Billed as “the coolest debut from Cannes”, Weston Razooli’s unique neo-fairytale, shot on 16mm film, blends Romanticism, British folklore and the western genre, and celebrates the power of imagination. Riddle of Fire screened to critical acclaim at a selection of festivals including Quinzaine des Cinéastes / Directors’ Fortnight, Toronto International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, and Sitges International Film Festival in 2023.
In the rolling hills of Wyoming, three mischievous children are tasked with collecting a blueberry pie from their local store. However, what begins as a simple errand soon evolves into an odyssey across the American West, as the intrepid trio faces poachers, witches, huntsmen, and fairies, who all seek to challenge them on their quest. Will the bonds of friendship prove strong enough to guide them home?
The cast includes Lio Tipton (Warm Bodies), Charles Halford (Constantine) and Austin Archer (The Night Clerk) alongside the young cast of Lorelei Olivia Mote, Phoebe Ferro, Skyler Peters and Charlie Stover. Razooli tells us more…
What were some of the biggest movie and filmmaker-specific influences you took directly into Riddle of Fire?
In terms of filmmakers, one would be François Truffaut, and I wanted to create my version of The 400 Blows, set in the mountains of Wyoming! I also wanted an Akira Kurosawa grandiose adventure quality, sort of like The Hidden Fortress, with a freewheeling, enchanted adventure of sorts, where these characters seem almost lost in the forest.
I was also inspired by old American TV shows like The Little Rascals from the 1920’s, just shows about funny kids doing funny things. Then I’d have to name the film Where Is the Friend’s House? from Abbas Kiarostami. It’s the simplicity of a kid trying to return a friend’s notebook to his house that he can’t find, and the plot of Riddle of Fire is very similar to that. I am often inspired by the literature of Robin Hood and his merry men kind of just frolicking in the forest on adventures, and Brothers Grimm as well.
There’s also a board game called The Enchanted Forest which I grew up playing, it has a mysterious and slightly scary quality to it. My brothers, cousins and I used to say it was sort of like Jumanji where you have to keep playing the game, or else terrible things will happen! I guess it created this thing in our imaginations, bigger than the game itself.
You have a passion for art across many different mediums, not only filmmaking. Do you think it’s important as a filmmaker to have this attention to detail?
Yeah, I mean, I think every filmmaker should follow their gut and lean into their own strengths. However, a big part of filmmaking for me, and why I do it, is the opportunity to use the screen as a canvas that can hold so many different things. So, I love illustration, costumes, graphic design and all that, and what better place for that to live than through a story on the screen? It’s more fun for me to have variety on these massive art projects, which is what movies are, so I could be writing, then get a little sick of that, so I work on storyboarding for a while, then look at costume design. There’s a lot of fruit to pick from the trees, it’s very fun for me.
You shot Riddle of Fire in and around your hometown in Utah, how important was that to you?
It just made everything easier, more friendly and it just felt safer, you know? In terms of locations, for example, if one location fell through, I knew somewhere else that had a similar vibe, so it definitely felt like I had the homefield advantage. I’ve also been living in LA for so long now, it was just fun returning to my hometown for four months to get back into that world where I grew up.
You’ve said there’s been a real lack of the classic kids’ adventure films, which Riddle of Fire certainly recaptures. Why do you think these films just aren’t made anymore?
I think, in part, there are so many rules and regulations now with filmmaking in general, which is largely a good thing because we do need safety. Everything we shot in our film, we did correctly, so we had stunt coordinators, all the child actors and their parents were fine with all their scenes, so we didn’t put anyone in dangerous situations. However, a lot of the types of scenes we’d be doing, whether riding dirt bikes or jumping from high places, wouldn’t commonly be done now for safety reasons.
Still, I do miss those old adventure movies, a sort of marriage of a kids’ adventure story with an almost frightening, horror quality. There are a lot of famous examples! But ultimately, achieving any of these stories successfully all comes from the director and creating the right script, which is what we tried to capture with this.
The kids are so well cast, what qualities were you thinking about when you were going through the casting process?
All four main kids had very distinct personalities and they all matched their characters very well. For Alice, I wanted the angsty leader who was charming, but could get angry and also kick someone’s ass! For Hazel, I wanted more of an iconic Tom Sawyer / Huckleberry Finn / Little Rascal kid, in the classic sense. For Jody, I liked the funny, weird goofball quality. For Petal, I wanted the fairy girl, and they fit their parts so well. I felt like my role as director was more like being a summer camp counsellor, taking the kids on adventures. As a filmmaker on any set, you do have to be that ringmaster and have that leadership quality, while in this case also making it fun.
Did you get to rehearse much, or did you want to keep things very organic, especially working with the kids?
Yeah, we did not rehearse at all. I wanted to keep it as organic as possible and think you tend to yield slightly more natural performances this way, especially working with kids. Sometimes if kids rehearse too much, they obviously get to practice the scene, but then get stuck in a rhythm and might deliver a line or do something similar every time, so we tried to avoid that.
The film has had an amazing response around the world. What do you think people have responded to the most?
I think people have been drawn to the unabashed childlike nature of the film, and I’ve heard a lot of people say that the adventure they embark on feels almost like a dream. The journey in the story follows a kid logic with an almost naive quality that leans into the mystery of being a kid. So, I think, or at least hope, a lot of people have been able to return to that feeling.
What’s been some of the most surprising or unexpected feedback you’ve heard?
Well, one of the big things that happened which I didn’t expect, but seems obvious now, is of the many festivals it screened at, it’s been shown at both midnight horror movie events and children’s film festivals! So I think it’s very cool that the film can do both, it’s pretty crazy to me!
With such an enthusiastic response, can you say anything about what you’re working on next?
Yes, my next project will be a euro crime romantic thriller set in Spain, so quite different from Riddle of Fire but it has a sort of similar stylised quality.
With new audiences still discovering Riddle of Fire, what do you hope they take from the film?
Without sounding corny, I think it’s about keeping the optimism of living life in full ways, and going on adventures with friends. I also try to make my characters pretty confident, skilful and good at what they do, so I hope this inspires people too, as well as going on that carefree, spirited adventure.
Icon Film Distribution presents Riddle of Fire on Blu-ray and Digital 8 July