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BEN ROBINSON AND VAUGHAN DAGNELL
Everyone wants to get into movies these days, so it’s refreshing to see two filmmakers taking a slightly dif- ferent route.
Londoners Ben Robinson and Vaughan Dagnell, both 25, are making a name for themselves as documentarists, with their first - about a table dancer - already broadcast on Channel 4.
After meeting in 1995 through mutual friends, the pair were soon collaborating. And the partnership seems to work a treat. “Vaughan is a kind of John Pilger character,” reveals Robinson, “while I’m more into the aesthetics. During produc- tion he is the head and I am the heart. Kind of good cop, bad cop.”
Dagnell agrees that conflict does occur, but it’s all positive. “During the editing of Table Dancer, I’d changed the narrative structure and Ben was fuming for a while,” he remembers with a grin. “But he came round in the end.”
Certainly the two friends have a keen eye for characters. Their latest pro- ject, Ghetto Living, which is self-funded, has attracted interest again from Channel 4, as well as independent com- panies. Unfortunately, it’s gone a little awry. Jokes Dagnell: “Our subject, this rapper, ex-drug dealer - well, Ben describes him as a real-life Ali G - is cur- rently in prison for 10 months.”
So, for now, they are concentrating on other things. “We both have ideas,” says Robinson. “And I’m trying to set up a film with Rik Mayall and Gail Porter.” And as for other aspiring filmmakers, are docu- mentaries a good career move? “Oh yes,” reckons Dagnell, “the opportunity’s there for anyone. It’s a definite way in.” ■
MOODY SHOAIBI
For Moody Shoaibi currently making his feature film directing debut, it’s all a very far cry from the previous day job. “I studied biochemistry at university and ended up working for cancer research.” He laughs: “White lab coat, safety specs and test tubes - it was mind-numbing.”
Now, despite having zero filmmaking experience, the 31-year-old is directing the comedy, Dog East Dog, which he began writing with aspiring actor Mark Tonderai three years ago.
Unlike those who struggle for years to get financing, Shoaibi, a North Londoner - “I don’t like South London. They kept trying to choose a location in South London and I kept refusing” - is still shocked at how easy it has been so far.
“It’s all been a complete fluke. We were really cocky in meetings and they didn’t argue or anything,” he laughs, self-deprecatingly.
With Dog Eat Dog due out next year, Moody and Tonderai continue to mull over ideas for their next project. “We don’t just want to do caper movies and cheeky chappie Michael Caine things,” he deadpans. “There’s a vacuum for a film about a woman, a Katharine Hepburn- type - feminine but feisty.”
Of course, that’s if all the fame doesn’t go to his head first. “On this film, it’s all been about man man- agement. Maybe later on in my career, I’ll never speak to anyone except my assistant,” he smiles. ■
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The film about a group of black lads, who get into trouble with the local crime lord, is in full swing, with backing from Tiger Aspect Pictures and FilmFour, to the tune of £1.6 million. Along with the four unknown leads – Nathan Constance, Crunski, David Oyelowo and Tonderai himself – there are starry cameos by Gary Kemp, ubiquitous comedian Alan Davies and Melanie Blatt of All Saints.
And while Shoaibi knows people will label it an “ethnic” film, he doesn’t really care. “They could all be white,” he says. “It’s time people get comfortable seeing black characters doing normal stuff.”
CAROLINE MCCALL
Who knows how many more women would try and make it in the world of costume design if they thought they could end up getting their hands on Brad Pitt?
Well, that may not have been exactly the impetus for Caroline McCall, but it’s one of the perks of the job. “Some of my female friends were a bit jealous,” laughs the laid- back, but clearly ambitious, 23-year-old, as she remembers her meeting with the star on the set of Guy Ritchie’s Snatch. “But he was lovely - no attitude at all.”
It’s been a long slog for the Portadown girl, who first caught a glimpse of her future career aged 13 in the theatres of Belfast. Eventually secur- ing a place on a costume-making course at the Wimbledon School Of Art, Caroline’s big break was winning a compe- tition run by BBC Vision. The prize was five weeks training, which she carried out on the set of the series Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased).
Once that finished, she fished around for more work experience - and was offered a costume assistant job on Snatch, follow-up to Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. And while she admits that Mr. Pitt wasn’t her type, she still gri- maces at their first meeting.
“It was pouring with rain, I had a dodgy raincoat on and I had to go and say ‘Hi! I’m Caroline from Costume.’ It was a bit embarrassing.”
Currently working on a new adapta- tion of Nicholas Nickleby for ITV, she can now concentrate on fulfilling her ambition to work on movies like The Last Emperor. “I’d also love to work with Tim Burton. Or on, say, the movie version of Memoirs Of A Geisha. Something a bit offbeat.” ■
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