Hi, Noel. Brotherhood is out on DVD. Do you get excited about things such as Christmas-timed home entertainment releases?
I don’t really get excited. I’m a bit long in the tooth for that now. It’s definitely nice, especially because the film did so well, but you know, that’s what’s supposed to happen.
Kidulthood came out 10 years ago. Will people still be watching this trilogy in 10 years’ time?
The films will be dated in the way that they look: the old phones and the Game Boy colour and all that. But the story of working-class people going through what they go through – that’s never going to stop, is it? The story in the first one is pretty weak, but it stands the test of time because people related to it so much. The second story is much better, but maybe the film is not as well made, but that was my first time directing. I think the third one is the best of all three, but because it has the first two to stand on.
In one scene in Brotherhood you get rinsed by Stormzy’s character for being an old git using dated slang. Was that a nod to you no longer being the young provocateur film-maker you once were?
I think I’m now just the older provocateur film-maker. I still make films that I think people don’t want to acknowledge and don’t want to give credit to, but they can’t ignore them. Charles Gant wrote an article about the top independent British films of the year: Brotherhood is No 4, above David Brent, above I, Daniel Blake, above High Rise. The numbers don’t lie.
Are you saying you don’t get the respect of more arthouse friendly films?
There just needs to be an element of respect for our own film-makers. I was with David Oyelowo on a panel the other day and he said there’s a drain of talent because people here aren’t respected. That’s why he left, that’s why David Harewood left, that’s why Idris left, that’s why Chiwetel (1) left, that’s why everyone leaves.
Are you hinting that you’re next?
If I feel like I’m butting my head against a glass ceiling then, 100%, I’ll be gone. But so far I’ve still been able to make the projects I want to make. I was born and raised here. I don’t need to chase going over to America.
Stormzy told me he liked that he could go from reaching big audiences to hanging out with suits to seeing a friend who had just got out of prison. Is that something you can identify with, having a toe in different worlds?
Sure. Yesterday I was in Berlin, on a set with massive stars (2). Next week, I’m meeting a friend for coffee who has come out of prison. But I don’t feel like that’s anything special. The difference is, people like Stormzy and myself are not expected to succeed. So when we do, it’s a story. “Oh yes, aren’t they authentic blah blah blah.” No, that’s life. Everyone know’s someone that’s been in trouble. Everyone knows someone who has got like 10 kids with 10 different women. It’s not a story.
Your company (3) takes unsolicited scripts from new writers. Are they mostly rubbish?
Yeah, there’s lots of rubbish but we do find good stuff and occasionally we start developing. There are two things on our slate that were from completely random new writers. They’re very close to getting made, actually, so it does work.
You grew up in Ladbroke Grove, in north-west London, which you say is the streets but I think is very posh. How do you feel about the way that area has changed in your lifetime?
What I like about west London is that it’s still really mixed because there are so many residents in the council estates, you just can’t get rid of them. The area is such a melting pot and it always has been, but it has become ridiculously expensive.
Do you worry that, in a generation’s time, it will be a lot less mixed?
I think people from different cultures will still mix, but those people will probably all be middle class. But that doesn’t mean they won’t have a working-class mentality. My kids are not just handed things. It’s like: you work hard, you do good stuff, you get a star. You get 10 stars, you get a reward or whatever. It’s about earning. That’s the mentality that I’m trying to implement in them. Ladbroke Grove still has a kind of bohemian, working-class, hard-graft mentality, it’s never going to be like millionaires’ row, where everyone has a nanny and has help.
So you’ve got the star system with your kids but complete this sentence: The problem with young people today is …
I wouldn’t say that the problem is with young people; the problem with society is that it lets young people believe that there’s a quick, easy way to succeed: go on X Factor, be a YouTuber, put your stuff on Soundcloud. If you’re a girl: just go and get your boobs out. For a boy: you don’t need to do anything but be a sportsman or a rapper. That’s society. That’s not young people. We need to re-educate them: every rapper you see needs a manager, they need an A&R. Every footballer needs a physio, they need a coach. Every actor needs an agent, they need a lawyer. Those are the jobs you can be equally if not more successful in, you know. Focus in on those careers.
Brotherhood is on download now and will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on 26 December.
Footnotes
1) That’s Idris Elba and Chiwetel Ejiofor to you and me.
2) I tried to find out what the movie was, all he would say is that it’s a “huge” project.
3) Noel’s production company, Unstoppable Entertainment, has an open submissions policy.
