Interview with Noel Clarke (writer, director and star of Adulthood) - June 11th, 2008

Promoting: Adulthood
Venue: Soho Hotel
Interview type: Round table


ViewLondon (VL): Writer, actor, now director – what was that like for you?

Noel Clarke (NC): Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was obviously a challenge, but I'd been acting for a few years and writing for about half of that time as well and so when the film company asked me to direct, it wasn't something that I wanted to miss. So I had to do a test shoot, which was shoot a few scenes from the film, so they could approve that, so I did that and they passed it and then I got to do the feature.

VL: Will you concentrate more on acting, writing or directing now, do you think?

NC: Well, I'm hoping – I know there's a real thing in this country where they like to shove you into a box but I'm allowed to do all three because essentially, that's what I do. I remember when Kidulthood came out, people were like, 'Do you write now? Is that what you do?' and I was like, 'Well, no, I still act as well', so if I'm allowed to, I'd like to still be able to do all three. Although not always at the same time.


VL: What have you got coming up?

NC: I'm doing a film with Jim Sturgess called Heartless, which is directed by Philip Ridley and that's just as an actor. And it's great to be able to sit on set and look at the director stressing and be like, 'Ah, yeah', you know, 'cos I've done it. And obviously I'd just like to continue my writing and hopefully to be able to direct more stuff as well.

VL: The role of Sam is very different in this film to the last one. How did you set about transforming him from the villain into the hero or anti-hero?

NC: Well, obviously he's the same character and in the first film he was more like a one-dimensional bully and was there to serve a purpose. And in this film, obviously he's learned a valuable lesson and has to come out and deal with the consequences of his actions. But you know, it had to be his character because he had the biggest journey to go on. Because what a lot of young people that do these things don't realise, it's not just about you, it's about your victims and about how they feel. And I think that people aren't necessarily afraid of prison, you know, and I wanted to show that you go in there, there's people that really do really horrible things and if you're young like Sam was, you know, and you realise, actually, I was just a guy that thought I was some kind of big-shot but actually you go in there and there's really horrible people, you become humble very quickly. And you either go one of two ways, you either are sorry and you come out and you change or it can make you worse. And I wanted to show a character that is actually truly sorry when he comes out and wants to change his life. But I didn't want to make it too easy - in fact, he didn't come out saying sorry, he just wanted to be left alone. [SPOILERS] But then throughout the day, he's realising what he's done and who he's hurt, so when he says sorry at the end, he's earned it and you know that he truly means it.

VL: When you finished writing the first film, did you always have an idea of how you thought the character's life would go after the film had finished?

NC: No, I didn't. There wasn't even going to be a second film, it wasn't something I was interested in doing. I was back filming series 2 of Doctor Who at the time and it wasn't something I was thinking about. But then one of the actresses got a bit excited and she was telling people there was going to be a second one and she was going to do this and she was going to do that and I was like, 'This girl's mad', but then I thought, 'Actually, if I was going to do a second one, what would I do?' And I thought it would have to be that character and supported by Jay as well, that character, because he was friends with Trife and what would happen to you if your friend got killed like that, what would it turn you into? [SPOILERS] And I think throughout this film you see Jay as almost one-dimensional like Sam was but then at the end he says, 'I'm here because of you', you know, 'You did this, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be like this'. And you think 'Oh wow', that's what happened, it becomes like a vicious circle, people do things and then other people want to get them back and at some point somebody has to walk away or it never ends. Or it does end when someone dies.

VL: He was such a bad character in the first film - were you worried that it would be difficult for audiences to be sympathetic towards him in this one?

NC: Yeah, yeah, completely. I can see that. But even at the end, if they're not sympathetic, I don't necessarily mind. You can't always be forgiven by everyone if you do something as deplorable as he'd done. But if you're truly sorry within yourself, I think that's what counts. Not everyone's going to forgive you, but you don't always deserve to be forgiven. But what counts is if you've done something and you've learned from that mistake and you are not going to do it again and you are truly sorry and you've changed your life and become a better person and it's one less person doing wrong on the streets, I think that's what matters. So if people come out and they're like, 'Well, I still don't like the character', that's fine, as long as they can see that the message is there, that you can be an individual and walk away and not participate in continuing the circle of violence.

VL: Why do you think Kidulthood was so popular?

NC: I think it's just the air of authenticity because other films have come out that have tried to do the same thing and they've dropped like a lead safe. And I think the reason Kidulthood has been so popular is the authenticity, I think people can tell. If it's written by people that know or people that actually care, I think the audience can tell and I think that's what happened. Because, I mean, apart from Bridget Jones, Mr Bean or 28 Days Later, I defy you to tell me any British sequels made in this country. [No answer]. Right? And the reason we got a sequel is because the audience spoke. They went to see the film because their generation was captured by the movie and they went to see it. Sequels just don't happen in this country, for British films. And I think it is the authenticity, it's the fact that they related to it. A lot of adults and journalists were saying, 'This doesn't happen, this is ridiculous, kids don't have sex at fifteen, this is outrageous' and all the kids were like, 'We do this, man!'

VL: What about the accusations that Kidulthood glamorised and promoted violence?

NC: In real life, if you get hit with a baseball bat, you might die. That's what happens in real life. In other movies, you get thrown through a window, you get rolled over by a car and you get up and you fall through a pool table, that's glamorising violence to me. Because it's making it unrealistic, it's telling you these things can happen to you and you'll be fine, but in real life, you get hit once, just get hit wrong with the wrong thing and you might die. And it wasn't glamorising, it was just reflecting what society was doing and I think, unfortunately the film was right.

VL: Kids are always in the news – only yesterday there was talk of how kids are demonised and thrown in prison and so on. What can people do to tackle young crime and why are those perceptions out there?

NC: I don't know what people can do to tackle young crime. I'm not a journalist or a politician or someone who thinks they know the answer to that. All I can do is what I do and what I do is make films that raise questions. But if you want to look at anyone who's helping young people then you can look at this film because we set up a music initiative for young people to send their music in and young people sent their music in. We had 800, 900 tracks being sent in by young people who were making music in their bedrooms. And the hook was, 'Do something positive, make some music and if you get picked, your tracks will be in the film'. And their tracks are in the film. If you give young people positive things to do, they will do positive things. We literally scanned everywhere looking for new and young people. We let people from MySpace who liked the film come and be extras and got them excited about being on a film set. Again, if you give young people positive things to do, they will do positive things.

I can't answer why their behaviour is the way it is, but I can say that in the area I grew up in, there used to be a thing called YCTV, which was Youth Television, and it got young people into directing and acting and stuff like that. There's a director I know called Luke Hyams, he does Dubplate Drama, he came from YCTV. And all it was, local kids or kids who were behaving a bit bad could go there and learn about the industry and last year they closed it down. Why have they closed it down? Because now, all those kids who could go there and learn, what are they going to do now?
And with the amount of money that's floating around, you can't say it's because of funding. I have no idea why they closed it down, but if anyone could find out, I would love to know why they closed down YCTV, because the kids in that area need something like that.

VL: Do you have a favourite scene that you either wrote, acted or directed?

NC: I think one of my favourite scenes is when Ben Drew and Arnold Ocseng (Dabs and Henry) go into the basement flat and the other boys are playing the computer game and they kind of just sort of take it over. It doesn't move the story forward, it's not essentially really aggressive, it's just like teenage boys, you know, 'We're in here, we're more important than you, give us the controllers' kind of thing. And then the continuation scene from that, when they're playing the computer games, because sometimes young people are demonised and stuff like that – it's a very small minority but the stuff they do is so awful it grabs the news – but we forget that they're kids and sometimes they just want to play computer games and sit down and have fun. And I like that scene because for a moment they're young boys again. Which is what I think some of them would really like to be if they thought they had a choice.

VL: What do you want young people to get out of the film when you see it?

NC: I want them to realise that if you give them positive things to do, they'll do positive things. Yes, some young people are demonised and some of them are quite rightly demonised, but on the flipside, you have a lot of good young people that are doing things and some of them really grab the opportunities to make music and stuff like that. But also, I want people to look at the bigger picture of the film and see that the message is there for the characters to not be afraid to be individuals. [SPOILERS] You know, Henry doesn't want to be involved. Dabs hits him with a brick, but it's because Henry doesn't want to be involved. For every Dabs, you have a Henry, for every Jay, you have a Mooney, who wants to study at university, you know, for every Jay at the end you have a Sam who's going to go, 'You know what? I'm walking away'.

And I think young people need to not be afraid to be an individual. If all your friends want to play football and you want to write poems, write your poems! Sit on the football pitch and write a poem about them playing football if you need to, but don't be scared to do it, you know, don't be scared to be your own person.

And also, at the same time, for those slightly negative young people that always have excuses – and I've heard a lot of them say, you know, 'Who knows about what I go through? I grew up with a single mother on a council estate. You can't tell me anything, you don't know'. I do know. I was raised on a council estate, by a single mother and I'm making films. So now that excuse is not eligible anymore, you need to look at yourself and sort out your life, you know? A lot of them are quite rightly demonised but some just make excuses. Don't make excuses. Stop whatever you're doing that's negative, because you can't use that excuse, and find something positive to do. And I hope that's something that people take away.

VL: You've written about something that's very close to you. I would imagine you'll now get lots of people sending you their scripts for you to direct. Is that something you'd consider?

NC: Yeah, most definitely, I'd direct anything. You could send me the next Care Bears movie, I'd do that, if it was good enough. I wouldn't like to be pigeon-holed as 'He does this sort of work'. The films I've done just happen to be the films I've done because that's what I've been allowed to do. But I'd be more than happy to write and create other stuff. Also, to be quite honest – and I know some people might be annoyed at this – we've written about this genre and we've got a sequel, so anyone who's at home going 'I'm gonna write a film about gangs, I'm going to write a film about this', so anyone who's at home writing those films, face facts: you're not going to be as good as these films. You're not going to get a sequel. So you might as well stop that and write about a doctor or a lawyer or think of something new or exciting or different so we can start moving away from this sort of subject and show young people in a more positive light. We have teen films coming out of America every week, which we flock to see and they make millions of pounds, so why are we not doing them over here? They're not difficult to do, you know, they'll get the audience, but we just don't make them. We need to be doing stuff like that. So hopefully, the fact Adulthood has created the history it has by getting the sequel, hopefully now we can just take that audience, the MySpace, Facebook, PSP, Wii, Nintendo, Playstation culture and take them into new directions.

VL: I know you're filming material for the DVD at the moment. Is it important for you for the DVD to be as good as it can be?

NC: Yeah, I think it'll be as good as it can be. We'll have as many features as we can cram on there because that's what people want, they want extra content. We've got music videos for the film – that never happens! The last thing I remember was Love, Actually, with Girls Aloud and Hugh Grant dancing around. We've got music videos with footage from the film. The cast appear in the Sway video – that happens in American films, it doesn't happen here. And the question is why not? Why doesn't it happen with, quotation marks, “urban” films? It's because no-one's given it the chance to happen. And I might look quite dumb, but I've orchestrated all of this because I'm trying to give people opportunities to do new things and let us become more creative. And the soundtrack? My goodness! I don't know if it's your sort of music, but when you hear the soundtrack, you'll be jigging away, seriously. Seriously.

VL: Your films -Kidulthood, Adulthood and West 10- have given an opportunity for a lot of young talent, in particular black actors, to get into feature films. Was there anyone in particular who stood out for you?

NC: Adam Deacon, who plays Jay. I think a lot of people overlook him because he is what he is. You see him and that's him, but he's a very, very talented actor and he's going to be doing good things. And there's a new kid in this film called Jacob Anderson who plays my little brother. He was only 17 when we did the film, I think he's just turned 18 now, but he's a fantastic prospect for the future. And obviously, I set Aml Ameen on his way – a lot of people think he was in The Bill first, but he wasn't, he did Kidulthood first and they saw him and they took him and now he's on his way doing good things. And Shanika (Warren-Markland) and Red (Madrell), the two girls, they're really good talents and I think if they're allowed to, by the industry, all of them could do really, really well. They're fantastic talents and I hope that they're supported and do well in the future.

Interview with Scarlett Alice Johnson (star of Adulthood) - June 11th, 2008

Promoting: Adulthood
Venue: Soho Hotel
Interview type: Round table


ViewLondon (VL): Sorry to mention EastEnders immediately. You had quite a tough time on EastEnders, from the critics. This is a completely different role - do you hope that it will blow the critics away?

Scarlett Alice Johnson (SJ): God, that is quite a tough start! No, this is utterly different, in every way. I've always said that I'd rather have a reaction rather than no reaction to every character I play, so I make a conscious effort not to pick very generic characters. Nine times out of ten you get passed on scripts where it's just like the daughter or the wife, especially as a female actor, obviously, that can be really frustrating.

The thing that I love about this character and about this film is that it's completely specific. It's a very specific subculture, it's a very specific language, she has a very specific physicality, everything. It's just so far from being generic. Which is great, it's such a good tool as an actor to really narrow down the person you're playing.

VL: Talking of accents, it seemed to me that you, or rather the character modified her accent depending on who she was talking to. Was that right?

SJ: Yes. It's more of a colloquialism rather than an accent, so obviously she's aware of what she's doing. So when she's speaking to someone, she'll slightly vary her speech, so she'll speak differently to her boss than she will to, say, her dealer. But I'm glad you picked up on that!

VL: Was that something that came from you or from Noel's direction?

SJ: No, that was written in the script. The words in the script really dictated how I was going to say them and that was there right from the start.

VL: Were you a big fan of the first film? And was it daunting to come in and play against the character who had dominated the first movie?

SJ: I was very aware of Kidulthood, I'd actually bought the DVD. I'd also met Noel about three years before the first audition, so I wasn't particularly nervous coming into join it, because it was a nice thing to come into the second instalment of one big story.

VL: Do you have a favourite scene in the film?

SJ: That's quite hard. I think, in the beginning of the film, there's a scene where Lexi first meets Sam and they're just talking and she's got her back up completely. She's at her most abrasive because I think she's quite insecure and quite nervous and she doesn't quite know how to react to him, she probably fancies him a little bit, but in that scene she's Lexi at her most raw, her most Lexi-ish, if you like. And she has some great one-liners, she's got such a dark sense of humour. And there's one line that I can't repeat as it's slightly rude, but that just made me crack up. So that's my favourite scene, not in terms of the filming but in terms of the script, I just think it's brilliant.

VL: You have, not a sex scene, but a bit of hanky-panky in the film – how was that to film?

SJ: Ha ha! Everyone phrases it in different ways. Hanky-panky, intimacy, love. It was fine. Obviously, Noel has been with this project from start to finish so I felt very confident that I was never going to arrive on set and things had changed, I would suddenly be topless or wearing, I don't know, something on my nipples. I knew what it was going to entail. I've always felt very strongly that I would never do any kind of sex scene, or any kind of nude scene, in fact, unless it was absolutely necessary in the script. And this is not a gratuitous sex scene anyway, I think it's quite an honest portrayal of that slightly awkward, initial fumbling sort of thing. I'm very pleased with it.

Note: I've posted interview notes in the comments section below.

Interview with Nadine Labaki (writer, director and star of Caramel) - October 26th, 2007

Promoting: Caramel
Venue: Sofitel Hotel
Interview type: One-on-one


ViewLondon (VL): So far, Caramel has been shown in France, Switzerland, Lebanon, Toronto, Dubai and Spain. What's the reaction to the film been like so far?

Nadine Labaki (NL): It's been amazing, everywhere we go. It's amazing how, even though the culture is different, people are reacting very warmly – it's a very warm feeling overall, it's a very positive reaction. People feel connected to this film, connected to the characters. They identify with them, they identify with the situations.

VL: I was amazed to read that the cast were all non-professional actors. Can you say a little about that?

NL: Yes, it's the first time they've acted. I wanted to use non-actors because I wanted to give the audience the impression that they were spying on other people's lives, not that they were watching a fiction with actors that were pretending to be someone else. I just wanted them to be who they were in life, to be the same in the film. So I didn't ask them to act, I just asked them to be. But the casting took a long time, it took over a year.

VL: It was your first film as a writer-director, so how difficult a decision was it for you to act in the film as well?

NL: It came when I started working on the casting and when I started auditioning the other parts. When I was playing Layale with them and I was with them in the scenes, it would create a very strong bond between us and it would just make the best come out of them. Because I was with them in the scene I could really direct it the way I wanted it and they would react to whatever I was saying. And it created something really strong, so that gave me the strength and the courage to say, yeah, I can do it. Even though it wasn't going to be easy, I decided to go along with it, because it really created something very special. And this friendship that happens in the film is a real friendship, you know, it's not fake. We really are all friends now. So it was not an easy adventure, but I'm happy with the result.

VL: The film reminded me a lot of Pedro Almodovar's films. Was he a particular influence?

NL: I absolutely love his films but he has a fantasy world where his situations are unreal or they're the result of his imagination or fantasies, whereas in my film it's based on reality and true things. But I think there's a similarity in that we both talk about women in a very loving way and I adore his films. Actually, the character of Gisele is a very Almodovarian character but it wasn't deliberate, although I take it as a compliment.

VL: Are there any other directors you admire?

NL: I love Lars Von Trier, the Coen Brothers, Woody Allen and an Iraqi director called Bahman Ghobadi.

VL: Do you know what your next film will be?

NL: No, I have many themes that I'd like to explore but I don't know yet. I'm still not obsessed with one. I need to be obsessed with something before I write about it, because I want it to be as true as possible. So I'm just waiting to see what will happen next.

Note: I've posted interview notes in the comments section below.

Interview with Roxane Mesquida - October 24th, 2007

Promoting: The Last Mistress
Venue: Sofitel Hotel
Interview type: One-on-one



ViewLondon (VL): Obviously you've worked with Catherine Breillat before (in A Ma Soeur and Sex Is Comedy). Were you always going to play the character that you play? Was it written for you?

Roxane Mesquida (RM): Well, no. Not really. I didn't know that I was going to play this character. We really want to work together all the time but this character is only 16 so she was scared that I was maybe too old for the role (I'm 26). She needed a big difference between (co-star) Asia Argento and the girl playing Hermangard. So she had these doubts about me for the role and one day we went to a retrospective of her movies and there was a screening of A Ma Soeur and Sex is Comedy, so we saw them together and she looked at me and said, “Oh my God, you're exactly the same! You haven't changed!” And at this moment, she realised it was completely possible for me to play a 16-year-old girl. Well, I'm always 16, in all the movies I make! And it's really funny because it's the third time I play a virgin in her movies – I've started to specialise in losing my virginity on screen.

VL: What was your favourite scene to film?

RM: My favourite scene was when I cried on the cliffside. It was really cool, because it was really hard. I had to run upstairs like maybe 20 times, it was really high and every time Catherine said, “No. You smiled a little. Go back.” I didn't smile! I almost passed out, I was like, “Please Catherine, I promise, I didn't smile...”. And so I cried for real.

VL: You don't have many scenes with Asia Argento. Did you get to know her at all?

RM: I have only one scene with her and the really interesting thing is that Catherine asked me to never speak with her. And I never spoke to her on the set, so I don't know her at all. And when I saw the movie for the first time, I realised why Catherine asked me to do that. So, in this scene with Asia, where I'm looking at her, you can see in my eyes that I really don't know her and I'm asking myself questions about her.

VL: What was it like working with (male lead) Fu'ad Ait Aattou?

RM: He's a model and it was his first role. It was really interesting. I really love acting with actors who've never acted before because there is something fresh and spontaneous about them. And Catherine is so good at directing actors – even if you're not an actor, you can only be good in her movies.



Note: I've posted interview notes in the comments section below.

Interview with David Proud and Sasha Hardway - August 24th, 2007

Promoting: Special People
Venue: Delegate Centre, Edinburgh Film Festival
Interview type: One-on-two



ViewLondon (VL): How did you get into acting and how did you get involved in the film?

David Proud (DP): I was in a TV series called Desperados on CBBC and that was my first big break. From that I managed to get an agent and did a documentary on BBC Three and went straight from that to Special People. I wasn't in the short film version that was filmed in 2005, I just joined it for the feature. But I'm really glad to have done it. It was certainly fun filming it and it's been brilliant coming to Edinburgh and promoting it.

SH: I found an agent who handled actors and models with disabilities, so I joined her agency. I'd got a few jobs from her before – I did a Stephen Poliakoff film, which was quite a big BBC budget film at the time. It was called Friends & Crocodiles – I got carried by Damian Lewis. But this is the biggest film I've been in so far, like, with the most lines. And I was in an article in the Big Issue about disabled actors and that's how Justin (the director) found me.

VL: Tell us a bit more about the short film. How did that come about?

DP: Well, the whole idea is based around [co-star Robyn Frampton], because she wrote a complaint letter to her council and said there's not enough access and something about TV shows. And they got in contact with 104 Films (the production company owned by the director and producer). So without Robyn venting, it probably wouldn't have come off. It was a good mix of her venting and Justin and Dominic getting together and writing a script about it.

VL: How important to both of you is the idea of presenting disabled characters in films and on TV?

DP: We are starting to see more films and TV shows that explore disabled issues, but I'd really like to get to the point where the wheelchair isn't relevant to the character. A guy from Desperados is in a children's show called My Spy Family and his wheelchair is purposely not mentioned – he gets picked on because he wears glasses, not because he's in a chair. So there's no reference to it and that made me smile quite a bit, because he's just a regular character. So you've got to show people in the industry that it can be done and then get people into just regular roles.

VL: So do your agents lobby for that particular sort of thing?

DP: My agent is brilliant. She puts me forward for anything in my age range. She does keep a keen eye out for projects looking for disabled artists, because that's obviously my niche, but if there's a part in my age range, she'll put me forward for it.

VL: And Sasha, you're a model as well. Are you happy to continue modelling and acting or do you feel more pull towards one than the other?

SH: I'm happy doing both, but I think I'm more drawn towards acting.

VL: Have either of you got any other projects coming up?

DP: For me, I've got a project in development with 104 Films that we're trying to get funding for. It's a short film that I wrote with Jason Maza (Dave in Special People). I've seen quite a few different scripts and it's encouraged me to get my own ideas down.

SH: And for me, I'd like to, so if there are any acting parts about...! And in the meantime, I'm modelling. They tried to get the fashion show into London Fashion Week but they failed. Because it's all based on disabled models doing the catwalk and the clothes range is specifically designed for people in wheelchairs. The website is www.wheeliechix-chic.com. So I've been doing some modelling, but I really want to do some more acting.

Interview with Olga Kurylenko - August 24th, 2007

Promoting: The Serpent
Venue: Apex Hotel, Edinburgh
Interview type: One-on-one


ViewLondon (VL): How did you get involved with The Serpent?

Olga Kurylenko (OK): Eric (the director) was looking for a girl…well, I don’t want to say…

VL: I think I can guess. The script calls for an incredibly beautiful girl, right?

OK: (laughs) Yeah and he tried a few models, I guess and it didn’t work out and then he met me and it was good.

VL: Your character is essentially the bait, isn’t she?

OK: Yes, but mainly I’m the victim because she’s used by Plender. She has no papers, so basically she’s illegal in France and you can imagine that he probably took her passport and makes her do all these things because she has nowhere to go. But that’s what attracted me to the part, you know, she’s not a mean person but she does bad things. It’s like a contradiction – she’s a victim but because of her there are many men whose lives get destroyed.

VL: I assume you weren’t shooting for that many days? You’re only in a small handful of scenes compared to the other two.

OK: Well, I did ten days. You know they cut a lot of scenes out.

VL: They cut some of your scenes out? Were there any specific scenes that got cut that you really liked?

OK: Yeah, in the scene where I drug Vincent, there was much more dialogue, but I guess it was too long so they shrank it. And also with Chandras, the lawyer in the beginning, now we only see what she does with him on the video camera, but in the beginning there was more of a seduction, you know, I invited him to my house and so on.

VL: Next to you, my favourite part of The Serpent was the unusual staircase. How was it filming those scenes?

OK: Oh my God, that was terrifying. I was freaking out. I’m scared of heights – I can’t even go out on my balcony and I’m on the fifth floor. So can you imagine, for me, falling down? It was crazy.

VL: You did the whole falling scene yourself?

OK: I did the whole thing myself yes. There was a stunt girl but I did the whole thing myself – I don’t even know why they invited the stunt girl. I wore a harness and I was attached by cables and there was a guy who controlled it all. There was a mat on the floor and it was about ten metres high. So first they dropped me and it was like real speed, you know, real falling and then they slowed it down at the end. But the first moments were real and I was white (with fear). And Eric played a joke on me, because during the shooting, I was really, really scared and he saw that. And at the end, at some point, he said to the guy, “Okay, drop her”. And I got so scared, I screamed like this, ”Aaaaaah!” and he said, “Okay, we got it, that’s the shot”.

VL: We recently saw your Vampire movie, the short film you made with Elijah Wood in Paris, Je T’aime. How was that?

OK: It was amazing, I loved it. It’s the only part I’ve played where I don’t play a human being. The director told me to think of my character as an animal and that was good advice, because it made me change my way of thinking. It’s a pity it was a short and that it couldn’t be developed a bit more. I’d love to do a full-length vampire movie, but a classic one, you know, not a stupid one. Like a fairy tale, with beautiful costumes.

VL: If you’d been asked, would you have been one of Keanu’s vampire brides in Coppola’s Dracula?

OK: Of course I would! Yes! It’s a beautiful movie.

VL: What have you got coming up next?

OK: Well, after The Serpent I did an American film called Hitman – it’s based on a videogame and it’s coming out in October or November. It’s also my first American film.

Note: Interview notes posted in the comments section below.

Interview with Julie Delpy - June 7th, 2007

Promoting: Two Days In Paris
Venue: Chesterfield Hotel
Interview type: One-on-one


ViewLondon (VL): How difficult was it to put the film together, because obviously you’re doing pretty much everything yourself: writing, directing, editing, composing and acting?

Julie Delpy (JD): Well, it was quite hard to get money from anyone. Luckily the producer believed in the film like crazy and that really made the film happen. Basically every day we had the news that we were getting no money and we ended up with very little to make the film, but even though we didn’t even have enough to finish the film, we shot it and then the producer was able to find a company that lent us money to finish it. But what was great was that no-one was in the film for the money and they all worked their asses off.

VL: You cast a lot of friends and family in the film. Were they encouraged to improvise at all? What kind of direction did you give them?

JD: You know, originally I wanted to improvise quite a lot of the film and then as I met Adam a few times, I realised it wasn’t going the direction I really wanted for the film. And then when I told my parents about the film they said “We don’t want to improvise a word. We’re actors, we need scenes.” So I started writing the film and ended up with 110 pages of screenplay, basically the whole film. There’s a few little chunks that are improvised, but it’s funny because people don’t know, because it seems almost more staged than the other stuff. Just little chunks like the gallery, but not the whole gallery, just little chunks.

VL: Adam Goldberg is fantastic in the film and I gather you wrote the part especially for him. What was it about him that made you want to use him in the film?

JL: Well, he’s the sad clown, kind of thing. It’s like the sadder and more upset he looks, the more people are hitting him on the head, the funnier he looks. And he has great comic timing and I wanted someone who looked funny when they were upset. But he resisted a lot of the comedy stuff – he didn’t want to be jealous, he was like “How could I be jealous of these guys? I mean, look at me…”

VL: The script is excellent. The arguments are very believable, much more so than in any relationship comedy I can really think of.

JD: Well, I’ve argued a lot in my relationships (laughs). And I’ve witnessed a lot of arguments too.

VL: How much of it was drawn from actual arguments you’d had?

JD: Well, you know what it’s like when you’re a writer, you’re in the middle of breaking up with someone and you’re like, “Ooh, good line”. It’s like the pathetic side of being a writer, you never really stop observing, even yourself. Some of it is taken from other people but you know, in the story, it can be totally fantasy and made-up things, but I like to take the dialogue from real things.

VL: What have you got coming up next?

JD: I have The Countess, that I wrote. It’s a drama – it has nothing to do with comedy, hopefully. It’s about murder, cruelty and power and destruction. It’s very, very dark. So that’s my next film that I’m directing and starring in.

Note: Interview notes have been posted in the comments section below.

Interview with Rosamund Pike - April 16th, 2007

Promoting: Fracture
Venue: Dorchester Hotel
Interview type: One-on-one


ViewLondon (VL): How did you get involved with Fracture?

Rosamund Pike (RP): I’d just done Pride and Prejudice and I happened to be in L.A. so I auditioned for it and Greg (director Gregory Hoblit) really took up my cause for me with the studio. He really stuck by me and was very supportive. And I found out that I’d got it on the night we opened Pride and Prejudice in New York, so it was a fantastic night.

VL: The film’s a lot of fun and it looks fantastic, too. Was that part of the appeal?

RP: It’s just the kind of film I’ve always wanted to be in. It’s the the kind of film I love to see so I wanted to be in it. And Kramer Morgenthau is a genius cinematographer. I love it. Some people might think it’s a bit camp but I love all the shiny surfaces and the fact that you see the reflection in the blood and you see someone and then you realise it’s a mirror as he steps out and everything is reflective, you know, the floors, the walls, the glass.

VL: Gregory Hoblit has a reputation as a reliable thriller director. Had you seen any of his previous films?

RP: I’d seen Primal Fear but not Fallen. But it’s the kind of thing he does really, really well and he’s a total law junkie. He’s a lovely, lovely man, too. He gets this sort of twisted, creepy feel to his films and he couldn’t be a nicer man. It’s funny to be fascinated by the law and yet look for films that ultimately diminish your faith in the legal system.

VL: What was it like working with Ryan Gosling? He seems like he’d be a very serious actor on set.

RP: He is serious, I mean he takes it seriously and it does it quite alone, but by the end he trusted me and we got to work together. But that’s the thing, it’s so frustrating – you finally get into a rapport and you’re really creating something and then it has to end. But he had some fun with it too. We did this love scene that ended up being cut and he said, “Come on, Rosamund, we have to get down, we have to get sweaty” and I said, “Oh, I don’t think I’m going to get sweaty” and he goes, “No, no, with me, you have to get sweaty, come on, down, press-ups”. And I wasn’t going to be outdone by this bloke so we got down to do press-ups and it was very embarrassing, because by about three I was done and sort of falling on the floor. So then I realised that Evian spray is the way forward. You get just as sweaty and hopefully more elegantly so.

VL: Thanks very much, I’ll bear that in mind.

RP: (Laughs) Yes. If you want to ever go for the sweaty look, Evian spray is the way to go.

Note: I've posted notes for the interview in the comments section below.

Interview with Emma de Caunes - March 7th, 2007

Promoting: Mr Bean's Holiday
Venue: St Martin's Lane Hotel
Interview type: One-on-one


Question (Q): Who do you play in the film?

Emma de Caunes (EdC): I play Sabine (Bean, Sabine, you see?). I become his friend because I drive a Mini, like his Mini in London, the same, so he is astonished by my Mini. His only goal is to see the beach in Cannes and I play an actress who is just starting out, she’s doing commercials and she has a small part in a movie in Cannes so she gives him a lift with the Mini and then the adventure starts.

Q: So there’s no romance?

EdC: You can’t talk about romance really with Mr Bean, you know? He’s such a child trapped in an adult body but he’s not really comfortable with love. It’s more about friendship.

Q: Were you aware of Mr Bean before you signed on to the movie?

EdC: Of course, of course. I’ve been a big fan for a long time. As you know, maybe, my dad (Antoine de Caunes) did a TV show here and he so when I was younger he brought back tapes of Mr Bean and I liked it a lot.

Q: What was it like working with Rowan? I hope he didn’t spend the whole time in character?

EdC: Um, he was really concentrating the whole time and I really understand that, it’s so difficult and I was so amazed by his work. It has nothing to do with normal acting, it’s physical, his body is his real instrument. And also, with this kind of comedy, it’s all about rhythm, you have to catch the perfect rhythm because the joke won’t work if it’s one second too late or too early.

Q: Does he come to the set as Mr Bean or does he come to the set in the clothes and switch on the character when the cameras roll?

A: Oh, no, he’s Rowan Atkinson and then action! And then suddenly…it’s amazing to see the way he splits the two. I guess he’s had Mr Bean in him for a long time and he knows him perfectly. Sometimes he was improvising and it was hard for me not to laugh.

Q: In the paper today there was a picture of Rowan promoting the film on a beach in Sydney and you’re here in London. Does that seem fair to you?

EdC: (Laughs) Yeah, that’s not fair! I want to go to Sydney too.

Note: I've posted notes on further questions that didn't make the published version of the interview in the comments section below.

Interview with Amelia Warner and Ringan Ledwidge (star and director of Gone) - February 27th, 2007

Promoting: Gone
Venue: Soho House
Interview type (one-on-two)


Question(Q): Where did the idea come from? Was it based on any of your own nightmare backpacking experiences?

Ringan Ledwidge (RL): Well, the script was something that Working Title brought to me, so it didn’t originate with me, but funnily enough, I have had a slightly sort of obsessive American lock onto me when I’ve been travelling before and had to leave under cover of darkness one morning to shake him, only to bump into him again two months later with another group that he’d locked onto. So, yeah, I know those guys that you just cannot get rid of and part of that fed into the script.

Amelia Warner (AW): I haven’t actually had any back-packing experiences, I need to get out there and do it. I kind of missed the gap where all my friends kind of did it. I’m going to try and do it soon, so maybe I’ll get some horrible stories then.

Q: How did you get involved in the film?

AW: I just read the script and liked it and went in and auditioned. Several times.

RL: Ha ha! Poor Amelia. I did have her sort of coming back and repeatedly doing the rather more extreme moments in the film, round the table, pretending the room was the Outback.

Q: The film’s a fairly intensive three-hander, was that at all reflected in terms of your off-screen relationships with Shaun and Scott?

AW: Yeah, I think it was, in that Shaun and I rehearsed with Ringan in London before we went out there. We had two weeks of unconventional rehearsals, you know, going to art galleries, sitting in a park, swapping music, that sort of thing. So when we went out to Australia there was definitely a friendship there already and I think Scott deliberately kept his distance a bit. Also, being English, there’s all that weird kind of stuff, so that definitely played in real life, I mean that was just our dynamic. Obviously there was the occasional moment of tension because it was just the three of us and it was so claustrophobic at times.

[At this point a mouse runs out from behind the skirting board in Soho House]

AW: MOUSE!

RL: That’s odd. This is really high up for a mouse.

AW: That’s so weird. I have mice in my flat and I swear they’re following me around London.

Q: What are your next projects?

AW: I’m working on something called The Dark is Rising in Romania. It’s a series of books about a little boy in an English town who gets magical powers. It’s directed by David Cunningham and co-stars Christopher Eccleston and Ian McShane and, er, some kids.

RL: I’ve just finished a screenplay about a guy in a tollbooth and this vast accident happens right in front of him and brings a new person into his life. So hopefully that’s what I’ll be moving onto next year.

Note: I've posted several notes for this interview in the comments section below. They're basically questions that I didn't end up typing out for the interview.