Filmmaker Statement

BULLY is inspired by personal experiences of childhood bullying and how visceral these traumatic memories remain even decades later. Encountering your childhood bully at a dinner party many years later felt like a powerful and complex concept that I was compelled to explore. An intimate dinner party setting seemed the perfect backdrop to draw out the awkwardness and tension of this encounter. I wanted it to feel intimate yet claustrophobic and the tone to veer between friendly and funny to tense, uncertain, and potentially violent. I wanted the audience to be completely unsure on where the story is going as the dinner party spirals out of control. BULLY is a project I've wanted to make for a long time and marks a big step up for me as a director. Especially in terms of budget, ambition, production value, and the experience levels of the cast and crew. It's also my most mature, emotional, and personal project to date. Richard Glover (Sightseers, A Casual Vacancy) delivered a be