Six months ago, Jim Cummings’ The Beta Test was being screened at Berlin – but not many people actually saw it. The project was still under wraps, which meant there was only so much he could tell us at the time. But, with the film getting its UK premiere at Edinburgh this week, the shackles are off and he’s back, keeping his promise to tell us all about it.
As well as directing and writing, this time with co-star P J McCabe, he stars as a hyperactive Hollywood agent, constantly on the look-out for new talent and also six weeks away from his wedding. That’s stressful enough, but it’s taken to another level entirely by the arrival of an invitation in a striking purple envelope to an anonymous, no-strings-attached sexual encounter. Try as he might, he can’t resist the temptation, and it’s an experience which sends him down a rabbit hole of deceit, guilt and digital data.
On the eve of the film’s first public screening in the UK, Cummings explains why the film was shrouded in secrecy at the start of the year, as well as how people inside the film industry contributed to the film. One particular scene is a verbatim re-creation of an incident which took place in an agent’s office. He also talks about independent film making and how he sees the future direction of his own career. Like so many, he’s recently become a huge fan of Apple TV’s ‘Ted Lasso’ – and that’s not just because he’s friends with Brett Goldstein, better known as Richmond AFC’s former captain and hard man, Roy Kent.
‘The Beta Test’ is screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 21 August and is released in UK cinemas in October.
