Nonetheless, we still managed to squeeze plenty of chatter in.
And Ive got questions ready for next time, too…
Were not used to seeing you of late in an acting role, going to work for someone else.
And you got the role inCenturionon the day you got your BAFTA, didnt you?
Day before, yeah.
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Whats the appeal ofCenturionfor you, then?
The appeal is in Neil Marshall.
And its a Roman soldier film.
When would I get the chance to be a Roman soldier?
Most people didnt even know there were black Roman soldiers, but there were.
[Laughs] Yeah, exactly…!
So, hows being a Roman soldier against the cast that Neil Marshall pulled together?
He got a great cast together, especially for a British film.
They were great guys.
Being part of that was a great experience, and I was very grateful for it.
[Laughs]
Its not like that at all, is it?
No, no, no!
[Laughs]
Ill go back to Neil Marshall instead, then!
There are obviously parallels with yourself there, in that hes a British writer-director.
You just learn everything.
You watch how he does it, how prepared he is.
You watch how he and his DoP work as one.
And from that you kind of take away the lessons that you could.
I learned a lot from Neil on set, and I still occasionally speak to him now.
Hes a great guy.
Its the way he edits his film for me, too.
He doesnt leave gaps.
Because hes come from editing.
And I think thats a great skill to have.
It was in his head.
But thats the benefit of writing it too?
Yeah, thats right.
Thats the benefit of writing and directing it.
I know all that kind of stuff.
Youre writing scripts youre calling The Triangle now?
Yeah, its three separate stories.
Its not the one.
But youve given it a Twitter hashtag now.
Theres no going back.
You cant count them as separate…!
Its always been three separate, but its a triangle in terms of three scripts!
No, theres no crossed characters in it.
Theyre three completely separate scripts.
Which Im guessing youre not going to say a word about…!
Yeah, Im not going to say anything about them until theyre finished!
But theres an industry around where everyone else seems to.
And in some ways I dont think Britain was ready for them, even when they came out.
There were sections of the audience who werent used to Britain making these films.
Yeah, thats right.
How do you fight it?
People like Danny Boyle help, by making stuff like28 Days Later.
That was a way forward.
Stuff like that helps.
Stuff likeCenturionand4.3.2.1get made because people have a vision about what they want to do.
And the way you fight it is to keep making films.
Not wasting money, because nobody wants to waste money.
Thats the key, I think.
What strikes me about it is that these two films have proven that Britain can make films that compete.
The one area where we seem to be falling short is in selling them.
You saw with4.3.2.1that it ended up scheduled against an insane amount of big movies when it came out.
It made more money than the other film were talking about, which is surprising.
But I think people want to see different types of films.
Yeah, sometimes, sometimes.
There are times it gets frustrating.
Yeah, he did the cliff jump.
You werent tempted to do it yourself?
We wanted to, but we werent allowed.
Yeah, we wanted to.
Fassbender wanted to do it, and the rest of us are like, Yeah, well do it.
But we did all the stuff getting washed down the river.
Was it all about as much fun as youd had on a film set?
It looks like a great stag night, thats what I thought.
Yeah, in a Roman outfit!
[laughs]
Can we go back to4.3.2.1, then, a movie weve chatted about before?
But what are your thoughts on it now?
Its five minutes too long.
Do you know which five minutes?
So, it started getting to a point where it was tough to cut it down.
But thats part of filmmaking.
At the time, we definitely put out the film we wanted to make.
Im very proud of the film.
Its definitely the best film of the three that Ive written.
Because its the most accomplished, and visually its the most polished of the films.
Its not something that I look back on and say, I shouldnt have done that.
What are your thoughts on the abolition of the UK Film Council?
Im not happy about it.
Itisgoing to take money out of the industry.
I think its going to be very difficult.
Films now are going to have to have something for people.
Because its not like the film council can come in and do it.
If theyre not going to be there, then its going to be very tough.
When you say theyre going to have to have something, do you mean having a star attached?
Or something like that.
Something thats slightly different, because theres going to be a lot more competition for whatever money is there.
And its hard to find money anyway.
So, the film council not being around is going to bite.
Your deal with Icon is unaffected, though?
And your slate of many movies is secure?
Its a first look deal, so they wont necessarily say yes to them.
But is there a security to it?
Well, again they dont have to put in all their money.
And is your secret comic book movie one of those?
I cant tell you anything!
Id imagine its been quite a year…?
Ive worked constantly for three years.
There used to be a big hunger that I kind of had to get things done.
I put this question to Kevin Smith once and so I figure Ill put it to you.
I havent realised my ambition yet, though.
Wheres the ultimate ambition?
Ah, I cant tell you that!
You cant tell people your ambitions, because then its like having delusions of grandeur and stuff.
But I take steps towards what I want to achieve, and Ive been doing that so far.
So, theres a plan.
Theres definitely a long term plan.
How did you get on in America?
You seemed to be taking lots of meetings there, and presumably that was part of it?
I was there for five weeks.
Theres a lot of foundations being laid, a lot of plans.
I changed agencies out there, to a different one.
Ive been offered a film out there, which I might not actually do.
But this is part and parcel of having a better agency.
Its not just about taking stuff you get, its about taking the right stuff.
And so they are part of the long term plan.
The wheels are in motion of that plan.
And are you rolling4.3.2.1out over there?
I think theyre sorting that all out.
I dont really look at where it sells.
I just get told the information.
I know we did Canada the other day.
I think theyre dealing with the US sale at the moment, but I dont know whats happening.
So, what is the next project?
Youve got a play coming up…
Yeah, the National Youth Theatre.
I dont know when theyre putting that out.
And youre working on these three unrelated scripts, too.
But what do you think is the next project, the next film youre going to make?
The short is online, wed love to get it going as a feature.
We do sci-fi so well on television now, and weve got America buying our sci-fi TV.
But they wont go near our films yet!
But youre going to sort that out?
Noel Clarke, thank you very much…!
Centurion is out on DVD and Blu-ray now.
