{"id":130,"date":"2011-09-01T21:57:02","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T21:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2011\/09\/01\/attack-the-block-from-the-cutting-room-floor\/"},"modified":"2012-08-17T05:18:27","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T05:18:27","slug":"attack-the-block-from-the-cutting-room-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2011\/09\/01\/attack-the-block-from-the-cutting-room-floor\/","title":{"rendered":"Attack the Block: From The Cutting Room Floor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in late July, Blastr ran my interview with Attack the Block<\/span>‘s writer\/director Joe Cornish and star John Boyega<\/a>. As is common with interviews, roughly half of what was said ended up on the cutting room floor. Since I’m a huge fan of the film<\/a> and several interesting bits didn’t make the final interview, I deliever the remainder for your edification. <\/p>\n

\nRK: Why the night shoot?<\/span><\/p>\n

JC:<\/span> I realized that a lot of my favorite films are all at night or in the dark: The Warriors<\/span>, Evil Dead<\/span>, Blade Runner<\/span>, and Alien<\/span>. It occurred to me that they’re all strong looking films because you can never just what for the sun to come out and put a balance board down and shoot. You have to light and think about lighting in every single shot. It forces you to design everything and it forces you to think about lighting and atmospherics. Plus I personally just like almost real time, contained narratives like The Warriors<\/span>, Assault on Precinct 13<\/span>, and Evil Dead<\/span>. They take place over one night. It’s more claustrophobic and moment-to-moment action so you never have moments when characters tell you what happened yesterday or what’s gonna happen today or about something that happened in their childhood that you know is going to be repeated at the end of the day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Since this was your first film, major or minor, where did you lack confidence?<\/span><\/p>\n

JB:<\/span> Thinking back it just felt like "Oh, I really wanted to learn." I’m not sure about the lacking confidence. We were a young cast and we all had that vibrant energy. We were very enthusiastic to do it. Everybody had big talking. The production team really showed\u2014I don’t know if they were putting it on\u2014us that they knew what they were doing and we totally trusted them.[Executive producer] Jenny [Borgars] was so passionate about what the story was about and how we were gonna to do it. We felt cool let’s do it. I’m a teenager so I’m naive. Whatever, let’s do it. Have some fun.<\/p>\n

JC:<\/span> It was nothing but nerves and fear. I was experienced in TV but I always wanted to make a film. I’d been waiting 20-25 years to do this. So yeah, I had a huge amount of trepidation, ambition, and expectation. But it was fun. And working with these guys ’cause they were knew as well, it was an adventure for all of us. Plus it was just fun. It was aliens and chases, so it was nothing too heavy. It was kinda like play. Though if both us knew that movie would come to the States, get distributed in the States, and we’d be sitting here talking to you. If we had know that then, we’d probably would have been a whole lot more self conscious. We were in our own little bubble. We thought we going ot be premiered in a supermarket on one of those little TV screens above the dishwasher aisle.<\/p>\n

\nWhat confidence during the casting stage?<\/span><\/p>\n

JB:<\/span> I’ve been working as an actor before Attack the Block<\/span> as a stage actor. [Lack of confidence centered mostly around the first audition when I saw people] that looked like me [but] more better, more muscular. Sitting there with cups of water [gargling sounds]. Blah.. blah.. blah.. doing their vocal exercises and I’m just there with my Marvel t-shirt. But when you went in there, the environment was cool and the [garbled] was very supportive. I had a great time and just went for it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Have either one of you lived in the blocks?<\/span><\/p>\n

JB:<\/span> I live in the blocks now. Joe lives like 15 minutes away from me.<\/p>\n

JC:<\/span> We filmed [in the blocks]. We call them estates in the UK, housing estates. Here you call it public housing or projects. It’s much more mixed in the UK. Because London was heavily bombed after the Second World War, the places where it was bombed were replaced by these big public housing projects. The interesting thing about London is that it’s very mixed. You’ll get a millionaire living next to someone on housing support. They’ll shop in the same shops and walk the same streets. That’s what Attack the Block<\/span> is about. Now that there is a recession and jobs are harder to find, you get even more of a kind of mix. That’s the inspiration. In this block, there all these different types of people, all these backgrounds, all these socio-economic positions. They are separated by these kind of fake barriers. I was interested in using an alien invasion to bring those different characters together to point their commonalities between people rather than the differences.<\/p>\n

JB:<\/span> I watched The Wire<\/span> (Season 4) as research for Moses. It’s amazing how much it’s similar. Not in terms of the area but in terms in the kind of attitude, the way they see the world. The way Moses is closed of to everyone else and believes everyone’s against him. That kind of thing. It is very similar so I sometimes find it surprising when people say \u201cAren’t they so different?\u201d The thing is that they aren’t really that different. It’s crazy how much the characters in Attack the Block<\/span> shared that same kind of energy with The Wire<\/span>. But it’s just that we have aliens.<\/p>\n

\nIs there a Hollywood remake in the works?<\/span><\/p>\n

JC:<\/span> [No serious discussions] I wouldn’t mind that. I’d kind of dig it. One thing I can never do is watch Attack the Block<\/span> like a movie ’cause I made it. There would be something kind of exciting. I’d like to see someone else’s take on the story. I wish they would. Hurry up and pay me.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The interview actually started with this exchange after the duo commented on someone’s t-shirt.<\/p>\n

Are there Attack the Block<\/span> t-shirts?<\/span><\/p>\n

JC:<\/span> I still haven’t seen an ‘Attack the Block’ t-shirt.<\/p>\n

JC &amp; JB (together):<\/span> It’s gotta happen.<\/p>\n

\nWhat about action figures?<\/span><\/p>\n

JC:<\/span> Don’t talk about action figures.<\/p>\n

JB (excited):<\/span> I’m really up for that.<\/p>\n

JC:<\/span> [The aliens] would make some really cool plush toys. We really wanted that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in late July, Blastr ran my interview with Attack the Block‘s writer\/director Joe Cornish and star John Boyega. As is common with interviews, roughly half of what was said ended up on the cutting room floor. Since I’m a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n