U.K. filmmaker examines street-life

Noel Clarke grows into 'Adulthood'

By ADAM DAWTREY

LONDON -- Noel Clarke has been tagged as Britain's answer to Spike Lee. That's because he's a black man who has written, directed and starred in his own movie, the upcoming "Adulthood," reflecting the uncomfortable reality of life on the urban front line.

But Clarke himself is less interested in his own skin color than in the multi-ethnic experience of being young in the big city. His work isn't about being "a black person," he says, but about "youth culture, London-y culture." It's a world where kids of all races and classes seem to speak the same Jamaican/Cockney patois and follow their own jury, to the fury and incomprehension of adults.

His debut script was the controversial "Kidulthood," directed by Menhaj Huda, which was released in 2006. A low-budget, privately-financed expose of sex, drugs and violence among 15-year-olds in the Labroke Grove area of west London, it featured Clarke as the school bully who ended up in jail for murder.

Although some critics accused it of sensationalism, it had a worrying tang of authenticity, drawn from Clarke's own experience of growing up in that neighborhood before he embarked on a successful acting career.

"If you go into (entertainment retailer) HMV, the 'Kidulthood' DVD is not in the black cinema section like 'Bullet Boy' or 'Life 'n' Lyrics,' because it's a film about people, youth, this PSP generation, and that what I want to carry on making films about," Clarke says proudly.

It did well enough to tempt Pathe and the U.K. Film Council to back the sequel, "Adulthood," which revisits the same turf six years on, when Clarke's character is released from prison. After Huda passed on directing it, Pathe saw Clarke as the obvious choice to step in, even though he had never been behind the camera.

"I had no formal training for acting, but I won an Olivier Award," he explains. "I had no formal training for writing, but I won a screenplay award at Dinard. My training is through experience. It was daunting, directing for the first time, but I've worked with loads of directors and you learn a lot from them. I surrounded myself with the same team that did 'Kidulthood,' like (cinematographer) Brian Tufano."

The budget was small enough, at $2 million, to take the pressure off. "The financiers still want to make money, but at that sort of budget they can invest in talent more and not worry so much about the figures," Clarke says.

Pathe is releasing "Adulthood" June 20 in the U.K.  on 140 prints, double the number originally planned, counter-programming against the summer blockbusters also targeted at the youth audience.

Clarke, who's 32, has a clear idea of his core following, and "Kidulthood" proved that he speaks their language. In "Adulthood," with its more mature themes, he pulls out the stops to keep them watching.

"I'm using techniques and tricks that you don't often see in British film. The subject matter is gritty, but it doesn't have to be dowdy and grey. I use split screens, ramps, upside down shots. But it's not style over substance, because the substance is there, but you have to understand the audience you're making it for, and their attention span isn't that big."

Clarke's message to this crowd is one of empowerment -- "you can change the life you lead" -- that mirrors the way he has broken free from the pigeonholes of race and class in his own career. For example, he was the first black actor to play a sidekick in the classic sci-fi series "Dr Who."

"I won't necessarily say I've broken a barrier, because that means I would have to admit that the barriers exist in the first place," he argues. "My old media studies teacher said I was the most determined kid he'd ever met. I was never afraid of failure, never afraid to be number two or number three. I just worked as hard as I could."

That steely resolve doesn't stop with what Clarke calls his "triple threat" -- writing, directing and acting. He also has his own production company -- aptly titled Unstoppable Entertainment "I want to do stuff that has some social relevance and challenges people, but I've got ideas that involve American actors and different genres, like thrillers and sci-fi. I want to take this youth audience on a journey, away from hoodies and bats. I want to broaden their minds. On 'Adulthood' we've got a cast and crew slogan, 'Shoot films not friends.'"