Whenever I’ve done an article for Outside The Blue Box, it tends to be a project where its creator uses Doctor Who to raise their profile. Sallie Aprahamian directed some ambitious episodes of Doctor Who after cutting her teeth on Wolfblood, Jamie Childs cast his partner Jenna Coleman in his feature debut Jackdaw, etc. Well, today’s subject not only stars Skelmanthorpe’s finest, Jodie Whittaker, but she was also one of its key financial backers.
Writer and actress Evie Jones received aid from a short film fund led by Whittaker for her semi-autobiographical piece Truckload, a raw but heartwarming coming-of-age piece about a young woman recovering from a life-changing injury and moving house with the aid of her mother (played by Whittaker). Truckload does not have an official release yet, but it’s been doing the rounds at festivals over the last year, and it has rightfully been earning accolades. Evie Jones received the Best Actress and Audience Award when the film played at London’s Tweetfest. Most notably, the North East International Film Festival awarded it Best Short out of all their selection last year, and I’m lucky to say that I saw Truckload amongst a plethora of fantastic shorts at NEIFF.
Due to the lack of a wide release yet, Truckload is a film that I’ve only seen once so far, and yet I’ve realised that I can remember the feelings it evoked months after my initial viewing. Jodie Whittaker may have contributed to the development of the film by offering a fantastic performance and helping with production, but this is undeniably the work and the story of Jones.
I can honestly think of no one better to play this role, and Whittaker’s passion for this project bleeds through into the finished film in the best way possible.
The work that she puts in here is phenomenal, with a natural but commanding lead performance that Whittaker is the perfect foil for. Jones’s lead character, Lizzie, is putting on a brave face, but is still severely struggling, coming off the back of a life-changing injury that has left its scars in more ways than one. Meanwhile, Whittaker’s mother character is somewhat overprotective of her vulnerable daughter, and must learn to let go as she begins navigating this new stage in her life. Some feature films have spent 2 hours covering these beats, yet Truckload manages to convey so much in its tight 20-minute runtime, with Jones giving both herself and Whittaker time to shine.
There’s two main themes being explored throughout Truckload: identity, as Lizzie begins a new phase of her life and re-discovers herself after what she’s been through, and trauma, as she comes to deal with the lasting mental and physical effects of her accident and move on from it. You can even apply these themes to Whittaker’s character in a way: as Lizzie’s mother, she obviously places a lot of importance in her role as caregiver, but she must reconcile this with letting Lizzie go her own way. We already have a lot of proof (some of which we’ve covered in this series) that Whittaker is a fantastic actress, and Truckload is just another example to add to that ever-growing list. I can honestly think of no one better to play this role, and Whittaker’s passion for this project bleeds through into the finished film in the best way possible.
The promotional tour for the film has seen Evie Jones be just as open about her life as she is in the film. In the Q&A after the screening I attended, she was unexpectedly candid about her personal struggles that had informed the content of Truckload. But after reflecting on the film, I can’t see how Jones would have not been able to discuss them – they are the crux of the entire short, right down to the title itself. Truckload can be an intentionally ironic reference to the vehicular accident that put Lizzie in this position, but likewise it can just be Jones’s way of highlighting the ‘truckload’ of mental and physical baggage Lizzie must now deal with as she enters this new chapter.
Jones’s story has clearly been noticed by more people than just Whittaker – the special thanks credits at the end of the film list Hugh Bonneville, director Simon Curtis, as well as Whittaker’s Doctor Who co-stars Mandip Gill and Sacha Dhawan. But I hope that, when it finally gets an official release and is accessible to the wider public, that more and more people get to notice it, and see Jones bluntly and brilliantly telling her own story.
ALEX’S ARCHIVE ~ OUTSIDE THE BLUE BOX
