Jamaica’s own Houdini.
The Escape was my first film and a tribute to my dad, the late escapologist and magician, Bunny Neill. Based on a set of photos from his scrapbook, an archive of his career, it recreates an escape he performed in 1967 on the island of Jersey.
Made in Bristol.
The Escape was made in 2012/13 on a tiny, crowdfunded budget. Co-produced and co-directed by Simon Downham-Knight, and starring Kingsley Young as Bunny, the film - in part a reenactment of the escape - was shot at Bristol harbour and Clevedon pier and marine lake.
Meaningful coincidence.
The script was based on photos taken by The Island Sun, a local paper that challenged dad to perform the escape. In the midst of raising funds to make the film, I told a then colleague about the project, whose best friend, it transpired, had just become Head of Channel News. Perhaps I should email her, my colleague suggested, maybe I could feature on a show?
A touch of magic.
I never became a local news item, but a few weeks later a DVD arrived ― original footage my colleague’s friend had found in the Channel News archive. I had no idea it even existed... Something in the act of writing a script that would bring the photos to life brought this precious archive to my door.