Noel Clarke is a busy man these days. You’ll occasionally find him promoting reading for young ruffians, fronting anti-piracy campaigns and bothering that Dr. Who fellow. Oh, he also makes?the odd?film now and again.
He also had the misfortune to bump into Hecklerspray recently. So we tied him down and forced him to talk about dick journos, his next four films and that fat bloke who made Clerks. Oh, and a little film called 4,3,2,1.
Read the interview after the jump…
‘Spray: 4,3,2,1 out now?and it has been described as a heist movie. That’s not quite right is it?
Noel Clarke: No. No, I’ve never described it as a heist movie.?I think sales people have been doing their selling stuff. It’s a bit of an?unconventional film and?I think that people have to find a hook to sell it. There’s a little bit of a heist in there and?I guess that’s the hook they’ve used.
HS: It’s a bit more commercial than?Adulthood and?Kidulthood?
NC: Yeah,?I would say so. The idea was to make a more commercial film than the previous two (obviously?I didn’t direct the first one but I wrote it) and the idea was to write a more commercial film than the previous two. I just feel that people expect a certain thing from me and?I want to confound expectations. Someone said to me earlier, ‘It’s out of your comfort zone’. And I said, ‘You don’t know what my zone is you’re only going by what I’ve written and you don’t know that’s my zone.’ I just want to show that I can do different things.
HS: Were you excited to take on a film that is totally different from your previous?work, especially?with more action? Was that exciting to direct and write?
NC: Nah, not really. I don’t look at it like that. I just kinda write, if people think this is exciting they should see some of the other scripts. There’s a whole bunch more they just haven’t been made yet – some will never get made and some will. It wasn’t really exciting. I wrote 4,3,2,1 before Adulthood, so it’s really a case of: I just sit down, have an idea and write them. It wasn’t really exciting, it was just write and, ‘Oooh look, it’s happening’.
HS: You’re fast becoming the face of the British Film Industry. Has that come with its own set of pressures?
NC: Yeah, well there’s always pressures when you’re making a new film. especially when you are at the helm of it and making all of the decisions. But essentially, I don’t really feel too much pressure once the film’s done. Because once it is done it’s done. And I know people like yourselves – journalists – will comment on it and you’ll like it or won’t like it and criticise it or praise it but I don’t really pay attention to that stuff.
Anything you do in life from the shoes you put on in the morning to the shirt you wear to the film you make, people are gonna do one of two things. Peoiple are either going to like it or not like it. It’s as simple as that. Essentially, there’s nothing I can do so I don’t really care. I don’t really feel the pressures because I don’t really care.
I know people who really take onboard journalist reviews, but I really don’t. They are almost wasting their ink if they think they can write and annoy me.
HS: Is that because you are always thinking about the next project?
NC: Yeah,?I think maybe that’s part of it. People are talking about 4,3,2,1 and I’m already thinking about the next four. I already know what the next?four could be and?I know that the next four are impossible to do?in the next two years, so?I have to allocate different directors to some of them. 4,3,2,1 is long over for me.
HS: And you’re currently working on a film called Fast Girls at the moment?
NC: I’m co-writing Fast Girls with a guy called Jay Basu. One of my scripts, 83, is out with another director. I’ve got a thing called Rain of Death that we’re working on, which, I’m not writing I’m just producing and might be in. And then there’s my top secret project that?I will write, direct and be in. So there’s a few.
HS: Bit of a juggling act then?
NC: A little bit!
HS: 4,3,2,1 features a nearly all-girl cast. Do you find it easy writing strong female characters?
NC: I dunno, I just kinda wrote it. It’s a weird one, I was thinking about writing a film about girls but… I dunno, I just wrote it. I wrote it because a guy told me I couldn’t write girls and that annoyed me.
HS: Who told you that?
NC: I can’t remember. If I could remember I would out him, I really would but I can’t remember his name. I hope he sees the film. I just remember him watching Kidulthood and telling me that I couldn’t write girls and that he didn’t like the film but wanted to meet me because I was interesting. I thought, ‘What a dick’. I went home and started writing 4,3,2,1 because it was about girls.
I kind of get driven by that stuff. That’s probably what I do, I don’t get annoyed about stuff, I don’t care, but if?someone says I can’t do something…
HS: You see it as a challenge.
NC: Yeah, that’s right.
HS: What can we expect from 4,3,2,1 co-director Mark Davis in the future?
NC: He’s got one of the scripts that we talked about two minutes ago. One of my scripts I’m giving to him, he’s got a lot of ideas.
HS: Did you butt heads at all on 4,3,2,1?
NC: Nah, not at all. I’ve know him for like ten years. He edited my first job, Metrosexuality. He did a short film called Plastic that I was a sort of extra in. We’ve always been around, always worked together, people just don’t realise because he hasn’t quite broken through in the industry. He is supremely technical and knows a lot about a lot of stuff. I gave this job to him to do years ago and no-one would give him a break. We set it up with Universal but no-one was trusting an untested guy with the budget so they wanted me to do it and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it’. But I decided to keep him on instead of being an arse about it. I was like, ‘He’s my mate and I know he can do it so we can do it together’.
There was no butting heads and no problems because we planned this film for years.
HS: How did Kevin Smith get involved in 4,3,2,1?
NC: If think he has been aware of me for a while because I’m a fan of his website, and I’ve met him once. I knew he was coming over so my agent asked his agent and he emailed me and he said, ‘As long as I’m not topless or bottomless I’m in!’
HS: What are you most proud of about the film?
NC: The thing I’m most proud of is just that we got it made. There is no one bit in particular. Making films in this country is hard and I’m glad we got it made.
4,3,2,1 is out in cinemas now. Check it out!
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