Director Henry Hobson–who first established himself in the design world with title sequences for major movies and TV shows, then diversified successfully into commercials–is now making his feature filmmaking debut with Maggie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin and Joely Richardson. A more adult, cinematic take on the zombie film, Maggie has already scored with programmers at the Toronto International Film Festival who have selected it as a world premiere entry in the Special Presentations section. The Toronto Fest gets underway on Sept. 4 and runs through Sept. 14.
In Maggie, Schwarzenegger stars as a Midwestern farmer who stays by the side of his beloved teenage daughter, played by Breslin, even as she slowly turns into a cannibalistic zombie. This genre-bending feature is also billed as a major departure for Schwarzenegger. “His traditional roles have been in action and high-impact adventure,” said Hobson of Schwarzenegger. “This time we see him perform as he’s never done before in any film. It’s a character study of a couple–the personal human relationship between a father and daughter.”
Hobson feels gratified to have his film unveiled at the high-profile Toronto Festival. “To be able to show the film to a major audience, to give it meaningful exposure right out of the gate is important. It’s a nice bow to tie around what is the long and winding process of getting an independent film made to begin with.”
Helping to navigate that road was Hobson’s vision reflected in a self-described “bible” he prepared, distributing copies to his cast and crew to convey how he pictured the look, feel and texture of the film. “Arnold saw my vision for each scene, jumped right into it and gave his all to the project. It was very easy to work with him. Even though this was something entirely different for him, he embraced the challenge.”
Maggie was done on a limited budget, which Hobson found to be liberating creatively. “I felt that the budget restrictions made me keep things simple, to be creative in trying to realize the distinct look and feel I wanted. Because of the limitations, I could be economical and direct in cinematic choices such as the cinematography and the way I brought characters to life.”
Hobson also feels his commercialmaking experience helped him add an extra visual dimension to his feature. “With a commercial, you try to create a visual landscape that is a bit different, exciting and unusual so that a story the audience thinks they’ve heard before seems new, takes a different turn, is seen through a different cinematic lens. They can watch the commercial again and again, and see something they hadn’t noticed before.”
Conversely, Maggie now enables Hobson to bring something more back to his short-form pursuits. “I’ve worked with actors before a lot but Maggie reaffirmed the importance of close collaboration with actors. Knowing I can work with someone like Arnold [Schwarzenegger] on something totally different and help to bring the best out of him is inspiring. In a feature, you live with actors for weeks on end, which is an experience that gives me something more to draw from and to bring back to the commercial side.”
Production house Furlined is Hobson’s roost for spots and branded content in the U.S. He joined Furlined earlier this year after having earlier been handled by Recommended. Among his notable ad credits is a campaign for 2K Games’ 144 XCOM Declassified out of agency Team One. The package of spots includes “The Aftermath” in which he places a children’s show clown in the middle of apocalyptic mayhem, serving to only heighten the suspense and sense of uneasiness.
Hobson, who now resides in Los Angeles, hails from England and studied at the Royal College of Art in London. He aspired to make films but found the field too crowded so he turned to graphic design as a backup, building a niche for himself which eventually dovetailed with and translated into commercials (including an initial series of BBC spots), and now feature filmmaking.
Among the many notable design credits amassed by Hobson include the end titles for Snow White & The Huntsman, the title sequence for Rango, and opening titles for The Walking Dead.
