Bradley Banton and Twain Barrett Talk ‘More Life’ — LFF
The BFI’s London Film Festival is a dense, brilliant showcase of the year’s biggest and most popular titles. However, between the glamour and the charm, there is often room for local discovery. This year, for me, that came in the form of Bradley Banton’s brilliant debut feature More life.
championship Hard facts The film, Toyin Barrett, follows a group of old friends who gather to celebrate the opening of their gallery in Copenhagen. The history that connects the group is meticulously revealed, turning the 78-minute film into a unique and thoroughly contemporary portrait of black British life, not least because the entire feature takes the form of an Instagram Live broadcast.
The film’s wider cast includes Debo Ola and Jordan Peters. The production was self-financed by Pantone, but received support from Michael Fassbender’s DMC Film company. DMC’s Daniel Emerson and Connor McCaughan are executive producers, with Hashem Al-Sarraf, Fabian Krohn, Tristin Norwell and Teodora Shalifa serving as associate producers.
Below, Banton and Barrett talk with us in depth about how they brought their self-funded project to life and how they were able to bring DMC Film to the list.
LFF runs until October 19th.
DEADLINE: Congratulations on the film. I felt it was very timely for me. I’ve been thinking a lot about social media and how a lot of the content out there is just a different expression of cinematic language. You guys bring that full circle with this movie.
Bradley Banton: Yes, this is crazy. I’ll watch TikToks, and there are certain shots, like when they use different angles, where I think, “This is cinema.”
DEADLINE: It’s like all Drusky stuff.
Twain Barrett: This guy is the GOAT. I love him.
DEADLINE: Twain, we know you from Hard Truths and Some Other Business. Bradley, you are completely unknown to many. Tell me a little about your background and how you got here.
Pantone: I was born and raised in Peckham, and wanted to be an actor since I was three or four years old. I remember watching Power Rangers When I was a kid, I told my mom that I wanted to be a Power Ranger. She said you can be one. So I explained: No, I want to be on screen. She explained that this was an actor. “Whatever it is, I’m doing it,” I said. I went to Deptford Green School and then Brits School, where I met Twain. After that, I went to Bristol Old Vic Theater School, trained a bit, and since then I’ve been acting here and there.
DEADLINE: Twain, how did you get involved in this project?
Barrett: I’ve always wanted to collaborate with friends. After British School, I went to Mountview. But Bradley and I stayed close. This is a scary industry, so when you make real friends, you keep them close and really know who they are. When I started booking things, and Brad probably wasn’t there, he was still there supporting me. When he came to me with this project, I said: “Whatever the situation is, I am free and we will do it.” We shot this right after I finished Hard facts. It was surreal to be making a movie with someone I’ve known since I was 16, this was his entire vision, and he crushed it.
DEADLINE: Bradley, tell me about how you created the Instagram Live frame in which the film takes place. Did you have to design that? Because I assume you can’t go live on Instagram and record that.
Pantone: Initially, we were going to do an actual Instagram live recording, but we realized it would be difficult to get the right feedback on screen. So, we did some sketches with David Akinola, who I met through YouTube. He does some really great video essays. We wrote down all the comments one by one, all 1,500 comments. We had to make sure they all showed up in time. David is the maestro of it all. I just wrote the comments in the correct order and said the times they should appear.
DEADLINE: What did you shoot at?
Pantone: My phone. We were going to use a camera and other things, but the artist in me thought there was nothing better than originality. Then, with my producer hat on, I knew we’d save a lot of money if we just did it on my phone. We did some tests, and it looked good.
DEADLINE: Twain, this must have been a unique experience for you as an actor?
Barrett: It was tough, especially coming out Hard facts And working within Mike’s process, he would come in and play a completely different character that shared many similarities with my own life. But what made it easier was acting alongside Jordan, Bradley, and Deebo.
DEADLINE: Was the film scripted or did you improvise? Everything seemed so normal.
Pantone: There is a script, but there was a lot of improvisation. We only had 48 hours to shoot it, so people were forgetting lines and adding things. The lines people were adding were so good that I couldn’t get attached to them. It was better than I wrote.
Deadline: Why only 48 hours?
Pantone: budget. We only had a certain amount of time to do this. We didn’t use lighting. The crew was just me, one of my best friends, who was in year one AD, and then a Danish guy, Oliver, who did the voice. So we didn’t need long transformations. Everyone was working like dogs, but you can only get away with that when you work with friends.
DEADLINE: Is this project entirely self-funded and produced?
Pantone: Yeah, I felt like we had to go that route because with a script like that, nothing really happens. And I feel like sometimes, as a black filmmaker, you find yourself forced into trends that have to be about crime and things like that. That’s not our whole life, so I didn’t even want to try knocking on doors with this project. I sent it to people I trust, and they gave me feedback.
DEADLINE: Where do you guys see the perfect place to watch this movie?
Pantone: I’ve always thought that if a movie came out on a streaming device, people could watch it at home, and it could be really great. There is something to that. But when we had the world premiere that day, the atmosphere in that room was crazy. I didn’t realize that so many people found it so funny, and how the energy resonated throughout the room, you can’t beat that. So I’d like to see it get out to places where people can stop by and make it an event of some sort.
DEADLINE: Are you talking to distributors?
Pantone: Conversations are happening, but I take everything with a pinch of salt. The reception has been good. But it’s all about mobilization because sometimes the people who have the ability to facilitate things like this usually don’t know how to take advantage of people from the backgrounds that we come from. For this reason, there is some thinking and thinking that needs to be done.
DEADLINE: How did the LFF premiere happen?
Pantone: That’s it for DMC and Daniel Emerson. Six years ago, I was at the Notting Hill Carnival, where I met a group of Finnish women. They invited us to a bar, where one of the women introduced me to her boyfriend, who she said was a producer. It was Daniel. We exchanged details. When we made this movie, I sent it to him. We haven’t been in contact for about two years, but I thought I’d try. He saw it and said he’d like to help us get it somewhere. He spoke to Christy Matheson, a complete Don, and took a chance on us.
DEADLINE: Twain, you’ve had an interesting career starring in a lot of pretty big movies. How do you feel about the industry right now and your ability to navigate it?
Barrett: There’s a lot of stuff being filmed here, so it’s great for us. It doesn’t make it any easier, because we’re in a weird situation now where people have their own collaborators and don’t give anyone else a chance. There are many different walks of life and experiences you can find in new actors. I hope Bradley doesn’t call me in the future and hire someone else, because there’s someone who can tell a story differently.
For me, I’ve been very lucky to have a lot of people I know who I don’t know, and I accept that. At the same time, as humans, we are quick to jump to conclusions, rather than just see how things are. I’ve tried to be patient. I’m still patient. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with going to America. I don’t think if I went there now, it would work out as well as one might think. So, doing a project like this is much more satisfying than going out there and doing nothing. This project means a lot to me and the team. In a couple of years, this blockbuster thing could come.
DEADLINE: In the next five years, what do you guys want to do?
Barrett: I want to write. With the help of people I know who are brilliant writers. I can’t do it alone. I want to write something original. But for now, I’ll just stick to acting.
Pantone: I want to keep making things. Writing-wise, I want to be as prolific as possible. In terms of acting too, I want to sink my teeth into things. I really want to do something good and exciting and weird, like being in a Georgian arthouse film that ends up going to Locarno or something like that. I love comedy too, so I might do a little of that too.