So, how much do we dig the upcoming prison drama “Starred Up” directed by David Mackenzie and featuring rising star Jack O’Connell in the lead role? Kinda unequivocally. We called it “an instant classic of the prison movie genre” in our review out of the Goteborg Film Festival, which pretty much says it all. And while the film is opening abroad this month, it’s still taking its time to reach U.S. shores, hitting the Tribeca Film Festival next month before arriving in cinemas later this year. But a pretty compact little feature has arrived to give you a pretty good taste of what’s to come.
Film4 has unspooled a 10 minute talk with O’Connell and Mackenzie, as they discuss the process of bringing the story about a young inmate transferred to a prison housing his incarcerated father, to the big screen. And authenticity is the key here with both men discussing a production that shot in sequence on actual prison grounds, and worked very hard not to glamorize the lives of the prisoners in the movie. And it works, in spades. Along with that conversation are plenty of scenes from the two.
Watch below and be sure to read our interviews with O’Connell and Mackenzie here and here.
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