Structurally, the short film, “The One and One Herb McGwyer plays Wallis Island”, is remarkably similar to the version. It only lasts 20 minutes, but many history beats and even jokes and lines of dialogue are exactly the same, so it’s a fascinating thing to see the story develop and see a new character (Nell de Carey Mulligan) added to the story.
Advertisement
I recently sat down to Zoom with Tim Key and Tom Basden, who wrote and played in the two versions of this story, and I asked them to give this project to life all these years after the short film. Tom Basden explained how history has developed in the intermediate years:
“When we made the short film, the script was probably only about 10 or 12 pages, then the short circuit himself came out for more than half an hour. I remember that Tim and I look in a way”, huh, if we did it a few more, we would probably have a feature film ‘ […] It sowed the seeds for us, who like: “OK, we really got something from these characters and we really had a fairly special dynamic with this short film, so we should certainly come back.” And then, quite intelligently [sarcastically]We did not come back to it for the best of about 15 years.
Then in 2020, during locking – but I think we were talking about it in a way anyway – we revised the notes that we had taken when we finished the short film and that we think of it as a functionality, and we started to write the script and to have struck this idea of herb by having an old group comrade with which he was in a little more manipulation than to organize a gig. Suddenly, the film opened for us, I think. We suddenly realized that it was an opportunity not only to tell a story of an artist and a fan who does not really get along, but also of lost love and nostalgia and wishing things from the past and the front. I think that once we discovered all of this, we were really excited by the scale that we felt that the film could suddenly have. “”
Advertisement
The result is beautiful and funny and charming and sweet and melancholy, all swirling together to constitute one of my favorite films of 2025 so far. You can listen to my full interview with Basen and Key in the today’s episode of the Daily Podcast: Daily Film:
You can subscribe to / daily movie Apple podcasts,, Covered,, SpotifyOr wherever you get your podcasts, and send your comments, questions, comments, concerns and email bag subjects to bpearson@slashfilm.com. Please leave your name and general geographical location in case we mention your email in the waves.
Advertisement
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is currently in certain theaters and opens wide on April 18, 2025.
