Adam Deacon has made his directorial debut with new movie Anuvahood, which is out on DVD and Blu-Ray today.
I caught up with the British star to talk about acting in and directing the movie, working alongside his friends and what lies ahead.
- Anuvahood is about to be released on DVD so can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
It’s a coming of age movie called Kenneth, he is from a council estate and he wants to live up to expectations - he want to be a gangster in the hood.
He has got these vision of him being a massive MC out there but really he hasn’t got any talent - he just that typical kid that you find on the back of a bus somewhere with a lot of learning to do.
- The film marks your directorial debut so how did you find stepping behind the camera for the first time?
It’s crazy!! There was lot of running around as one minute you were focusing on the shot and the next you were going in to play Kenneth - so there was a lot of doing the scene then going back to the monitor to check that everything is good then going back.
It probably took a little longer than if you had another director because I was acting in it as well - it guess it slowed things down but it was brilliant for me because I could get my vision out there rather than someone else’s.
- You also star in the film so what challenges did acting and directing the movie pose?
I realise that through this job that actors get it quite easy; all we have to do is go to the set and learn the lines and everything else is done for us.
But with this you are responsible for everything and everyone - you might do a scene and you might think that this is the best scene that you have ever done but then you realise that the actor in the background isn’t doing what he is suppose to be doing and you have to do the take again.
It’s all on your head and with my name on the film I knew that if the film was not to be good then I might not get to make another one and it could damage my career so there was a lot of pressure from me.
I use to look over and see all of the other actors having banter and jokes on set but I couldn’t get involved - I suppose that I was the serious guy on set.
- You also penned the script, along with Michael Vu, so how did the collaboration with him come along? And how did you find working with him?
I have known Michael since he was a bout 12, we went to the same secondary school, I have always known that he could do something like this, even though he is not from an acting background.
We would always sit down and talk about this little scenarios and how one day we could put them in a movie and we kept talking about it until I was on the set of Shank and I got talking to the producers about my idea they told me to put my money where my mouth is and get it written.
So the hardest bit was actually being focused and getting all the ideas that we had talked about for so long on paper and getting it written.
- So where did the idea for the movie come from?
I guess the inspiration came from the movie Friday, the American movie, and I always felt that the UK should have something similar; we are quite similar in characteristics; even though Friday is set in South Central I wanted this to be set in London.
There are so many characters on a council estate and that is what I wanted it to be about - I have been in all these movies that are set in the urban jungle and they are all the same thing; a kid with a gun or a kid with a knife and it’s depressing.
The plan was to make a film that took in the lighter side of it and all of the banter and making a whole movie on that. The idea was always there, we talked about this on the set of Kidulthood as well saying ’wouldn’t it be great to make a film based all around comedy?’ So it was just about waiting for the right time to get that done.
- The movie stars Michael as well as Jazzie Zonzolo, Paul Kaye and Richard Blackwood who can you talk me through the casting process - did you pen the script with anyone in particular in mind?
Yeah quite a few of the main characters I had already pictured in my mind - I knew that I wanted Jazzie involved and Richie Campbell was always going to play Tyrone, we talked about that way back in 2005 I think it was.
I knew that I wanted to Jamie Winstone back and Ashley Walters and a lot of the character that I had in my head really came through for me.
But that’s not to say that a couple of days before filming actors dropping out - but every actor that dropped out we were kind of blessed because someone else came a long and did something better.
It was hard because I didn’t have a casting director helping me it was just me and my mobile trying to ring up all these actors to see if they were free - that was the hard thing as well trying to make sure that everyone was free at the same time.
Luckily it all came together and we manage to schedule filming around everyone’s schedule - I was really happy because we had a great mix and blend of the best of UK, so yeah I was happy.
- Many of the cast are friends so how challenging was it directing them - as you don‘t have that distance from them?
I had to make that distance, if you see what I mean? A lot of the actors understood that this was my baby and I wasn’t messing about.
I think that people really understood from an early stage that this was not a joke about and it will not be the usual Adam having banter as this was my baby and it will be done right.
It was hard though because you have got actors like Femi (Oyeniran) who I have done all these films with in the past as actors, we were the ones on set having jokes all the time and I think that it must have been a weird for him me telling him what to do.
Because they are my friends they understood and they knew that it had nothing to do with ego they knew I had written this film and I had it all in my head. We didn’t really have any problems with that.
- How much is directing where you want to take you career - or is acting still very much the focus?
Acting has always been my main love - directing is something that I have always wanted to do but I didn’t think I would get to do it so early in my career.
But now I have done it it’s definitely something that I would like to carry on, I’m in the process of writing some thing s at the moment.
Now I think that all the things that I write I would like to direct but still act the same time. So I have really got the directing buzz now because I really enjoyed it ad it’s good to know that you can put your vision out there rather than just going to set and reading your lines - I like that creativity.
- You have starred in movies such as Kidulthood and 4.3.2.1. and worked alongside fellow British filmmaker Noel Clarke so how much did that inspire you to step behind the camera?
Obviously I was a round when he was doing it and then it was done and that is what really showed me actually he has put his mind to it, he’s a young guy and he’s directed his first film who’s to say that I can’t do that?
Watching Noel and other actors doing their thing over the years I learnt a lot, I didn’t go to drama school or anything like that, so I learnt on the job and it was a case of watching good directors do their thing and bad directors do their thing and knowing what kind of director I wanted to be.
So yeah it had a great influence on me seeing Noel do his thing and I realised that I could definitely see myself doing that.
- You have now worked in both TV and movies so how do they compare/differ?
OI think TV is a lot more organised because there are strict schedules that you have to stick to but it is also a lot calmer. Film it’s always done on a low budget it’s a lot more guerrilla style where you have twenty minutes to get the scene done - but it’s a lot more challenging.
What I love about movie is it’s there for life, you do a TV job and it sort of comes and goes, while a movie is there in history, hopefully, and it will always be on DVD.
I enjoy them both for different reasons but I just love the thing about making movies that will be around for a long time.
- Finally what's next for you?
I have got a film coming out called Outside Bet with Bob Hoskins, that’s out at the end of the summer. I’m also doing some writing at the moment for other projects that I want to get out next year and I have got a few films that I’m acting in this year.
I have also got a bit of music coming out this year so it’s just trying to keep busy.
Anuvahood is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now and you can follow Adam Deacon on Twitter at @realadamdeacon.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Adam Deacon has made his directorial debut with new movie Anuvahood, which is out on DVD and Blu-Ray today.
I caught up with the British star to talk about acting in and directing the movie, working alongside his friends and what lies ahead.
- Anuvahood is about to be released on DVD so can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
It’s a coming of age movie called Kenneth, he is from a council estate and he wants to live up to expectations - he want to be a gangster in the hood.
He has got these vision of him being a massive MC out there but really he hasn’t got any talent - he just that typical kid that you find on the back of a bus somewhere with a lot of learning to do.
- The film marks your directorial debut so how did you find stepping behind the camera for the first time?
It’s crazy!! There was lot of running around as one minute you were focusing on the shot and the next you were going in to play Kenneth - so there was a lot of doing the scene then going back to the monitor to check that everything is good then going back.
It probably took a little longer than if you had another director because I was acting in it as well - it guess it slowed things down but it was brilliant for me because I could get my vision out there rather than someone else’s.
- You also star in the film so what challenges did acting and directing the movie pose?
I realise that through this job that actors get it quite easy; all we have to do is go to the set and learn the lines and everything else is done for us.
But with this you are responsible for everything and everyone - you might do a scene and you might think that this is the best scene that you have ever done but then you realise that the actor in the background isn’t doing what he is suppose to be doing and you have to do the take again.
It’s all on your head and with my name on the film I knew that if the film was not to be good then I might not get to make another one and it could damage my career so there was a lot of pressure from me.
I use to look over and see all of the other actors having banter and jokes on set but I couldn’t get involved - I suppose that I was the serious guy on set.
- You also penned the script, along with Michael Vu, so how did the collaboration with him come along? And how did you find working with him?
I have known Michael since he was a bout 12, we went to the same secondary school, I have always known that he could do something like this, even though he is not from an acting background.
We would always sit down and talk about this little scenarios and how one day we could put them in a movie and we kept talking about it until I was on the set of Shank and I got talking to the producers about my idea they told me to put my money where my mouth is and get it written.
So the hardest bit was actually being focused and getting all the ideas that we had talked about for so long on paper and getting it written.
- So where did the idea for the movie come from?
I guess the inspiration came from the movie Friday, the American movie, and I always felt that the UK should have something similar; we are quite similar in characteristics; even though Friday is set in South Central I wanted this to be set in London.
There are so many characters on a council estate and that is what I wanted it to be about - I have been in all these movies that are set in the urban jungle and they are all the same thing; a kid with a gun or a kid with a knife and it’s depressing.
The plan was to make a film that took in the lighter side of it and all of the banter and making a whole movie on that. The idea was always there, we talked about this on the set of Kidulthood as well saying ’wouldn’t it be great to make a film based all around comedy?’ So it was just about waiting for the right time to get that done.
- The movie stars Michael as well as Jazzie Zonzolo, Paul Kaye and Richard Blackwood who can you talk me through the casting process - did you pen the script with anyone in particular in mind?
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