Angus Miller (BBC’s Shetland) stars as broke salesman Henry, who is living in his car when he finds out his wealthy grandfather’s left him everything in his will. But to claim the estate, Henry must cut off one of his legs with a hacksaw…which his grandfather has kindly provided.

Director’s Vision for ‘Leg of a Salesman’

I’ve always envisioned Leg of a Salesman as a darkly funny fable that could be torn from the pages of a dusty forgotten collection of Roald Dahl short stories. The film is heightened in tone and style, stretching the seams of reality, but through this I was able to explore very real human themes and make them accessible to an audience using humour.

I wanted to make this film initially as a reflection on my 20’s, during which time I felt lost and in pursuit of seemingly unachievable goals. I often felt like I had to “cut my leg off” to get anywhere and then it still wasn’t enough – this primal frustration that life is always out to get you is something I felt a need to explore, it’s something I think we’re all guilty of feeling. And often the truth is, we’re in conflict with life not the other way round.

The film is essentially about a group of characters who are all lost in their own way and it was important to me that the visuals showed the “edges of their world” whether this be the ceiling being visible or the office feeling slightly sparse. I wanted to use framing, set design, and aspect ratio in this way to emphasise that these people have nowhere to go.

Ultimately, I’m exploring these human emotions and themes through a family dynamic under strain. I’m particularly fascinated by deaths in a family and how this often leads to conflict. Family is a strange bond, connecting sometimes wildly different people with a varying degree of dysfunction. I find this a perfect framework to explore the darker side of the human psyche – I think we all know that family can bring that out in us!