5th June 2006
Showreel magazine
The success of Michael McMahon's handsome short film HAWK was written in the stars. Astrologer Russell Grant is one of the backers of the 29 year old's privately-funded historical fantasy drama and declared the outlook for the project to be "tremendous".
But it's probably less to do with astral alignment and more to do with McMahon's own verve and vision that the story of a boy bought up by his pagan grandfather in Snowdonia's forest has already attracted a devoted pre-release following.
McMahon's ambitious and glossy promotional website www.hawkthemovie.com provided visitors with daily blogs and teasers during production. "I want to show the whole package. As and independent filmmaker, a website is your doorway into the industry", says BAFTA member McMahon, "and prove you can build an audience for a short film."
Having impressed industry audiences in Cannes with his first short film Southside, Michael linked up with producers Sean McArdell and Matt Jones to pull out all of the stops to make HAWK. "We had a rain machine, aerial photography, a wind machine, prosthetics, six live hawks, a fake dead deer, fake rabbits...", McMahon recalls "It was like going to the best film school every morning and you're in charge!"
The tireless trio have a prospective slate of 15 diverse projects and show now sign of slowing down. "We're basically preparing to step up to features. It's just finding the money and sleep to do them all," sighs McMahon.
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