East End Review

Tag: James Lucas

  • Hackney filmmaker wins Oscar for short film The Phone Call

    Mat Kirkby (left) and James Lucas (right) celebrate backstage with their Oscars. Photograph: Twitter
    Winners: Mat Kirkby (left) and James Lucas (right) celebrate backstage with their Oscars. Photograph: Twitter

    Hackney filmmaker James Lucas is celebrating winning his first Oscar.

    The Phone Call, which Lucas produced and wrote alongside his friend Mat Kirkby, is the moving story of a woman working for a crisis helpline who tries to persuade a pensioner from a suicide attempt following the death of his wife.

    The film, which stars Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent, won Best Live Action Short Film, with Lucas, who lives in London Fields, saying the moment the film won was “the best night of my life”.

    “How can you better than that? It was just an incredible experience, very moving, very exciting and just a beautiful experience,” said Lucas, on the phone from LA.

    In an interview last year with the East End Review, Lucas said that after Hawkins accepted the role, the project went on hold for ten months until she had finished filming Blue Jasmine.

    Then ironically, Jim Broadbent joined the cast just two days later. “You get someone like Jim Broadbent straight away because he would love to do it opposite Sally,” said Lucas.

    After an eccentric acceptance speech by Kirkby, in which he referred to the awards as “big buggers” and talked about doughnuts, the filmmakers paid tribute to their mums, and to the film crew, who worked for free on the film.

    The pair also spoke of their ambitions to make feature films in the future, with them both hoping to attract the attention of Hollywood producers for new feature scripts.

    A move to LA could even be on the cards for Lucas, who was born in New Zealand though has lived in London for 15 years.

    “We’re exploring all opportunities and if the right thing was put in front of me you never know, though Hackney will always remain in my heart.”

    Read about one of James Lucas’s latest projects here: http://www.eastendreview.co.uk/2014/12/16/bohemian-motorcycle-club/

  • James Lucas: ‘I’d like to produce a film that’s stylish, unflinching, slightly feral and entertaining’

    Wheel success: James Lucas. Photograph:
    New script: James Lucas

    Having notched up some serious critical acclaim with his first venture, The Phone Call, local screenwriter James Lucas has turned to the streets of Hackney for his latest work in progress. Thus far, the script for the intriguingly titled Bohemian Motorcycle Club is just about finished and makes for a riveting read.

    “Its about a disillusioned young advertising exec called Ed,” explains Lucas. “He gets drawn into an exciting world of choppers, liquor and women via a fledgling motorcycle club, The Bohemians. He sees an opportunity, applies some of his skillset to the club and helps them to make money.

    “Unfortunately, hard partying, a forbidden love affair and the entrance of an outlaw biker gang precipitate a descent into criminality and violence.”

    A passionate motorcycle enthusiast himself, Lucas took inspiration from two of his friends who founded the refreshingly inclusive East London-based biker brand Black Skulls.

    “I love motorbikes so I was immediately drawn in by the rumble of engines and the line up of bikes outside their garage. My imagination began racing and I thought a biker gang based in Hackney was a very original basis for a film.”

    The script suggests something of a Spaghetti Western set in amongst the trendy, creative terrain of the modern-day East End – still rough and endearingly ragged round the edges. It presents a clutch of brand new Hackney characters that haven’t previously seen the light of day on screen, and is laced with local insight and profound authenticity.

    Perhaps also demonstrating a sense of tiredness with the tedium of the day-to-day corporate world, it seems in part to be about taking a risk, branching out and trying something brave and a little bit wild.

    “I look at the burgeoning custom bike scene here in Hackney and across the globe and I see it as an interesting way to view London – almost like looking at it through an oil-smudged pair of eyes. It’s this fresh approach I’m excited about and I’d like to produce a film that’s all at once stylish, unflinching, slightly feral and entertaining.”

    On first impressions, it would appear to mark quite a departure from the stark and glorious simplicity of The Phone Call – an engrossing short that focuses entirely on a single phone conversation between Sally Hawkins and a troubled Jim Broadbent. But for Lucas there are definite similarities.

    “The Phone Call is a very soulful tale and if you peel back the Screaming Eagle mufflers and tattoos in Bohemian Motorcycle Club, underneath you’ll find it’s similarly a story about human connection and drama. Empathy seems to be a common thread in my writing.”

    With his first short standing a good chance of an Oscar nomination early next year and plans to start making Bohemian Motorcycle Club in 2015, it’s an exciting time for this talented Hackney writer. He’s also working on a psychosexual thriller TV series, The Chameleon, and he’s some way into a Paul Gascoigne biopic that’s now in official development. With his plate stacked high and heavy, how’s he coping with the pressure?

    “I think the success of The Phone Call has galvanised me to continue writing and producing compelling film. In terms of pressure, come back to me when Bohemian Motorcycle Club goes into pre-production. I’ll probably be on serious meds by then.”