Walter Campbell, screenwriter of Under the Skin: “People are always looking for the Holy Grail."

Back in 2013, Under the Skin received rapturous praise for its sparse script and dark, sci-fi-tinged atmosphere. Its screenwriter, however, takes a humble approach when asked if he’s proud: “Erm, yeah, there are some good bits in it.”

Walter Campbell was a latecomer to the adaptation of Under the Skin; written in 2001 by Michael Faber, the process of bringing his existential sci-fi tinged thriller to the big screen proved a struggle, with re-writes after re-writes, pushback after pushback. Campbell, a soft-spoken Irishman who works primarily as a creative director in advertising, thinks 9/11 played a role: “Jonathan [Glazer, director] wanted to make a political horror, initially. It took a while to get off the ground because post 9/11 everyone was hesitant to make anything subversive.”

A number of talented filmmakers had joined the creation of Under the Skin after Glazer bought the rights back in 2001, such as Milo Addica (Monster’s Ball, Birth) but had failed to grasp the elements that, while successful on paper, proved difficult to translate to the big screen. In came Campbell, who had worked with Glazer previously on the Guinness ‘surfer’ adverts, to give notes on the script.

Eventually this evolved into a full blown undertaking of the task and he is now credited with some of the film’s most innovative aspects, including the decision to use hidden cameras as Johannsson roams the streets of Glasgow in disguise, picking up unsuspecting men. “You can see people genuinely thinking about the situation, it’s less predictable. You can see the guy thinking ‘is this really happening?’ It’s the same with the death equation – I don’t know if people really engage with reality, they almost need to see the body in the ground before they think ‘fuck, something’s actually happening here.” Anyway, bit morbid this…”

These philosophical tangents punctuate much of the interview. The eccentric writer seems the ideal choice to take on the mantle of Under the Skin, with a sex alien wreaking havoc on a sleepy Glaswegian town. The film takes on some weighty themes, though Campbell disagrees with this: “What’s difficult and weighty in it?”

ED: Well, the concept of what it means to be a human is quite existential.

WC: “But isn’t that what everyone thinks in a part of their mind?”

ED: People do but they don’t always put it down on paper.

WC: “Yeah, you have a fleeting thought. I think most people don’t think that they’re gonna die.”

ED: Why’s that?

WC: “When I’m talking to people, all I hear is people wishing time away. “It’s gonna be summer soon, it’s gonna be Christmas soon”. They’re sort of wishing themselves towards death. I think they believe somewhere on a deep level – even though they pay lip service to the fact they know they’ll die – they believe they won’t.”

The movie is a bold departure from the book in many ways, which Campbell avoided reading: “I’ve got an expensive first edition still in its wrapper. The basic idea of the book was that aliens come to earth and fit inside human -like suits – the whole idea being ‘meat is murder’ and how we can morally eat sentient beings. I was less interested in that aspect and so altered it so we were asking more ‘what makes someone a human being?'”

Campbell cites his background in advertising as a boon in developing the script: “You become more analytical and think ‘what’s interesting about this’ and ‘what isn’t’ and you can move through those processes much quicker than most.”

While the skills learnt cutting his teeth with advertising bigwigs may have helped in this instance, he looks on the industry today with less favour, saying “I think a lot of good ideas are being defused or set aside because of a spurious over-calculating. Or worrying about repercussions – people are looking for the Holy Grail but are burying what could be magnificent.”

Political correctness in art isn’t the only thing he believes is quashing creativity or expression. He sees the refusal to look at both sides of the picture as one of the biggest flaws of people today, which rings true of the divisive presidential election across the pond and the rise of alt.right news sites and ‘alternative facts’.

“I read [a review] by accident on this anti-Semitic blog (laughs). It was basically having a go at Jewish directors like Kubrick and Glazer. He just segued unexpectedly into Under the Skin and he was actually praising it and I was thinking ‘this is weird’, but then he finished off by saying ‘ultimately, it’s just a piece of crap’. He came back around to his own sensibilities. It was a sucker punch. He compared the film to Jew mythology, perpetuating a Jew agenda – I’m not sure where he was getting that subtext”.

When asked why he was on the site he fell down that particular rabbit hole, he says “I like to read things that go against what I think. What’s the point of reading something you already agree with?”

Currently, Campbell is in the beginning stages of developing a script about the second coming of Christ, the premise being that he’s a financial wunderkind who solves the world’s economic problems, though he declines to elaborate further on the plot.

His final words? “I think we’re sort of convinced that we’re something a bit special or above others. I don’t really think I’ve got a mental problem…I think I’m probably the sanest person on the planet. I can see through most affectations. It’s not like reading people’s minds, I just think people speak with cross-purposes so I can usually quickly identify what they’re really convincing themselves. Being perceptive makes it easier to write characters.”