Attack the Block Premiere Report

On Wednesday night, Joe Cornish’s aliens versus yoofs action comedy extravaganza Attack the Block had its Leicester Square Premiere. In attendance was much of the cast and crew, as well as a few of their high profile friends and collaborators. Blogomatic 3000 was at the red carpet to chat to the great and the good and to take some barely publishable photographs. First to talk to the press was Cornish’s school yard chum and weird-weekender, Louis Theroux, who was happy to talk about his old cohort. “He had a lot more direction than I did,” Theroux said. “He always knew he wanted to be a director and be in show business and he and [long-time creative partner] Adam Buxton formed a company called Joe-Ads in which they were going to release a number of films and Joe had a plan of about five films he was going to make. I loved hanging out with them and I enjoyed their company. I didn’t really have the same… I didn’t know what I was going to do. I never imagined I’d be a director or a journalist or work in documentaries. Joe had the vision though. We’re forty now, so it’s taken him more than twenty years. It’s quite surreal.”

The line of questioning led onto the content of the film itself, which for those who don’t know, involves a gang of South London teen muggers knocking the stuffing out of some extra-terrestrial terrors. Theroux was asked about his thoughts on the unlikely heroes of the film. “I always believed in taking the demonised and taking the people who were viewed as controversial and finding the humanity in them,” explained Theroux. “That’s what I like to think I’ve done as a documentary film maker. I haven’t seen Joe’s film yet, but that’s what I believe the ethos of what he’s done is. He’s a very sensitive, right-thinking kind of a person. He’s a principled and decent person who has a social conscious. He’s not a cynical person.” Theroux went on to explain the importance of the film’s setting to both himself and Cornish. “We grew up in South London. He was in Stockwell and I was in Wandsworth. Now it’s considered quite posh but it wasn’t in the seventies. We used to wander around and hang out and smoke things we weren’t supposed to smoke. It was part of our lives. I wouldn’t say we were gang members or anything like that, but we were part of the South London scene.”

Theroux then shared some of his thoughts about the controversial (to say the least) Westboro Baptist Church’s plans to picket the royal wedding. The church had been a subject of more than one of Theroux’s documentaries but Theroux was baffled by the reports. “It was surprising in so much as they said they were going to come when they know they’re not allowed to… they’re banned from entering the country so I was a bit confused by it! I don’t keep in touch with them, but my director occasionally emails them to let them know when the show is going out… They love the shows. You see an outrageous, scary, hurtful family; they see that and they’re thrilled. They feel like, ‘yeah, you try to make us look stupid and that’s great. You demonise us and try to make us look like idiots because you’re an evil person – great, thank God for that!’”

Louis then retreated back to the bar, but next-big-thing Luke Treadaway, an actor in the film and previously a star of Heartless, Clash of the Titans and Killing Bono, filled his place for a quick chat. He described the filming process and working with a host of newcomers as, “Fantastic. It was like going on set and it being the first time you’ve been on set yourself. It was fresh and exciting and like being on a playground with them but our playground was a tower block with aliens and big weed plants.” When asked whether the film was wholly scripted or part-improvised, Treadaway responded with acclaim for his director. “Joe was great, he had written an incredible script which didn’t really need any [additional improvised material] which was fantastic and so tight. We did tweak a few little things on the way, but he’d written an amazing script to begin with. I loved the experience. Coming up next I have a film I’ve just finished with Felicity Jones called Cheerful Weather for the Wedding which will be coming out at the end of the year and You Instead which comes out on the ninth of September.”

Next to talk to us was one of the film’s young stars, Leeon Jones, who plays Jerome, a member of lead character Moses’s gang in the film. Enthusiastic and clearly thrilled to be in attendance at his first premiere, Jones was a little thrown aback when asked ‘how he found’ his first filming experience: “I was at uh… say that again, how did I find it, or how was it? Oh yeah it was great! Amazing actually. I’ve seen everything in a different light, what everyone is doing [on set], a lot of work goes into it. It was amazing.” Jones then explained how he got his break. “I was on a workshop with Mayhem Company and the casting director Lucy Pardee came down. She auditioned a couple of us, then there were nine more auditions after that. It was a long process.” He was also quick to complement his director. “Working with Joe is like working with your brother. He’s one of us. He’s so fun to be around as well. He understands us and he’s so funny, so many jokes. Really good man.”

Finally, the man himself, of whom everyone has been so full of praise, arrived in for his final interview of the evening. Joe Cornish was dressed in dapper brown suit and was very pleased to talk about his film. I too can attest to his good character; though being harried by his minders, Cornish made sure everyone in our little gaggle of online reporters got to ask a question. He was first asked to what extent is Attack the Block a film version of David Cameron’s ‘hug a hoody’ catchphrase? “To no extent at all!” he responded, in droll tones familiar to any of the legion of listeners he and Adam Buxton attract on the 6 Music radio show. “My film is very empathic towards the characters in it, even though they start out doing a bad thing, it’s a movie and the story we’re telling is that that kid who started out doing a bad thing is also capable of doing a heroic thing. So if that’s his message then I agree but my movie has its own, very specific thing to say. It’s not really a political film, it’s a film about people, human beings and character, so I wouldn’t really want to get political on its arse. I would hope the film[’s message is clear]. If I could say [it myself], I wouldn’t have made the film.” Like Theroux before him, Cornish was happy to divulge his memories of South London. “I think South London is wonderful,” he said. “It’s improved massively since I was a kid. I loved it then, I love it now. I love London generally. It’s not a very exciting answer, but it’s true. It’s improved a lot. There’s less corrugated iron. Less fly posting. More restaurants and shops. I think it’s a fantastic community, not just South London, but all of London and every city in Britain where people of different walks of life live close together. When it works, I think it’s wonderful. I think the kids in Lewisham are going to enjoy the film.”

Cornish was then asked what Adam and Joe Show character and film director Ken Korda would think of Attack the Block. “I think Ken would be angry and probably confused but then that’s just another day in the life of Ken Korda!” When asked about whether he enjoyed writing for female characters in the film, Cornish paused to think. “Hmmm, that’s a provocative question. I didn’t really think about it like that. The way I approach character, gender isn’t central to my thinking. But it was wonderful working with Jodie [Whittaker], she’s a terrific actress. So yeah, it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind, I have to say.” One of the few things Cornish was unwilling to be drawn on was the design of the aliens in the film, which he wished to be left somewhat mysterious for viewers. Cornish finally managed to squeeze in my own question before he was swept away from the red carpet. I had read coverage of the film’s debut at the SXSW Festival, where there had been (thankfully unfounded) concerns that an American audience would struggle to understand the South London slang used throughout the film and wanted to know how true the rumours were that the production company was considering subtitling the film. “I don’t think it was serious. It was a rumour that went around after the screening. We’re pretty confident that English-speaking international audiences understand what’s going on in the film. We made a real effort to make the glossary of words that the kids use quite small so that even if your ear isn’t tuned to it, you can pick it up as you go along. We’re pretty confident that it’s all going to be cool.”

And cool his film certainly is. As Cornish is escorted away, my only regret, as an Adam and Joe show fan, is that I wasn’t able to ask him one final question: why wasn’t the film’s hero called Stephen?