Page 9 - 10_Bafta ACADEMY_Paul McCartney & Heather Mills_ok

SINCLAIR OBIORA
When you want to make movies, you have to make sacrifices. Nobody knows that better than 24-year-old Sinclair Obiora, who quit his job and started living at home with his parents in order to write the script for The Division, a bleak drama that he hopes will be his first screen feature cred- it.
“It’s about a totalitarian society and centres around one character,” he explains. “It’s kind of like a secret agent film, but plays a lot on politics and society today.”
And if the plot and themes sound a little depressing, it wouldn’t be the first time for the New Cross-bred Obiora. “I wrote a short film called Travelling and the script got passed on to some pro- ducer,” he remembers. “We got it cast with a bunch of up-and-comers, but the problem was getting money. The investors said it was too dark.”
Now, however, The Division is in full swing. He says: “I’ve done the final draft and started sending it out to peo- ple like Joseph Fiennes, Timothy Dalton, Thandie Newton and James Fox.”
But if Obiora really got his way, he would like to cast another New Cross old boy. “I come from the same place as Gary Oldman,” he laughs. “In fact, he came back here for a South Bank Special. So now I’m saying I want to fol- low him out of New Cross.”
“Actually,” he continues, “I’ve always wanted to bring him back, but I somehow don’t think I could afford his fee now. Isn’t it something like $15 million?” ■
DINO LENNY
Music has always been a crucial ingredient in movies, but never more so than now, when sound- tracks sometimes make more money than the films they are created for and pop tunes replace dialogue in the script. Record sales can be phenome- nal as witnessed by Bridget Jones’s Diar y soundtrack going over the mil- lion mark within weeks of release.
This suits DJ, producer and com- poser Dino Lenny (aka Life On Mars, Jose Amnesia, Liquid Language) just fine, since it means he gets the phone calls asking for his dance music to be used on the big screen. “We did the music for a film called Sorted, but I, er, don’t know who made it, but our track went out all over the end credits, which was great for us.”
A DJ for seventeen years and a producer for twelve, he’s been making sounds for the highly charged progressive elite since the early 90s. His records inspired and kick-started the harder edged sounds which developed into pro- gressive house in the UK via Manchester’s legendary Hacienda.
Lenny (which is in fact a stage name, with his real name remain-
ing a closely guarded secret) was born in Lewisham, but moved to Italy at the age of five with his family. He lived there for twenty years, before deciding to return to London. “I’ve been here the last six years, but I go back and forwards very often, because I have another studio in Italy and we also do a lot of work in the states especially the Miami scene.”
It’s all very well contributing music to movies, but what about actually writ- ing some? “I would love to do music for films,” he admits, “actually spend some time with the film.” He continues: “I’ve been doing music for TV programmes, themes and such like and we’ve done a lot in Italy for Playstation, which is the kind of stuff we enjoy because we all love video games.”
But beware, Lenny’s mark could be all over something you hear and you wouldn’t even know it. “I compose it,
produce it and we have our own acts,” he says. “But I don’t put my name to all the productions I do. However, on the circuit, people know it’s me. That’s what’s impor- tant.” From the mind of one of the most influential producers of the harder progressive groove, that’s credit enough. Film producers take note. ■ www.dinolenny.co.uk
COMPILED BY BEN IRVING
ANTHONY BUTTERFIELD
Don’t you just hate young, talented people who can do things you don’t understand?
Well then, prepare to shake a fist at Anthony Butterfield, a 22-year-old web designer (“actually, I call myself a multimedia designer”), who’s just grad- uated with a first, specialising in multi- media design at Birmingham art college.
“The reason I don’t like to call myself a web designer is because I’m not interested in just the web,” he says. “I’m interested in all future tech- nologies, like interactive television and WAP capabilities.”
It’s a competitive world out there in cyberspace, so what has Butterfield got to offer that others haven’t? “I’ve been developing e-toys, which are things to play with online, kind of like Kinder Egg toys,” he reveals.
“For example, I’ve actually made websites where there’s a toy that you play with on the website and then you print it out and you make it. They are little things people put out there to promote themselves.”
But what about the unstable world of IT companies? Is Butterfield worried that there might be no-one to give him a job, now that he’s in the big, wide world? “Well, everyone ran into it real- ly quickly, but I have every confidence that I will find a good career in it.”
“Even installations and that sort of thing interests me,” he admits. “I like the idea of people being able to inter- act onscreen and offscreen, so I like the whole idea of installation.”
“I mean, I’m bubbling with ideas. At the moment, I’m an interactive artist and I’m just playing around.” ■
www.rok8.co.uk
TALENTSPOTTING
TALENTSPOTTING
FOCUSING ON TOMORROW’S GENERATION OF MOVERS AND SHAKERS
New Talent, New Media
7