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About That Popular 'Black Films Don't Sell ...Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje On Making A Film Of His Extraordinary Life Story (A Kind Of Black Oliver Twist)
As already covered on this site, a reading of British actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's feature screenplay titled Farming, took place at the first-ever Sundance London Film Festival, last month - April 27th.
The script, which Akinnuoye-Agbaje developed at the Sundance Labs, is said to be based on his life story, and is described as a true story about "a young African boy's search for love and belonging within a brutal skinhead subculture."
I don't know about you, but I'm certainly intrigued by that premise alone.
The project might be getting closer to being fully realize, as, announced recently, it's been selected by the Sundance Institute and WorldView to receive the Story Development Award; specifically, the project, along with the others being recognized, is being awarded for its focus on "social justice issues in the developing world."
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s Farming, will receive a £10,000 grant; or just over $16,000. Probably not enough to get the project fully financed, but with the Sundance pedigree behind it, and this initial funding boost, I suspect the project will continue to attract financing over the next year or so, if not sooner.
In a profile pience posted on the The Guardian's website 2 days ago, we get much more info/background on Adewale's Farming, which helps paint a fuller picture of what to expect from the project.
Here are the notables:
- It's being further described as a "neo-Dickensian tale of hardship, abandonment and solidarity, a kind of black Oliver Twist for the postwar immigration era."
- The title "Farming," refers to the practice of handing out children to informal fostering that many Nigerian parents followed in 1960s and 1970s Britain, and Adewale was one of those children.
- In 1967, his parents, a Nigerian couple studying in London, gave him to a white working-class couple in Tilbury, which was then a fiercely insular dockside community. At times his foster parents had 10 or more African children living with them, including his two sisters.
- A a young boy in Tilbury, he was in constant danger of physical attack from local kids who, encouraged by their parents, nurtured a violent fear of blacks.
- And because he really wanted to fit in, he saw his skin color as a burden, and actually thought of himself as white. It didn't help that he knew nothing of his African parents until later, when they came and took him back to Nigeria, where he experienced a brutal culture shock, and didn't speak a word for about 9 months, saying he was traumatized and afraid.
- Frustrated, and unsure of what to do with him, his parents sent him back to Tilbury.
Eventually, all that shifting and clashing led to this:
"I wanted to assimilate and go back to the abnormal normality I knew. I wanted to wash off the experience of Africa but obviously I couldn't because that's who I was. As much as I wanted to deny it, it was plaguing me, and I was reminded by the images coming through the TV, people on the streets and in the end my family in the house." The more he tried to blend in, the more he was rejected. After a year in Africa his skin was darker, which made him yet more conspicuous among the white population. Reluctant to go out, he was issued with an ultimatum by his foster father: either he fight in the street or he would have to fight in the house. With little choice, he learned to defend himself and also to attack others. As he became a teenager he grew into a well-built young man with a reputation for violence. "It was a time of standing up and standing your ground or running, and there wasn't anywhere to run in Tilbury. The local skinhead gang really ran the streets. They made my life – and anyone's who was a shade darker than pale – a misery." [...] He became a skinhead. He didn't just adopt the haircut and clothes but the racist attitudes too. He fought alongside his new skinhead comrades, who treated him at first like some brutalised pet to be unleashed in battle.
It's really a fascinating, unusual story, and one that should make for an interesting film. You can read the full Guardian profile of Adewale HERE. It's a good read and encouraged.
So, needless to say, this is a project that's on my watch list, and I'll be following it from here on.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje hopes to start shooting the film later this year.
8 Comments
temidayo | June 5, 2012 10:09 AM
i also grew up in a dockside town : dagenham. having familiar experiences, i am very much looking forward to the film and would be very interested in getting involved.
Ed | June 1, 2012 3:31 AM
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje interviewed at Sundance London http://youtu.be/B1SE0txnA-k
Alex | May 18, 2012 7:34 AM
Sounds like a very sad but interesting story he's got to tell. Especially how it led to where he is today.
I loved him in the Bourne Identity. He's definitley got presence.
The last film about skinheads I enjoyed was Shane Meadows 'This is England'. It will be interesting to see this perspective.
SegunAspiringFilmmaker | May 16, 2012 2:00 PM
This guy is my favorite Cinematic Artist of Nigerian descent in Hollywood and one of the reasons why I want to be a filmmaker. I've loved him since I saw 'The Mummy Returns' in 2000 where he played the character of 'Lock Nah'. However, his Nigerian fans will be looking forward to his coming home to shoot some scenes for his film 'cause we feel he's really doesn't have a connection with his roots even though I saw some of the photos taken in Ondo town during his late father's funeral about 2 years ago where he was flanked by his gorgeous sisters mentioned in the article above.
Dankwa Brooks | May 15, 2012 9:04 AM
Essential Eko
You gotta start with his first appearance in 'The Other 48 Days'. One of the BEST episodes of 'Lost' in its 6 year run.
'The 28 Psalm' is also essential as it tells his back story. Another one of the BEST episodes of 'Lost'
On the Season 2 DVD extra, Lost: On Location (Season 2), actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje comments on the development of Eko as a character:
âWhat you see on the screen now is something quite different from what was originally talked about. As I understood it, from what we discussed with the creators, he was actually quite a passive character . The name that we initially came up with was 'Emeka', and I changed the name to 'Eko', because it is Yoruba, which is the tribe that I come from, and I added the 'Mr.'... I've had some difficulty trying to establish the character with the writers. Y'know, because we were trying to marry what they wanted to do with the show and feelings that I wanted to see come out in the character..."The 23rd Psalm", perhaps, was a bonding point for me as an actor with the writers, so it really was a formulation of a trust between us. Because when I saw that episode, I realized that I actually knew where I was coming from."
'?' <~that is the real title) was ok as it told his back story, but it seemed like filler
'The Cost of Living' is the last story to tell his backstory this making it sort of essential
Dankwa Brooks | May 15, 2012 7:20 AM
As a HUGE 'Lost' fan I consumed much info about the show and one such info was that he worked with the writers to develop the backstory for his character MR. EKO and after reading the above I can definitely say that is true! Much of MR. EKO'S backstory is very similar to what is described above and if you are intrigued I suggest you check out those 'Lost' episodes. I'll probably provide an exact list later.
Tonton Michel | May 15, 2012 12:10 AM
This sounds very good and a relate-able for a lot of black people.
Rog in Miami Gardens | May 14, 2012 3:25 PM
Wow. That is all I can say.