Directing commercials and pop promos can be a big money enterprise in the UK, but for Eran Creevy the chance to make his first feature promised greater rewards. Shifty, the portrait of a drug dealer, is close to Creevy's heart. He was moved to write it after running into an old friend who'd fallen into the crack trade and seeing a school crush ravaged by addiction. The script was shepherded into production by Film London through their Microwave initiative (funding projects under £100k) and follows 24 hours in the life of a Muslim crack dealer, Shifty (played by Riz Ahmed), and an old friend (Daniel Mays) who shadows him at 'work' for a day.

"I was really nervous about having to work with actors after making music videos and commercials," Eran admits, but it wasn't just his lack of experience that worried him. "Working as an AD I've had to work with some really difficult big name actors," Creevy reveals, "and it really put me off. I almost walked away from the film industry because of it. On Shifty I thought, 'What am I going to do if one of the actors kicks off?'"

Creevy had a shooting schedule of just 18 days, so there would be no time for tantrums. The young director also had cause to be grateful that he landed Riz Ahmed (The Road To Guantánamo) and the classically trained Daniel Mays, recently seen in Atonement, as his two leads.

August 2007 was one of the wettest summers on record and on the day we visited the set in Borehamwood the changeable conditions were playing havoc. Mays and Ahmed were throwing themselves into an emotional confrontation when the sun started playing peek-a-boo. "The sun coming in and out of the clouds creates issues with lighting," Creevy says later. "When Danny felt that he was nailing the scene, suddenly bright sunlight would come out and he knew that we wouldn't be able to use that take, so it was frustrating him."

That frustration was compounded by Mays' desire for perfection. Creevy explains that with only one camera, he's had to shoot this particular scene across two days. "Danny already did the scene," Eran says, "and feels paranoid because he thinks he's already hit his peak with it." Given the gruelling schedule, there is always pressure to move on to the next location and the burden is as heavy on the actors, who need to switch quickly between mindsets.

That's where rehearsal time before the shoot was beneficial. "It helps," says Creevy, "because going onto a film set where sometimes you're shooting up to eight pages of script a day you just need to crack on. Your actors need to be prepped. And I'm aware that at least ten minutes before the cameras roll, I have to take time out with them to get them into the headspace."

Creevy does just that, chatting quietly with Mays about the ground they covered beforehand and, in spite of the ticking clock, he maintains a relaxed atmosphere on the set. "It's exhausting," he tells us later, "to have to keep people 'up' the whole time." Stamina as well as preparation are key for getting through this difficult scene, but at the same time Creevy is determined to preserve a sense of spontaneity during filming.

BAFTA-winning director Asif Kapadia (The Warrior), who mentored Creevy as part of the Microwave scheme, had some interesting advice to impart. "Asif told me in rehearsals to allow the actors to get to a place with the scene where they're just about nailing it, but not to go any further," Creevy reveals. "He told me not to keep going even if the actors want to – they'll play the scene all day if you let them – but just stop and move on, because you don't want to lose that freshness."

The most amazing part of it for me was working with the actors

After the ten minute timeout, Mays and Ahmed try something a little different with the scene and finally everyone is happy to move on. Spirits are high again and Mays laughs off the attack of actorly angst. He later remarks that working with such a close-knit crew on a small production like this makes him feel more supported and he gives credit to Creevy for encouraging his actors to offer their input whenever a scene needs tweaking. The director echoes this, saying he doesn't want the actors to feel "boxed in" and, in fact, dilemma-solving is part of the fun.

Two months after the shoot, Creevy has time to reflect on the entire experience. "The most amazing part of it for me was working with the actors," he notes. "It was challenging but so rewarding - just swapping ideas with them, talking things out and solving problems. Now I'm finding it really hard to go back and work on TV commercials!"

Shifty will be released in UK cinemas later in 2008.

Stella Papamichael | Published 07 February 08

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