It’s exceedingly rare for novelists to have a chance to see their stories come to life, and it was so amazing to write, direct, and produce this project. Just seeing Alec (“Lord Havelock”, picture 3, left) portray the menacing Head of First Years gave me chills. He was terrifyingly authentic to how I had imagined the character. Paul (“Fergus Valmont”, pictures 1 and 4) was phenomenal as the sneering arch rival to our hero, Henry. It’s quite strange seeing these two in the behind the scenes footage, as they’re completely goofy and lovable, but come across as such villains in the trailer. And I can’t imagine why Thad (“Henry Grim”, pictures 2, 4 & 5) hasn’t already been discovered. Working with him was like working with a massively successful professional actor, and he’s such a sweetheart on top of it. Thad’s the one who made me first think of seriously attempting a trailer for the book. (And he introduced me to the Jacobin calendar) Funny story–my production assistant, the intrepid Emily, picked up a reference copy of Knightley that we had sitting around in wardrobe and by the time I’d figured out where the book went, she was 150 pages in. I had to let her take it home.

And of course there was a FlipCam wandering around the set, begging for people to pick it up, turn it on and…do impressions of Lord of the Rings, debate whether Dumbledore’s sexual orientation can be considered Canon, and sing show tunes–yes, with jazz hands.

Maybe one day Knightley Academy will be picked up by a real production company, but even if that never happens, I already got to see my characters come to life, and, in another week, so will you guys!

xx
Robyn