Upon the DVD release of new British film ‘Shifty’ Milly Cundall catches up with lead actor, Riz Ahmed…

Shifty is one of those British ‘success’ stories. Filmed on a shoestring budget, thanks to a helping hand from the Film London Microwave scheme, director Eran Creevy was able to create this character-led, well-crafted cinematic piece as his first feature. Eran Creevy is a name you should get used to hearing. Well established in the world of promos and commercials, he has been honing his craft for a good few years before turning his had to the long form of features. As his first feature, it was obviously a risk for well known actor Daniel Mays (Atonement and Vera Drake) and up-and-coming actor Riz Ahmed (Brits and Deadset) to undertake but, with Eran’s well-written script, insightful character observation and on-point direction, what was created in a three week turn and around and a hundred grand budget, is certainly something to put British cinema back on the map.

The story tells of 24hrs in the life of your ‘friendly neighborhood crack dealer’ and doesn’t adhere to the often, stereotypical workings of previous British, working-class, grimy gangster flicks. It’s a character led film that has its feet firmly on the ground. It doesn’t try to be something it’s not and there’s no glossing over the grim realities of a story based on a childhood friend of Eran. I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw, and heaved a sigh of relief when, for once, I actually cared what happened to the lead characters caught up in chaos in their suburban surroundings. It gives much needed hope to an industry that is suffering hugely due to lack of capital and flags up the need for more opportunities for first time features directors, such as Eran, to have a platform to showcase their ability. ‘Real’ has become a throw away term, bandied about like it’s going out of fashion. This film strips back the misplaced glamour and glitz of the British ‘gangster genre’ and shows that real is what real does.

The DVD is released next week, so I caught up with lead actor Riz Ahmed.

If you had to boil this film down to its core, what would you say it’s
primarily about?

It’s 24hrs in the life of a friendly neighborhood crack dealer and his best friend who visits him after a 4 years absence. And it’s about facing the ghosts of the past and the choices you’ve made in the past that get you to a slightly messy, dangerous present.

How did you get involved in this project?

‘Between the Eyes’, who are the people that made this film and Eran Creevy directed my first ever music video as a rapper called the ‘Post 9/11 blues’. They made that video for £400 and the label saw it and they thought ‘where’d you get the twenty grand for the video?’ So, I knew they could work wonders with no budget. In passing, when we were shooting that video which was wicked fun as we really got on, Eran mentioned this film idea. He went away and did these huge music videos and ads for Nike and stuff and I went away and did some solid work and a few years later we met up and he was like: ‘Yeah you know that film I mentioned? It’s written into a script now and we’ve entered it into this funding thing and it might get made.’ So I was like ‘cool’. From that point on, I was reading drafts and giving my thoughts and kind of unofficially attaching myself to it and then they offered it to me.

Knowing it was a small budget and Evan’s first feature, was it a big leap of faith for you both having already proven your weight in bigger projects?

You do shit yourself. Danny Mays, who didn’t know them, turned the film down at first. There was a clash of dates and also this wasn’t paid whereas that project was and I think it is a bit like, you’re taking a gamble really you know. If you do mediocre TV, millions of people still might see you, you still might get some work out of it and you’ll get paid. You do a film by a first time director that sometimes, for some work reason it doesn’t come of and it just sinks and that’s a month of your life, or however long, that you never get back that you also opted not to get paid for. So, it is a bit of a risk but I knew the guys and I know that Eran is going to be one of the biggest film directors this country has ever produced. I’m certain of that and people who’ve seen this film, people in the film industry, if they don’t know that now, they will soon. If you meet him, he’s what the film industry needs as well. He’s no bullshit, not pretentious, he’s a fun, loving, sweet guy that’s full of jokes and that’s what makes this film feel special, that it’s not really very pretentious. It just feels quite real.

The fact that Evan wrote it having based it on a childhood friend and was directing it, did his passion and vision for the project rub off on you?

It’s his baby. Oh my god yeah. It was like that for Danny. Once he met him (Eran) he was like ‘I’ve got to do this’. I knew him so I was like ‘yeah, wicked. Amazing.’ A lot of people say there was good chemistry between me and Danny and I think a lot of it, you know we’ve both said it, was we’ve never had so much fun making a film and part of that is the circumstances. Doing it against the odds made camaraderie: a hundred grand, 18 days, this has never been done before, are we gonna do this? We’re trying to make a proper film here like. So, part of that was the circumstance but it’s also the tone that’s set. The tone gets set at the top. If there isn’t proper leadership at the top, if there isn’t a proper good vibe at the top, then that filters down. If it’s a star driven film that’s set by the lead actors or by the director, and in this case you’ve got a director who is just like a hyperactive 12 yr old who’s just constantly taking the piss, so the vibe was just instantly relaxed. Performances are best when you’re relaxed you do your best work in front of camera. So, yeah there was fear there on paper but we never doubted the ability of these guys as filmmakers or we never doubted each other’s dedication to it. Jason Flemyng had just come off a Brad Pitt film you know and it’s not like he swanned in like: ‘Oh ok, fuck I’ve decided to do this’. You know he was like: ‘Pass me the broom’, between shots, sweeping up, to help clear the set ‘cos we’re loosing light and on most films you shoot two pages a day and on this one we were shooting eight or nine. So, yeah on paper everyone’s shitting it but we were in it together and felt like we were in it together and we knew we could do it. So, it was like a karate kid moment, yeah we made a film it was a labor of love. So, I don’t know if we’ll ever repeat an experience again like this really.

How easy was it for you to relate to and get under the skin of your characters?

The character Shifty is based on a real guy called ‘Shifty’ who is in prison right now and Eran’s so it’s a combination of those two. I was able to read Shifty’s letters from prison and I was able to meet people who used to be addicted to crack and people who sold crack and people who are still involved in that world, and the thing that struck me was that they were all different. They were all just people and there wasn’t a type. I think a head for business discipline was something that was common to a lot of these people. It was really interesting reading Shifty’s letters you know, they’re just really articulate, intelligent, a businessman laying out the code and intricacies of his successful business empire in a very dispassionate kind of, very candid way. He’s an intelligent guy and that was his job, so when I was approaching the role what I said to Eran was: ‘I don’t want to play him like as a dealer I just want him to be a guy and that happens to be what he does’ and this was before I’d seen the script. Eran was like: ‘that’s exactly what the character is, that’s the whole point, we don’t want to deal in plastic gangsters and geezers and caricatures and this comic book world.’ So, actually to get under his skin was more factual research. It was like just getting to know what the weights are of crack and what you can sell each amount for and how much you tend to buy, how much I’d buy a week. I just like to have a lot of that research stuff in my head, nothing to do with the lines I’d say but just then I know all that, just so it’s just there. It was more like maths and business.

When you undertook this project, there was no distribution deal and then before it’s release there was a lot of hype about it being the next British cinematic hope. How did that expectation sit with you?

It was like Karate Kid promise! It was like, you know that’s your dream that you could make your film completely against the odds with your mates and loads of people see it and like it and there’s belief in it and it gets a big push and is visible. It got like 6 BIFTA (British Independent Film Awards) nominations but you know, I always believed that could be possible. I knew that it was ours to fuck up because, above all, the script is amazing. When you read it, it just rolls off so effortlessly. I’m quite an optimists and I have faith in stuff, when I believe in it I don’t loose faith until it fucks up and then I’ll say it was something else that fucked it up: ‘They don’t know what they’re doing, they pushed the film wrong’ (laughing). So yeah, I really believed in it but for it to happen the way it did, we were all just completely buzzing and pinching ourselves but you know, it still can be seen by a lot more people. We had a sunny weekend on our opening weekend and box-office figures were solid and respectable but it wasn’t a ‘hit’ at the box-office. DVD wise I think it could be one that does a lot better than in cinema. It’s got that kinda social realism thing about it so maybe people want to watch it in their living rooms.

What do you think sets this film apart from similar, low budget, gritty UK films that have gone before?

It’s more character study. Three-dimensional characters. It’s less about the furniture and more about the people in the room. It’s less about the world of like drug abuse, a bit of violence and geezers all working-class. It’s about the people in that, all that other stuff is just the furniture and none of it is glamourised and tarted up. It doesn’t patronise the audience, it’s a very accomplished piece of cinema in a way that lots of urban films pander more to commercial tastes, this more is a great film. A filmmaker’s film. So, I think it’s quite unique animal ‘cos it’s quite funny but it’s quite a dark thriller.

What can people expect from the DVD extras?

Well Eran did loads and loads of music videos, you’ve got loads of those, you’ve got the song I did with Sway and plan B to promote the film. Titchy Strider’s first video, which they did, and I think you’ve got some behind the scenes stuff that I haven’t seen yet. Hopefully, in a way, people will see it and think ‘if they can do it then so can I.’ I hope this does inspire loads of filmmakers. It’s double-edged because, on the one hand we made it for a hundred grand in eighteen days: ‘great, amazing, anything is possible, look at that success story’. On the other hand, there’s film finances: ‘Well we could give you two mil to do this film but why don’t you do it for a hundred thousand’ and it’s like, the more successful the film is in a way, the bigger the argument is for our already cash starved film industry to get less money for it’s films. But people should still buy the DVD!

Riz you mcee as well as act, is that still the case?

I did a lot of battling and stuff. Like jump-off and Ras kwame’s ‘Battle scars’ on Radio 1 and all that. I set up this drum n Bass night when I was at uni in Oxford and so I was doing gigs there. My first release was ‘The Post 9/11 Blues’ 2006. I just did something with Damian Lazurus’ label ‘Crosstown’, they just released a single of mine in November. Got another remix package out on ‘Crosstown’ out in October along with Eddie Temple-Morris from Xfm the ‘Losers’ but the thing I’m really working on now, music wise, is finishing off my album. End of November I’m showcasing it at a special kind of live show which is a kind of walk through, theatre show meets a gig meets like an interactive installation kind of thing on 27th & 28th November.

Shifty is released on DVD on Monday 24th August 09 featuring lots of extras.

 

Words: Milly Cundall

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