How Tom Green put real people in the picture for Guide Dogs

Dave, how did the concept for the spot come about?

Dave Billing: Life Unleashed was the pitch idea, although at that stage we didn’t have a locked script at all. A lot of the scripts we shared at pitch stage were singular narratives, stories about one person with a vision impairment, and how they were overcoming their particular challenges. But those scripts just weren’t delivering the scale and optimism that’s contained in the platform: the idea that everywhere across the UK, at every moment, people with sight loss are working with Guide Dogs to overcome obstacles and live fulfilled, independent lives. We felt we had to see as many of those lives as possible – to travel the length and breadth of the country to dramatise the scale of the incredible work that Guide Dogs is doing, and the amazing persistence and bravery of people with sight loss in achieving their life “firsts”. 

It was really moving to see how everyone on the casting long list was prepared to put themselves out there, to revisit painful memories as well as moments of triumph.

The worry that came with that, of course, was whether a more vignette-based approach would lack the emotion that a more singular narrative approach might deliver. Can we spend long enough with these stories to really feel them? That’s what Tom brought to the mix. A powerful and yet economical way of delivering emotion. And key to that was him spending time with, and talking to, real service users whose own stories closely matched the stories in the scripts. So there’s a truth in each scene which just immediately translates from the screen. 

Can you share more about how you selected the people featured?

Dave: Stink put in so much graft to get us to the final cast. However, as well as that, the team at Guide Dogs were incredible in terms of reaching out to their own network, both service users and Guide Dogs specialists. So, we had an embarrassment of riches when it came to people who wanted to participate in the film. 

I'm always striving to find the truth, getting the action, integrity and authenticity of the performances to the most truthful place. 

It was really moving to see how everyone on the casting long list was prepared to put themselves out there, to revisit painful memories as well as moments of triumph. It was hard drawing up a short list. 

Tom, you often choose to work with real people instead of actors. Can you share more about that?

Tom Green: I think working with non-actors, has always been something at the foundation of my work, ever since, my work in television and short films and, and even my feature film. I'm always striving to find the truth, getting the action, integrity and authenticity of the performances to the most truthful place. 

They’re some of the best performances I’ve seen in my career, except they’re not performances really at all, really. It’s humbling! 

I've often found there's an interesting and useful friction between working with non-actors or people who come from the real roles or world that you're exploring and combining that with more experienced actors. I think it breaks down an artifice that can be there sometimes, especially in commercial filmmaking and performances.

The film’s cast consists of a variety of Guide Dogs service users. It is beautifully acted, were the family members and other characters actors or also ‘real’ participants?

Dave: There are very few actors at all in the final film. The husband of Lorna - the woman whose first day back at work is probably the emotional anchor of the film - was played by a tremendous actor called Joseph Ayre. Likewise, Maxi Tilyard played the dad of Erin, the girl facing her first day at school, and did an amazing job. 

 I needed to hear their stories and let those stories inform the storytelling and the images that I would then try to create, to represent their journeys, the best I could.

But pretty much everyone else is a real service user, a real Guide Dogs specialist, or a friend or family member of the principal cast. They’re some of the best performances I’ve seen in my career, except they’re not performances really at all, really. It’s humbling! 

Tom: The fundamental start point of this film was that everyone with a visual impairment in the film needed to be someone from the blind community and we needed to represent their story with absolute authenticity and explore the truth of their experience. 

You can see their pride and love bursting out of them in the scene, I don’t think that can be performed and it's undeniably real and moving. 

The process began by speaking to around 35 different visually impaired people over Zoom calls, which took several days. Listening to the stories, and experiences of people with varying and different visual impairments, and often complete blindness. I needed to hear their stories and let those stories inform the storytelling and the images that I would then try to create, to represent their journeys, the best I could.

It was important for me to always work with the real families where I could. Because it was their support, love and journeys that I wanted to represent as well. For example, the real Mum and Dad of Martha, our little girl, using the cane for the first time. You can see their pride and love bursting out of them in the scene, I don’t think that can be performed and it's undeniably real and moving. And we always used the real specialist from Guide dogs whenever there was a representative in the scene.

It’s the opposite of fakery and artifice – it’s about allowing enough space and creating enough trust for real people to want to share their experiences with you.

But there were instances where I placed an actor into certain scenes for a more precise, emotional moment, or just to anchor the scene, emotionally, to let the visually impaired person find their rhythm and the emotion. I think it also sometimes helped create a dramatic infrastructure to allow them to support them emotionally in the scene as well. And our professional actors all brought a wonderful sensitivity to the role and a great depth of emotion.