell in “Restless”

To celebrate the release of Restless in UK cinemas this week, we had the pleasure of chatting to one of the film’s stars and its writer/director to find out more about this propulsive new thriller.

Director Jed Hart is convinced his debut feature has tapped into a universal idea, one that many will have experienced at first hand. Restless is based on his own experiences, when the people in the flat above would start partying at 3 am and he needed to get up for work at 7 am.

He’s shifted the story to a stand-alone pair of semis on an estate. In the one house is Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal), isolated after the death of her parents, and the departure of her son for university. New neighbour Deano (Aston McAuley), who’s taken over her parents’ house, initially seems affable enough, but nightly raucous parties and his refusal to appreciate how they affect his neighbour soon drive Nicky to the edge and extreme measures seem to be the only solution.

MORE: READ OUR REVIEW OF “RESTLESS” HERE

In the interviews below, Hart describes how he eventually found the ideal pair of houses for the film, as well his distinctive choice of music and his reasons for choosing Kate Robbins for an outrageous but pivotal cameo role. Both he and Lyndsey Marshal also talk at length about the effects of sleep deprivation and how dark humour contributes to the narrative. And, for Marshal, that includes a certain batch of chocolate brownies with a “secret ingredient” made as a peace offering for her neighbour.

Check out the full interviews.

 

Restless opens in UK cinemas on 4 April.