'The Set Was a Lovely Place To Be'

The Ballad of Wallis Island stars Carey Mulligan and Tom Basden on the fun they had shooting the film, and recording its songs in her musician husband Marcus Mumford's home studio

- by JANEÉ BOLDEN

CAREY MULLIGAN KNEW SHE WANTED TO BE PART of The Ballad of Wallis Island from the moment she read the script. “I just loved it and thought it was so moving, funny, beautiful—it made me cry,” she told Newsweek. “It’s really rare to read unbelievable writing, and I don't know if there’s many films that really do that. So I wanted to be part of this group putting something lovely into the world that’s just gorgeous.”

Written by Tom Basden and Tim Key, The Ballad of Wallis Island expands on their 2007 short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island. It centers on folk musician turned pop artist Herb McGwyer (Basden), who is booked to perform on a remote island only to find that the millionaire (Key) who hired him is pulling a bit of a “parent trap,” having also arranged for his former bandmate and ex-girlfriend Nell Mortimer (Mulligan) to play the concert.

The reunion is meant to bring back the magic of their McGwyer Mortimer duo—but it also opens old wounds. What's more, Nell is accompanied by husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), forcing Herb to confront not only his past, but her present. In an exclusive conversation with Newsweek, Basden shared how the film evolved over two decades and the pandemic gave him and Key time to turn their long-gestating idea into a feature-length project.

Basden and Key’s creative partnership began in the early 2000s as part of a four-man sketch group. Their early short films were made on shoestring budgets, relying on humor and inventive storytelling.

“We were just making these things out of the back of someone's car,” Basden said. “We'd get food from a petrol station and shoot with whatever we had. But we loved the whole experience of making those shorts.”