Local Heroes

Sir Stanley Matthews and Robbie Williams have done Staffordshire proud. Now we have another name to add to our list: Shane Meadows – the Scorsese of the British film industry.

Born in Uttoxeter in 1972, Shane hasn’t forgotten where he came from. In fact his films are even set in and around Staffordshire and the East Midlands - especially 'Dead Man's Shoes' and 'This Is England' (the film where Meadows' protege Thomas Turgoose made his first appearance).

Dropped Out

Meadows dropped out of school as a teenager (does anyone see a pattern?) and after some random jobs and some studying at acting and photography, he volunteered himself at an art centre and began to learn film-making. He was self-taught - courtesy of a borrowed camcorder and friends who doubled as actors.

After producing many shorts, he was finally recognised and approached to direct the TV documentary The Gypsy’s Tale (1995) and then he went on to display a multitude of talents by writing, producing, directing, editing and co-starring in the 60-minute film Small Time (1996). Subsequently, Small Time went on to with the Michael Powell award at the 1996 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

24/7

He was signed up to make Twentyfourseven (1997) – a black and white film based on Bob Hoskins' attempts to rescue disaffected youths by opening a boxing club. It turned out to be a minor box office hit but also a critical success.

Other feature films directed by Meadows include Room for Romeo Brass, Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, Dead Man’s Shoes, and perhaps most famously, 2006's This Is England.
His release in 2008, Somers Town, is almost an aside, but shows again Meadows' brilliant observation of ordinary life at the bottom of the pile.

His films are known for their dark humour and gritty realism. But he is not especially a political commentator - more of a social commentator.

True Midlander

Shane Meadows is a true Midlander. He is a law unto himself: unabashed, forthright, brazen, a lad’s lad and works from his heart with blatant honesty.
'Dead Man's Shoes' and

But despite being macho as they come, he has still managed to cut a sensitive side and this comes through in the movies Twentyfourseven and A Room for Romeo Brass.

They are deeply rooted in his childhood; based on two friends whose friendship is put to the test as one is saddled with back issues.

Stripped

However, upon insistence from the man himself, the story is not based on him and his friend. He ruefully concludes: "I went off and hung around with kids much older than me and I was stripped quite a lot of my childhood.”

He hero-worshipped the older lads and to remind him of those times he has two tattoos (that were done illegally as he was only 11 and had forged a letter from his father).

Our man is proud of his roots and judging by his interviews and his appearance, he isn’t about to denounce his heritage anytime soon. Instead he wears it on his sleeve (as opposed to his arm) with pride.

Brat Pack

He refers to London as ‘this f***ing place’. And despite being ‘brat-packed’ with Lynne Ramsey, Tim Roth and Gary Oldman by many a commentator, he has refuted any association.

Rather than glorifying himself, he says he came into the industry at the right time. And it is this charm combined with his phenomenal talent that has won him many awards.

Award-winning

Shane was nominated for a BAFTA in 2005 for Dead Man's Shoes but missed out.

However he won the award for Best British Film in 2008 for 'This Is England'. Upon winning he told the audience:
"Last time I was nominated I took up a regime after Christmas, lots of sit-ups and press-ups and that sort of thing. This year I gave up on that idea and thought I'd go with the man boobs, and it's turned my luck around."

Not the Messiah

Meadows dedicated the award to the film's young star, Thomas Turgoose, who had never acted before landing the part and who was discovered at a youth project in Grimsby for children excluded from school.

"I was a very naughty boy at his age and my life turned around over 20 years, a very steady progression. I took him from a worse place than I had ever been in and he turned his life around in six weeks," Shane said.

Watch out Spielberg and Tarantino – Staffordshire's Scorsese is coming up fast!

Comment!

If you've got something to say about Shane or any other 'local heroes', comment on our message board by clicking on the link below.

**

From the messageboards, we selected this review...

'Dead Mans Shoes'
This is a breath-taking film. When I first was persuaded to go, it was described as a “British crime thriller” and my heart sank. But that is like describing Hamlet as a “tale of royal intrigue”. DMD is a world away from how one can describe it. To be pretentious (sorry folks), it works at a very mythic level as well as at an utterly real level. The figure of the returning brother, striding across the hills back to wreak revenge on the guilty, is just the start. The brother (Paddy Considine) is astonishing, because he does NOT over-act. He’s hypnotic on screen, because he is ineffable – he moves in one straight line, never swayed, never altered, slowly and powerfully through this performance. I’ve lived round here most of my life, and I never thought I’d ever see a film which felt like it was about people I knew in my streets in this small corner of the world. But the director (Shane Meadows) and the main actor - Paddy Considine of course, who also co-wrote the script – were brought up in Burton, and the film itself is set in the hills and housing-estates and pubs in the small, wasted towns of the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border (a lot in Matlock actually)! My recognition-alert really started sounding with the almost frightening accuracy of one scene, where the brother is confronted by the main drug-dealer on a street corner of an estate. It had the reality-factor of a documentary – and all the more real, because they both behaved exactly like the silent, unswerving men born and raised on my little streets. But this is not just a gritty, provincial British film with the kitchen-sink bang in the middle. No, what lifts it even further is the mythic quality I talked about. The brother, whose brain is almost solid with the purpose of what he does, is also an Avenging Angel. Effortlessly, like the Passover angel, he brings death with his very presence; and questions of good and evil flare up briefly only to be replaced by just the awful justice of his works. (Told you I’d get pretentious!) I’m made breathless by this film. I could say so much more about it – and I’d love to hear other people’s views, but I’ll stop here. To think that such an under-stated but hugely moving movie could have been dreamed up, and even made on our own mean streets, makes me, well, proud.
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