Bringing nearly 40 boys–all under the age of 12–together even under normal circumstances is a recipe for chaos. But it’s nothing compared to leaving those lads to fend for themselves on an island in William Golding’s classic 1954 novel “The Lord of the Flies.” And then add the dynamic of trying to do justice to that book in a television miniseries of the same title with an ensemble of kids–36 in all–who have never acted professionally on-camera before.
That incredibly challenging TV proposition was embraced by screenwriter/executive producer Jack Thorne, director/exec producer Marc Munden and other artisans, including cinematographer Mark Wolf, BSC, yielding a four-part limited series which debuted earlier this year on the BBC and then began streaming this month on Netflix. Lord of the Flies has already earned critical acclaim, including a Gotham TV Award nomination last month in the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series category.
At first, Munden confessed that when the prospect of such a project was proposed to him, his initial thought was “who needs another version of ‘Lord of the Flies?’” Two feature films had been made–with Munden an admirer of the Peter Brook-directed big screen adaptation released in 1963. But upon reading the script penned by his long-time collaborator Thorne, Munden saw the light–and the opportunity to shine a light on these British schoolboys, particularly the lead characters Piggy, Ralph, Jack and Simon, in an insightful way that hadn’t been done before. In fact each of the four episodes brings a different protagonist to the forefront–the first installment focusing on “Piggy,” episode 2 on Jack, episode 3 on Simon and episode 4 on Ralph. This structure leads to a better understanding of each lad, gaining a sense of their families and backgrounds, giving context and depth to their strengths and vulnerabilities–and how they came into play when stranded on a deserted tropical island after a plane crash. Sadly, their attempt to govern themselves descends into savagery, serving as a real-life reminder of what we as people–even as children–are capable of in the struggle for power and survival.
Casting directors Nina Gold and Martin Ware cast a wide net across the U.K., soliciting tapes from hundreds of boys, if not a thousand, estimated Munden. Gold and Ware whittled the field down to where Munden could conduct workshops with prospects–only a smattering of whom had any acting experience and that was on stage. The youngsters read scenes often in pairs, taking on different parts. This process helped Munden find his cast, anchored by Lox Pratt as Jack, David McKenna as Piggy, Winston Sawyers as Ralph, and Ike Talbut as Simon.
Piggy is highly rational, has a knowledge of and values science, proposes a voting-based democracy that gives everyone a voice, and brings a whimsical, musical sense of humor as reflected in his singing of tunes made famous by Groucho Marx such as “Hello, I Must Be Going” and “Hooray for Captain Spaulding,” both from the Marx Brothers’ movie Animal Crackers. Piggy finds a friend and ally in Ralph, a cheerful lad who has a sense of duty and a desire to serve, resulting in his taking on a leadership role–one which Jack covets, and eventually wrests away from Ralph. Jack is aggressive and projects decisiveness, strength and upper-crust entitlement, yet those traits camouflage insecurities and his having been brought up in a less-than-loving household. Simon is a choir mate of Jack and the two know each other well. Well versed in Jack’s vulnerabilities and fragile ego, Simon has a big-picture perspective that makes him attuned to what is happening and what will happen, making him a prophet of sorts.
Additional characters include Thomas Connor as Roger, Noah and Cassius Flemyng as twins Sam and Eric, Cornelius Brandreth as Maurice, and Tom Page-Turner as Bill, alongside an ensemble of some 30 other boys playing the island camp’s “big ‘uns” and “little ‘uns.”
The remarkably successful casting was underscored in an example of how Pratt impacted Munden. Going into the project, Munden envisioned Jack as being somewhat akin to a character Malcolm McDowell portrayed in the 1968 Lindsay Anderson-directed film, If…. McDowell played Mick Travis (aka Crusader), a student who leads a revolution at an old, established, elite school in England. Munden described Crusader as ”a sort of swaggering, posh lout. And, you know, he’s like a [former U.K. Prime Minister] Boris Johnson-type character. He fills the room with his aura wherever he goes. And I was looking for something like that from Jack.”
But when Pratt read for the part of Jack, it was a revelation for Munden. “He did something very different and much, much more intelligent and counterintuitive, which is he played him like a sort of spoiled, sort of entitled prince or something–or a rock star,” recalled Munden. “There was something sort of preening about him, even though he had an acid tongue. And as soon as he started to get that, I just thought, ‘Oh, that was brilliant.”
The experienced director learned from Pratt–and for that matter the entire ensemble of newbie actors, which was a testament to the talent and seriousness of the assembled cast. They had the intelligence and understanding that enabled them to inhabit the characters and their thinking, observed Munden.
The actors also had the benefit of Thorne’s words–or lack of words at times–which captured the emotional and psychological complexities of boys. As alluded to, Munden is well-acquainted with Thorne’s eloquence. Lord of the Flies marks their fourth collaboration, the first being National Treasure (2016) starring Robbie Coltrane and Julie Walters, followed by The Secret Garden (2020) with Colin Firth and Julie Walters, and then Help (2021) with Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham.
Day for night
Adding to the degree of difficulty in making Lord of the Flies were certain practical considerations, most notably the limited hours in a day that the minors were allowed to work. Munden noted, for example, that he and cinematographer Wolf had some five or six hours a day to shoot the older boys, and three hours daily for the “little ‘uns.” Often this meant being able to shoot only half the cast much of the day.
Another prime restriction when working with kids was that Munden and Wolf couldn’t lens the boys after 6 p.m.–a dilemma in that about one-fifth of the limited series takes place at night.
So out of necessity, Munden and Wolf shot day for night but with a twist. “I have shot night for day, day for night before,” related Munden. “But there was such strong direct sunlight [in Malaysia] that it became a case of having to create something else from it.” This prompted Munden to reflect on the work of Irish photographer Richard Mosse. Munden remembered that Mosse “had shot some stills in the Congo with a military grade film–which isolated people in the jungle from the foliage by turning the foliage red.”
Cinematographer Wolf delved into Mosse’s work, leading to the adoption of an infrared camera, which responds to the green foliage, changing it to pink and red. Wolf–who took on a steep infrared learning curve–observed that for Lord of the Flies, infrared “conjured up feelings of danger and hallucination,” in a way enhancing the story and the mystery of the island.
Wolf added that the downtime when the kids couldn’t be photographed was put to good use, what he and Munden referred to as “coconut time,” meaning taking the opportunity to lens the flora and fauna of the Malaysian location. “The environment of a rainforest is incredible,” related Wolf. “We were surrounded by animals, and felt intense heat and humidity. That creates its own kind of world for the kids. Being in that environment adds to the feeling of the boys. A rainforest in a studio would have never created that same hot, sweaty look, the physicality of it. The environment was a major factor in the story.”
In that vein, Munden observed that just as the boys are “turning on themselves, the island seems to mimic that–the degradation, that destruction.” The island interacts with the boys in this manner.
Dovetailing nicely with portraying the island as a character in the story were Wolf and Munden’s roots in documentary filmmaking. Wolf, for example, not only won a primetime Emmy Award in 2002 for Outstanding Cinematography for Non-Fiction Programming but also a BAFTA Television Award in the Best Photography (Factual) category for his lensing of The Blue Planet. That same year Wolf was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for the cinematography on an episode of Congo.
Wolf’s subsequent fiction endeavors also went on to garner recognition, including his lensing of Time which was nominated for a Golden Frog in the TV series competition at Camerimage, followed by a BAFTA Television Award nomination the next year in the Photography & Lighting, Fiction category.
Munden’s alluded to documentary filmmaking background includes his first establishing himself as a director in the documentary arena for the BBC, with films often about outsiders on the fringe of society. Munden, who earlier started out as an assistant to such noted British film directors as Mike Leigh and Terence Davies, later branched out from directing documentaries to take on narrative fiction, along the way winning three BAFTA Television Awards–Best Single Drama for The Mark of Cain, and Best Miniseries and Best Fiction Director for National Treasure. Munden was nominated seven other times for BAFTA honors, including Best Single Drama and Fiction Director for Help, Best Serial Drama for The Devil’s Mistress, and Best Miniseries for The Crimson Petal and the White.
The documentary sensibilities of Wolf and Munden also proved fortuitous in other respects for Lord of the Flies. Wolf noted, for instance, that while he did shot listing and storyboarding, his conversations with Munden often dealt with the feelings being portrayed in a scene. Camera angles were also discussed but were frequently changed depending on actor performances. Since he and Munden had documentary backgrounds, the cinematographer explained that they were “quite happy to be flexible within the scene, not too rigid, letting the cast play out the way they liked.” This enabled the boys to be more themselves and natural in front of the camera, assessed Wolf who added, “It was amazing to work with all the kids. I was amazed at how they stuck it out through the whole project. I thought within a week they would get bored. They were so professional. So much came down to Marc’s direction. He spent quite a lot of rehearsal time with them. His patience with them, his nurturing of them, giving advice and support.”
The level of performance by the boys was astonishing, continued Wolf, citing as an example McKenna who played Piggy. Wolf described McKenna as “an incredible actor, so natural.”
Munden added that philosophically a documentary background helps bring a different dimension to storytelling. A documentary is constantly interrogating and exploring as part of a quest to get to the truth of a matter, to expose the lies. That dynamic helped to advance the narrative, getting audiences closer to the truth of the characters in Lord of the Flies–and what they, and for that matter, we–are capable of.
Wolf primarily went with the Sony Venice 2 digital camera for Lord of the Flies, mostly going handheld so he could get in closer proximity to the boys–and capture their breakout performances. Meanwhile Munden shot some iPhone footage which was incorporated into a number of scenes, lending further insight into the boys and how they were impacted by their environment.
Wolf noted that shooting in Malaysia had its challenges, particularly related to the weather. Filming got underway during monsoon season. It took an hour to get to the island by boat but sometimes a monsoon would mean they couldn’t get to the island or get off of it. Also, Wolf reported that cast and crew got stuck in a few locations with storms–at times, blinding–coming through. Safety officers were there, equipped with a lightening gauge. Any lightening hits were potentially dangerous, especially given all the trees on location. One incident saw a tree fall on a unit base–luckily no one was there at the time.
Wolf added that it helped to have worked with Thorne on varied projects before, including Help which teamed the cinematographer with not only Thorne but also Munden. Having that familiarity with and understanding of one another going into Lord of the Flies spawned a sense of comfort and proved valuable, assessed Wolf.
Boyhood, not Adolescence
Prior to Lord of the Flies, Thorne famously collaborated with writer-actor-producer Stephen Graham to create last year’s lauded Adolescence–directed by Philip Barantini and winner of eight primetime Emmys in 2025, including for Outstanding Limited Series. Earlier this week, Adolescence wrapped its award-winning run with four BAFTA Television Awards, including topping the Limited Series category.
There have been some parallels drawn between Adolescence and Lord of the Flies in that they both depict a descent into brutality and a stark reminder of what people are capable of at their worst. Yet there is a distinct difference between these two Thorne projects. Adolescence centers on a 13-year-old boy whose deep-rooted anger leads to his brutally murdering a young girl. The series sparked conversation about the impact of online toxic masculinity on young, developing minds, raising concerns over how teenage boys are being drawn into a “manosphere” of misogyny and incel culture.
The novel “Lord of the Flies,” though, dates back to the 1950s and is not about the “manosphere” or toxic masculinity. Instead the story centers on boys prior to their adolescence. And we see that there is anger and resentment within them at an early age–in some respects, carrying over from their home lives, parents and a society damaged by World War II and during the Cold War era. Such inner rage can bubble to the surface well before lads reach adolescence–particularly in high-stress, pressure-filled situations like a plane crash and being left to your own devices on an island. In Lord of the Flies, we can plainly see that conflict and chaos can in our weakest moments be largely self-inflicted.
What’s all the more harrowing is that this childhood reality has the potential to be shaped and exploited later in life by the dynamics brought to the fore in Adolescence.
Adventure turned to horror
Munden was drawn to Lord of the Flies as a unique opportunity to mesh genres, including having an adventure story evolve into a kind of horror film right before our eyes–the horror of the beast within us taking over, frequently leading to a tragic outcome.
Munden added that part of the horror is in Lord of the Flies’ relevance today. The story, he observed, “reads like a political fable in some sort of way” with factions pitted against each other–one headed by “the dutiful democratic leader Ralph,” while the other, cut from populism cloth, is led by the “bullying, cruel, egotistical Jack.” Hatred becomes a driving force.
Also present is the influence of the British class system. The privileged and entitled have the upper hand, seizing power from those who are less powerful. The elite kids wield that power to their own advantage.
Yet while savagery and corruption run seemingly rampant, the story is told in such a way that we feel empathy for the characters–after all, they’re still children. At the same time, there’s a delicate balance. While in some ways we empathize with them, commented Munden, it was important “not to let them off the hook” for their behavior.
Essential to Munden in telling this story was the mutual trust he and Thorne enjoyed. Thorne had long wanted to take on Golding’s “Lord of the Flies.” To do so, Thorne remained true to the book yet had to take some liberties, adding elements that he felt were simpatico with the spirit of the novel. In turn, he passed that same creative privilege onto Munden, freeing him to take liberties with the script. Thorne further trusted the director’s artistic acumen when it came to deploying visuals, sound, color and so much more to capture the tale told by Golding and adapted by Thorne.
Munden said that being afforded this freedom led to a number of scenes being deconstructed and reshaped during the edit process. Every decision was made and geared to bring the essence of “Lord of the Flies” to life so that audiences could value and see its relevance to today–to get them to think about and interpret the story, maybe spark some empathy, glean a life’s lesson from it, and even view their own lives and society in a different way.
The irony in all this is that filmmaking at its best is propelled by a spirit of collaboration that grows out of artists coming together in a positive manner–in this case to tell a story about kids who band together as a faction marred by a negative motivation which promotes tyranny and a mob mentality, wreaking death, havoc and destruction on themselves and a society of their own creation.
This is the first installment of SHOOT’s weekly 16-part The Road To Emmy Series of feature stories, connecting with directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, production designers, VFX talent and assorted other artisans to gain insights into their work and their collaborators. Emmy nominations will be announced and covered on July 8. Coverage of the Creative Arts Emmy winners will appear on September 5 and 6, and we will report on winners at the primetime Emmy Awards ceremony on September 14.
