Brian and Charles: Jim Archer on the year’s best Welsh robot bromance

Deep in rural north Wales, unsuccessful inventor Brian (David Earl) lives a lonely life where nobody is interested in the oddball objects he creates at his ramshackle workshop. One day that changes when he builds Charles (Chris Hayward), a seven-foot robot made from an old washing machine and a used mannequin head. 

The pair become friends, but Charles strives for independence as Brian teaches him the ways of the world, while warning him of the myriad dangers outside of their home. While Brian is preoccupied by a blossoming love with local woman Hazel (Louise Brealey), Charles is spotted by a troublesome local family, the Tommingtons. Led by villainous, bullying Eddie (Jamie Michie), the family plan to kidnap Charles and worse.

An eccentric and fun British comedy, Brian and Charles was developed from the 2017 short of the same name. The feature, a debut from director Jim Archer and written by stars Earl and Hayward, was made with the support of the BFI Film Fund and won the audience favourite award at Sundance Film Festival. 

Archer sat down to discuss the film’s theme of loneliness, how the film took inspiration from a man and his sheep, and why a Covid delay helped the film’s production.

I met David when we made the short film. We discussed the script a few times before then, but I knew Chris and Rupert [Majendie, producer] beforehand, through friends around the comedy world. Rupert runs a live comedy night, Chris was a writer.

At this stage, it was early in my career. I’d done three short films, maybe one TV thing. I think I was still a PA on film sets at that point, but Rupert had seen my stuff and liked it so got me on board to do that short.

Once it was made, it took me six months to edit it. It took ages to get around to doing that, because I had so many other little jobs. And then eventually when the short came out, it all kicked off. It was immediately popular. All this interest came in, and Film Four got in touch and were like, “Hey, do you want this to be a longer thing?” 

I should also credit that that short is based on another documentary short. We parodied a few other documentaries, but there’s a particular documentary about a guy and a sheep called Peter and Ben (2008) by Pinny Grylls. The final act of our short is very similar to that. 

We were originally meant to shoot in March 2020. Obviously that was quite a tricky time to shoot, so didn’t happen. We waited eight months and shot in December 2020, which ended up being a lot better because the first month of lockdown was famously really sunny and hot and nice. We always wanted this bleak look to the film, like we had in the short. Bleak, but beautiful. That cold, overcast, bluey tone to it. We shot in Snowdonia, deep Wales, for four weeks, specifically in a town called Penmachno and quite a few places dotted around that.

Because the film was about loneliness, we wanted something super-isolated. To me, it was either there, or it was going to be the Scottish Highlands, or maybe Yorkshire, one of those valleys. We shot the short around that kind of area purely because that’s where I found an Airbnb that was available.

It wasn’t quite Snowdonia, it was a bit far out, but we got to quite like that aesthetic. I wanted to have this fairytale feel, which I loved. There were times when we were going to shoot nearer to London, because it’s cheaper so we could have had a bit longer to shoot it. But in the end we opted to have a tighter shoot, but in a more beautiful setting. It reflects Brian’s inner struggles.

It may even come back to that original inspiration for the short, which is this guy by himself with a sheep. But also, David’s been doing that character for 15 years, and that character has always felt like that. I don’t think I’ve ever tapped into any of our personal experiences for feeling lonely, but it might have come from that. I’ve looked back on my other stuff and I’ve made two short films before this one, which are all about weird men by themselves. Even my first short film is about a guy who’s lost.

There’s obviously something there that I’ve buried, but what we were much more directly inspired by were our relationships – family relationships and relationships with friends, even parents and grandparents.

Yeah, he is, but I almost don’t like to say. Because on the surface level, he’s a robot Brian builds, that’s his friend, and it’s about friendship. It’s about parenting as well. The arc is very much like a child growing up. And leaving.

There’s lots of ways that people can interpret Charles. I don’t like dictating it too much, because once you hear someone else’s viewpoint on it, that almost becomes yours. There are definitely things about death in there. We had responses to the original about, “Oh, this is me and my parent with dementia.” None of that’s deliberate, but I like that he’s a blank slate and people can put their own interpretation onto him. 

I think I empathise with Brian more. I want to say Charles, but… He is an amazing class for actors of how little you can do and still warrant such strong emotions. He never does anything with his face, obviously, because he can’t do anything with his face. But, you feel his pain, you feel his happiness.

The reason for that, I think, is how we frame him, and how Chris does it. But also because of how good David is at playing Brian. Brian is carrying all the emotional weight of the film, and giving it to people. He’s giving a bit to Charles and then we feel it. The guy who lives by himself and has done for God-knows how long, maybe his entire life: you’ve got to feel for him more than the brand-new robot kid.

Brian and Charles, backed by the BFI Film Fund, is in cinemas from 8 July 2022.