CWFF 09 Ambassador Eran Creevy will be judging awards this year, contributing to our Next Generation pitching session and answering questions at a screening of his short-form work. He started as runner and AD on several features, before breaking into directing with music videos, commercials and 2008’s indie Brit-flick hit, ‘Shifty’.
An abridged version of this interview appears in the CWFF09 brochure, but he had so much to say and so many great stories, we had to make the full version available for you here. He tells us how he got where he is today through preparation, hard graft, and a little ‘creativity with the truth’.
You didn’t go to film school, did you? So how did you get started in the film industry?
I left university, went straight to Soho and started handing out my CV to production companies and post production houses. Soon I was running tapes all over town, earning seven grand a year, and fiddling receipts so I’d actually have a bit of extra cash for beers at the end of the week (all runners do that, it’s the unwritten law, honest). I was living the dream, man. Through a friend of a friend I cold called the actor Jason Flemyng and he got me an interview for a new film he was starring in called Layer Cake. I went in and met the producers Dave Reid and Adam Bohling, two pretty scary guys, physically and emotionally. I was training for the triathlon at the time, and was pretty fit so they decided I could train one of the main actors to get into shape. All I needed was a driving license, which I didn’t have, so I lied and said I had one. After leaving their office, and deliberating outside for an hour, I sheepishly crept back in and told them I’d lied. They went deadly quiet, David Reid breathing deeply like he was going to have an asthma attack, Adam Bohling (an ex-marine by the way) bogging me out. Eventually words oozed out of Adams mouth: “So you f**king come into our f**king office, and you f**king lie to our faces… We like you Creevy, you’ve got balls, you’ve still got the job.”
You’ve worked with some pretty big names in your AD-ing days – who was the most difficult?
I did get to work with some pretty cool people, I’ve never really sat and thought about it. Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp, Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Danny Boyle, Mos Def, etc. The nicest was Hugh Jackman, a real gent who would chat to everyone on set, never difficult or affected. I guess that comes from gaining success later in life. He actually cracked his head on set and I had to go with him to A&E. We were sitting in the waiting room, Hugh Jackman with a bandage on his head and there was a little kid sitting opposite with his mouth agape. The kid leant over to his mum and said “I thought Wolverine didn’t bleed”. The worst moment I saw was when a runner held up a mobile phone to an actor’s ear because someone had called for them. I walked back past ten minutes later and the runner was still holding the phone to the actor’s ear, arm trembling. Sad.
As we’ll see at CWFF 09, you’ve worked on several high-end commercial projects as well as a micro-budget feature with Shifty – how do the two aspects of directing compare?
They’re exactly the same, you always have to go into directing (whether it be a big commercial, low budget film or music video) prepped, and ready to take that bad boy by the horns. You have to give it a hundred and fifty percent, because no one else will. Don’t get me wrong your crew will work bloody hard, but at the end of the day it’s their job. A director has to eat, sleep, and dream about the project. Commercials and music videos were my training ground; I never had the money to go to film school, so I’ve learnt everything from spending time on set as an AD and runner, then directing music videos for two hundred quid, to eventually directing commercials in Canada for over six hundred grand. I’m always winging it when I walk on to set, but I make sure I’m as prepared as I can be. We shot out of a helicopter on my last job, I made out to the clients I’d done it loads of times. I lied. That’s becoming a bit of a theme in my career isn’t it?
After Shifty’s success you’ve been hailed as “the saviour of British independent film”. Is there a difference between being a struggling unknown filmmaker and being one with acclaim?
Shifty’s given me the opportunity to meet amazing people in the industry, for example I met David Heyman who produced all the Harry Potter films. He told me he liked Shifty and that he would be interested in getting involved in whatever I do next. But I’m a realist, I know that if I deliver a terrible script no one will want to work with me, so in as much as it has opened doors, it’s still just me in my office, sweating at my laptop, and having panic attacks that I’m going to deliver a rubbish screenplay. Saying that though it was nice for my mum, dad and friends to realise that I can actually direct a movie. I’d been harping on about it for years and years, and I think they were all quite relived that I could actually deliver to a competent standard. I might have been shit. That could have been tricky.
So we’re featuring a collection of your earlier short-form work at CWFF 09, what can we expect from that?
I made a dance trilogy of music vids, Sonny J, The Utah Saints, and Alex Gaudino, so you’ll see lots of choreography, and sexy girls. My commercials are all mainly action oriented, a world away from the subtle socio-realistic realm of Shifty, so they’ll be a good contrast I think. I’ll have plenty to waffle on about.
Are you still proud of everything you made in the earlier days, or are you your own worst critic?
I hate almost everything I make, without exception. I go through a period where I think it’s the worst thing in the world but then I come back to it about a year later and think “oh it’s not as horrific as I thought.” I watched the end of Shifty the other day at a festival, I hadn’t seen it for about half a year, and I thought, “blimey it gets quite intense at the end.” I guess I’m the same as most people in the creative industries, it’s what makes us strive to develop our skills. If I went around thinking everything I did was incredible then I wouldn’t have any notion of improvement. Being hard on ourselves is what makes us strive for perfection. I know a few music video directors who are scarily smug with the finished article. That freaks me out, man. I wouldn’t trust them with my girlfriend or small animals.
We’ve got a filmmaking workshop for local youngsters and a pitching session going on this year – any advice for budding young filmmakers just starting out?
We got the financing for Shifty through the Film London Microwave scheme. They whittled the scripts down from about a hundred to twelve. The last twelve had to go to Microwave School where we worked with industry professionals, learning about producing, distribution, marketing, etc. At the end of the week we had to pitch our film to nine movie big wigs who would select two films to go into production and to be made for no more than a hundred grand. They chose a horror called Mum and Dad and Shifty. For our pitch, Ben Pugh, Rory Aitken (the producers) and I rehearsed and we rehearsed and we rehearsed, I really can’t stress that enough. Then we practised on friends, colleagues and got them to throw questions back at us until we were, in our eyes, pitch perfect. One of the main reasons we were told we were selected was because of our energy, and our cohesiveness as a team. The script wasn’t perfect at that time but I convinced them it would be, and pitched them my ideas for the new screenplay from beginning to end. I don’t think I paused for air once. Try not to umm and err, that just makes people lose interest. If you watch great story tellers they can keep you gripped, on the edge of your seat, they never umm and err or stop for big pauses. If you do that, you’re probably not hyped up enough about the project and you’ll lose your audience.
You’ll also be judging the submitted films for CWFF 09’s Golden Canary Award – what do you look for in a (short) film? What personal criteria will you be applying?
I like simplicity, not overly complicated narratives. I always think a good short should be no longer than ten minutes but I’m prepared to be swayed if it’s a cracker. Even if it’s not technically polished, if the filmmaker hasn’t had access to expensive equipment I look for ingenuity and vision and think I’m good at identifying talent. I didn’t have parents who could pay for my short films so I had to shoot them with my mates in the park on digital cameras using skateboards as dollies. I know how hard it can be, man, I feel their pain.
You live locally, on the Isle of Dogs – what do you like about the area?
I love the Isle of Dogs. We have an office in Soho but I work from home. Me and my girlfriend, Dannielle, (she plays Jasmine in Shifty) float about the island on our bikes, and have made a pact to only use the car if necessary. We fly down to the Cineworld at West India Quay, tie our bikes up, grab a Pizza Express after in Canary Wharf, mosey on home full up, larking about on our bikes like the scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I take my dog for a walk on Mudchute farm and tell him every day that he lives on the mostly aptly named place on earth. Plus we can walk him through the tunnel on a Sunday and go and check out the amazing market at Greenwich. I’ve even written an action scene in my new film that takes place on the island.
What’s next up for you, then?
I’m writing a film called Welcome to the Punch, it’s like a British version of Heat. I want to shoot it with the visual style of contemporary Asian cinema like Oldboy, or 2046. I want to have the naturalistic style of acting of Shifty, but with the epic scope of something like Heat or LA Confidential. If I can bring that tricolour of colours – red white and blue – and make magenta, then I will be a happy man. Watch this space.
Why did you choose to get involved with CWFF?
Being a filmmaker and a resident on the Isle of Dogs I was flattered that CWFF chose me as Ambassador. I strongly believe that cinema is still the prevailing art form of the twenty first century, and know of no other medium that affects or influences like the power of the movies. The Isle of Dogs is a growing community with a wealth of talented and creative residents and this home grown festival is a product of that. This is a great place to live and hopefully events such as CWFF highlight one of the many advantages of living on the Island.
