If I'm given the opportunity of writing, directing and acting in the same film I would love to do it again. It's something I don't think that anyone else is doing in the country at this level... not many people are doing it in the world. I think if you check that out and find it's quite accurate, there's only a handful of people that actually are doing it.
I asked my media teacher, "You can make films out of sequence?" and he was like "Yeah! You can do whatever you want." I just started to write because I was fed up of not seeing the stories that I wanted, so I was like "Stop moaning and write something."
I'm always writing, but directing takes priority over everything, unless the acting is a job that lifts that whole brand. If I get a part in a big film with a big director and I was going to direct one of my one films, I would take the former job because that job will only help anything that I then intend to do. I think in the long run, directing is the thing that will outlive everything else. Maybe that and writing.
When I write a project, it might be something that I want to do and then when I look at it, I'm actually like, "I kind of don't want to direct it." I don't know why, I still love it enough for it to be made and to support it, but I don't want to direct it. I just give it to other directors and they do a good job!
As a man - no longer a teenager that can play those really young roles, but as a man - I think I've only just got good in the last three or four years. I only watch my old films because, as someone who wasn't trained, that's how I look at my mistakes; I see something and I go, "Well, that's not good," and I learn from my mistakes. Same with the writing and same with the directing.
When I wrote 'Kidulthood,' I didn't even know there was going to be a 'Kidulthood.' I just wanted to test myself to see if I could write a script.
After Kidulthood, I was called in to a meeting and told that I didn't write women very well. I was very annoyed.
I don't think I'm egotistical, and I know what my limits are: I'm a black guy who's probably losing his hair. But I'm happy to play roles that I'm given, and I'm happy to play roles that I write.
I just started to write because I was fed up of not seeing the stories that I wanted, so I was like “Stop moaning and write something.”
