This is your first feature length film set around a group of young boys living on a council estate. What made you want to make this film?
I wanted to make a film about friendship. " Goodbye Charlie Bright" could have been set anywhere really, but having lived on a council estate I wanted to make a film about something I'd experienced. Where I lived there were some fascinating characters around me. To me, that made a good setting for a film about relationships between a group of young lads.
Was it a personal project?
No, the film isn't at all about my childhood. The feeling of the film is like my experiences, but the actual story hasn't happened to me. I remember hanging out on the estate with my mates during long hot summers and that's the kind of atmosphere I wanted the film to give to people who go see it. I wanted to make it fun and exciting with colourful scenes, not depressing, deary or bleak - which is how contemporary Britian is often perceived.
Your cast involves a few ex-Eastenders stars. How did that come about?
I've known Paul Nicholls for years, he was in my short film "Love Story" and I've always admired his work. Richard Driscoll, I've know for years, too, and I always thought his acting had a lot more to offer so I picked him for the role of Charlie's wheeling-dealing cousin, Hector. For the rest of the lads it was their first film. They were all so enthusiastic and willing to go through the night filming. They were so happy to be part of it all, they were great.
What are your future plans?
Right now I'm in the middle of writing three or four scripts for Cowboys Films and will direct one of them next year. It's going to be about a confidence trickster who trains up a young boy as his apprentice and they go around swindling people. It'll be very different to the film I've just made.
