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best of british
unsung heroes
For a rare moment in the spotlight at this year’s Film Awards, David Tomblin and Michael Stevenson represented an often overlooked but crucial area of filmmaking. Anwar Brett reports.
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Joint winners of The Michael Balcon Award “for out- stanidng contribution to British film”, David Tomblin and Michael Stevenson have spent the greater part of their careers – a span, between them, of over 100 years – working behind the scenes as assistant directors on a string of major British movies.
The work that they and oth- ers in their field do may go unrecognised by the cinema going public but any director worth his salt understands the value of having a decent AD on, and by, his side.
Lord Attenborough, who has worked with both men over the years, admitted as much on
Gandhi when he praised his Tomblin’s contribution to the film. “His talents are very spe- cial,” he once wrote.
“I do not know of any other ‘First’ who could have coped as he had with a production on the scale of A Bridge Too Far and who, considering the addi- tional problems of logistics and communication in India, would be so well equipped to deal with Gandhi.”
High praise, and very well deserved, though the unassum- ing Tomblin may blush at the sight of these words. He looked more than a little uncomfort- able going on stage to collect his coveted award at the
Odeon Leicester Square recently too.
“I was very surprised,” Tomblin, 73, explains, “because it’s not the sort of thing that we expect to get. These sorts of things are normally reserved for actors, or the more creative elements on a set. Not that assistant directors aren’t cre- ative, not if they’re any good. They can be the spine of the unit actually. With the other jun- ior assistants they really hold it all together.”
The essence of a good AD seems to be a calmness that communicates itself to the whole crew, an ability to get on with people and the talent