RED ROAD
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The lost soul
Name Stevie
Played by Martin Compston What’s his story? A wait and stray who has managed to find a little solace on the 24th floor of one of the Red Road tower blocks, Stevie has a girlfriend from down south called April (Natalie Press). but their relationship is more one of connection between two broken people than anything physical or passionate. Stevie is also Clyde's best friend.
What Compston says about Stevie 'He‘s a bit of a tortured soul to be honest. he's just obviously a guy who has never really had anyone there for him his whole life; he really just doesn’t give a fuck about anything. In Clyde he has found a big brother and a father figure all in one who has looked after him and I think
The Messed Up Runaway
Name April
Played by Natalie Press
What’s her story? April is a mystery and remains one for most of the film. She comes from somewhere down south. and seems to have some kind of addiction. She is an innocent in a decrepit world but she seems to share a bond and blank faced victimhood with her troubled boyfriend Stevie (Martin Compston). She also has a fear of heights. What brought her to Glasgow and why is she living so high up in a tower block when the wind doth blow? What Press says about Glasgow ‘There's a passion in
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he is immensely loyal to him. He is just a bit wild. but everybody has a wee bit of good in them somewhere. and his goodness is his loyalty to Clyde. He's just not had a very good life. which sometimes makes him not a very nice person.’
Oscar potential Good. Since Sweet Sixteen, Compston has attracted great notices for his performances in the Ken Loach segment of Tickets and in Icelandic filmmaker Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's Nice/and. He will also soon be seen in US coming of age in New York indie A Guide to Recognising the Saints. Plus Compston loves LA: in fact he has just left to spend three months hanging out there with his old mate Curran and may get more work stateside. Let's hope he doesn't forget his roots.
Glasgow that can be very intense. Being with three real Scots while making this film, i was in my element. As a group we cared for each other — like we were a clan - loyalty is a big thing with Glaswegians. I loved having two tough guys ar0und me all day. and when l was with Kate we would
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Compston on Andrea Arnold 'I saw Andrea’s short Wasp and it was a stunning little film. And then I just had to get involved with her first feature. Working on Red Road was a great experience. Scotland needs to punch above its weight in cinema. but we tend to stick to those depressing films with people taking drugs. We are great at doing that. but it sometimes seems like that's all we do. It was great to try something different in a Scottish film.‘
make sure the other was happy and we would make each other laugh.‘ Oscar potential Minor. Press' role is small in the film. though very important. It is rumoured though that her role will be much bigger in the second film of the trilogy. so maybe it will be a case of second time around for the gifted star of My Summer of Love and Arnold's award winning short. Wasp.
Press on Andrea Arnold ‘It is clear to me that Andrea is the most exciting talent in British independent film. So when I learned I had the part - after a long. long wait — l jumped in the air. British independent cinema has so few truly brave directors. Andrea stands alone.’
The Mysterious Fiend Name Clyde Played by Tony Curran What's his story? Ned. jailbird and estate lothario. Clyde seems to be drinking himself into obliVion. He's got a room in the flat of his mate Stevie (Martin Compston) in which there is a bed and a bare light bulb. Why is Jackie (Kate Dickie) so obsessed wrth him? What Curran says about Clyde ‘I think he's not just a Glasgow character. he's a universal character. He's somebody society has forgotten about. He is actually trying to better himself by getting out of prison and getting off the drugs but deep inSide he's hurting. Characters I've played in the past have been quite hard-edged and people may be thinking. ‘oh god. here we go. this guy is a real nutcase. he's a sexist bastard. you know’. But a lot of the women — and men — who've seen the film, they really were qurte touched.‘ Oscar potential Very good. Curran is the one bona fide movie star in the film and so he should be — he's been working his arse off for a decade and a half. The odd episode of Taggart. A Touch of Frost and The Bill aside. you may have seen Curran in Pearl Harbor. Blade II, Flight of the Phoenix or Miami Vice. Yet. his turn in Red Road is by far the best thing he has ever done. it is a multilayered performance of controlled menace like few you would have seen before. Curran on Andrea Arnold ‘Andrea is a very clever woman. I love w0rking like that. I‘m open to
whatever way the director wants to work and I'm happy to go along with their philosophy so I'm very much into the way Andrea directed this. There's one scene where
l have my way with this woman. When we shot that sequence at like. two o'clock in the morning. I didn‘t know where the camera was and Andrea was up on the high rise somewhere so I just had to act it Out. I couldn't even see a camera crew. so peOple who were walking past and they saw this guy shagging this girl up against a wall and they were like; ‘Hey. what you doing?! Hey man. what you up to?“