Before this, you had worked with Focus 12, the predecessor to the ABR Trust, on the “No Such Thing” campaign. Did you enjoy being able to revisit your work and develop the subject of addiction further? What did the script look like when you came on board?

RB, Chip Somers and myself had been developing this ‘Feral Youth’ concept for some time.

Tell us a bit about the casting process for your “old junkies”, and subsequently working with your cast on set. What did you feel was important when subverting the stereotype of a group of youths in a skate park?

Humanising and challenging perceptions. The casting involved finding authentic actors who resonated with their roles and collaborating on set to humanise characters, crucial for subverting skate park stereotypes.

Shooting at night must have posed its challenges. What obstacles did you encounter during production?

No obstacles…went smoothly thanks to my producer Juliette Larthe at PRETTYBIRD.

The atmosphere in the piece is built masterfully through sound design, including the layering of Russell Brand’s vocals, which we see him recording in the behind-the-scenes footage. How did this come together?

Once granted permission by composer Paul Williams to use his music, I had RB into Wave Studios where Johnnie Burn recorded his vocal acapella, once placed into the film, the rest was articulated around the emotion of the edit, it’s subtle dialogue and placement of RB’s vocals.

You graduated in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in London. When did directing become the goal for you?

Many years before CSM, my love for storytelling was there from childhood. Initially through drawing and painting, then reading.

INFO:

See more work from Anyrin: https://vimeo.com/user33857839

@prettybirdpic