And he spared us a little bit of time for the following chat… How can I win 200,000?
you’re free to win 200,000 by doing the Doritos: King Of Ads competition!
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Excellent.Weve ticked the box there.
You see, my cunning plan is to cut a deal with you.
You could be in our ad, and well do a 50/50 split?
So thats 100,000 for you for a days work?
Thats better than union rate?
I dont know, man!
If you could convince the rest of the judging panel for us…?
I could do… [grins]
Ill take that as a maybe!
I find competitions like this quite interesting.
I was born in the mid-70s, and I think youre the same.
The world has changed, though, and British film is stronger.
I think so, yes.
I think its better.
We need a new injection of young, fresh talent.
And competitions like this provide opportunities.
Youve said in the past yourself that youve written a lot of scripts, even beforeKidulthoodwas made.
I did, yeah.
Where did you send them?
The scripts went everywhere you could go with scripts to go and get them made.
But then I wroteKidulthoodand they were, Oh, he must know what hes talking about!
And it got made.
Even after that, I tried to do other things and kind of wasnt allowed to.
I had to writeAdulthood.
If I hadnt have done that, I dont know what would have happened.
Yeah, people are keen to do that.
And I think with4.3.2.1, they know what theyre expecting.
I think thats going to be the main thing when this film comes out.
The people who think they know what theyre expecting will be surprised.
Youre playing on that, presumably?
Yeah, Im definitely playing on that.
Weve even put out teasers that are directly meant to make people think what they want to think.
No,Kidulthoodwasnt the best one.
There was definitely at least one better.
But you know, it was like a romcom or a drama, that one was a drama.
I guess what people would call an awards movie.
Not that it ever would have won, but it was that kind of thing.
But people were like, Who is this guy to think he can do this sort of stuff?
He can write about being on a council estate, and being involved in things.
He wears a hood!
And the irony now is that youve got a BAFTA!
Yeah, I know!
Where do you keep it?
On the shelf next to the Olivier!
Arent you supposed to keep it in the bog?
Isnt that the law?!
I like mine too much!
Theres a few others in there, though!
You said you were trying to get a romcom moving.
Would you say the reason that was rejected was down to you, or what people thought youd bring.
Or was it just not what Britain was doing when you pitched it?
Britain was definitely doing that kind of stuff.
And its only now that people are willing to read whatever I write.
You just want to be a filmmaker.
If youre gay, you dont want to be known as a gay filmmaker.
It doesnt really matter whether youre a woman, or black, or gay, or whatever.
This year at the Oscars, weve got Lee Daniels and Kathryn Bigelow.
Ive seenPrecious, its a great film.
And Ive seenThe Hurt Lockertoo, which is a great film.
How is it the first time that this could happen?
How does this happen?
Extraordinary film, too,BoyzN The Hood.
But thats only 15 or 16 years ago.
And films like that were the films that were inspiring me.
I could relate to that more than I could some of the films that I was seeing here.
It was Merchant Ivory here at the time…
Yeah!
[laughs]
Ive been following your next film,4.3.2.1, quite a lot.
And YouTube banned it.
But they decided to ban it, so thats been interesting.
It sounds like a bit of politics?
You shot part of this one in New York as well, I understand?
It was a load of fun.
To film in America and direct in America was an experience I always wondered if Id ever get.
And to do that was a lot of fun.
We have a lot of nice cameos in the film as well Kevin Smiths in there…
Were coming to him in a minute!
We had a lot of fun doing that.
Because the films I do are relatable worldwide.
Yeah, were in post now, so just mixing and stuff like that.
And have you got a release date for it?
I think itll be June 4th.
You mentioned the cameo with Kevin Smith.
Ive read before youve been inspired by his films…
I have, yeah.
Theres one of mine too!
Ive been a member of his boards for a few years.
I dont really post a lot.
I just lurk, and read stuff, and laugh.
And hes aware of me because other people are like, you know this guy makes films?
He was there doingReaper.
So I met him there briefly.
And I said to him, They want me to direct my film,Adulthood.
Do you have any advice?
He said, Dude, just do it, go for it.
And then occasionally hed be aware of me around and stuff like that.
It was written that my ideal person for it would be Kevin Smith, but youd never get him.
Who would my ideal person be after that?
That fat guy fromJurassicParkor whatever…
Wayne Knight?
He has lost weight!
It doesnt work anymore!
People always say that, though.
Youve read the interviews before, where people say that theyve written a part specifically for one person.
Yeah, I did!
Straight down the line, genuinely did!
Ive got them all, I like them all.
Who else would want to cast me?
Subject to reading it, as long as you dont have me topless or bottomless, Im in!
And he flew over on his book tour, and to do his show at O2.
And one of the days, he had a day off and he came and shot the movie.
Who was your back-up plan?
There wasnt someone in wardrobe who thought they were about to get their big break?
It was Kevin Smith or nothing.
And he turned up!
Hes got three scenes, the day was used really well.
you might do that in Britain, and outside of the mainstream system, though, cant you?
you might turn things round so much quicker?
But we had to, because he only had that amount of time.
So we scheduled it, made sure it was done correctly, and yeah.
Did you try and bag your way intoCop Out?
No, it was too late.
Hed already shot that.
Are you going for the next one?
Id love that man!
That would be great!
You must have asked him?
I wouldnt say, Dude, can I be in your next film!
If hes making it, and he remembers…
You want us to ask for you?
Its up to you, man!
He knows Im a fan, and he knows we do the same sort of job.
Although hes done it a lot more than me, and hes better at it!
The news came out last week that your next project could be aRocky-esque Olympics film?
They sayRocky-esque….
… Ive got visions of Ivan Drago here!
[Laughs] Its a sort of inspirational story, kind ofRockymeetsAny Given Sundaywith girls racing and running.
Its kind of being an Olympics movie to come out in the summer of 2012.
When you talkAny Given Sunday, youre referring to the in your face shooting style?
[Laughs]
In terms of how you go about directing, Im curious how its evolved.
InDoctor Who, youve seen people who make quite a lot out of a small budget.
Youve doneCenturionwith Neil Marshall, and that again looks like an extraordinary expensive movie when it actually isnt.
Are these the kind of guys who are the best school for you?
Yeah, its about watching and learning.
Learning how to stretch budgets.
Youre at the point now where its just after a year after the BAFTA.
Has it opened doors, or is it the commercial performance ofAdulthoodthats helped do that?
I think its a combination of both, really.
Without the commercial performance ofAdulthood, the BAFTA probably wouldnt have happened.
That culminated in the BAFTA, and then I think thats helped.
To be more of a household name out there, especially with the TV Ive done as well.
Its helped me to get jobs likeCenturion, which I got the day before the BAFTA was announced.
Thats not a bad week!
I have to ask: you were apparently in a couple of episodes ofCasualtymany years ago.
I was, yeah!
Did you get a dramatic death or anything like that?
BecauseCasualtyat its best was the precursor to theFinal Destinationmovies…
Im trying to think…
I did die inCasualty!
I was in three episodes.
You took a long time to die?
It was a kind of seizure in the end from a wound in my stomach or something!
You seem to get a real kick out of those?
Yeah, I love questions.
I think interacting with people is important.
The thing about me is Im not afraid to answer anything.
So, if I say Im going to answer 20, I will answer those 20 that come in.
Lots of people do that, though.
Course they do, but fuck em, its their loss.
Does that interaction ever help shape your work?
Not so much when Im filming.
Consequently, Im going to do picture credits on4.3.2.1!
And with that, we were out of time!
Noel Clarke, thank you very much!
4.3.2.1 is out in June.
