The history of musicians-turned-movie-directors is not exactly a glorious one at this point, with the likes of Fred Durst and Rob Zombie yet to turn in anything that suggests that they should give up their day jobs. Across the pond, Ben Drew, better known as Plan B, is hoping to turn this around, making his directorial debut on the low-budget feature “Ill Manors,” which went before cameras this week.
Drew released his first, not particularly good album in 2007 to some acclaim, but had his major commercial break-through this year with soul record “The Defamation of Strickland Banks” (watch lead single ‘Stay Too Long’ below). In between his records, he’s been carving out a second career as an actor, appearing in Noel Clarke’s “Adulthood” and “4321,” and he was the lead villain in the Michael Caine vigilante flick “Harry Brown.”
2008 saw him direct the short film “Michelle” (again, watch below), and the acclaim it received suggests he could be the real deal — Screen International named him as a director to watch last year. “Ill Manors,” his feature debut, stars Riz Ahmed (“Four Lions”) and Nathalie Press (“Red Road”), which is a strong cast, and is a “multi-character story set against the tough streets of Forest Gate, East London, where everyone is fighting for respect. The film focuses on four core characters as they survive on the streets and their lives intersect. Each story weaves into one another painting an ultra-realistic gritty picture of the world which is on the brink of self-destruction.”
We’re not the biggest fan of Drew’s records, but he acquits himself fairly well on “Michelle,” and he’s assembled a good cast, even if the premise sounds a little generic. The project’s coming from BBC Films and Film London’s Microwave scheme, the latter of which is dedicated to backing debut features from young filmmakers for less than £100,000, and has had a fairly strong track record so far, including Eran Creevy’s excellent “Shifty.” The film should hit theaters in the UK next year, so we’ll see closer to the time. Oh, and the videos are NSFW. (via RWD Magazine)
