David Harewood “Blown Away” By Passion Of Young, Diverse Filmmakers Who Persuaded Him To Star In A Short Film
17.07.2022 - 13:15
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: David Harewood, star of stage and screen, was intrigued when an unsolicited short-film screenplay entitled Man to Man arrived in his inbox. “I literally read it in 20 minutes. I was moved by it,” he enthused of the script by youthful writers Selorm Adonu and Ignatius Kalule.
Harewood read Man to Man a second time and soon was off to a meeting with its director Shehroze Khan and members of Million Youth Media, one of the fastest-growing platforms for young filmmakers in the UK. It’s run under the auspices of Fully Focused Productions, a community network of young creatives who hail from across the UK, and further. Watch a clip from the film below.
”I was moved by their stories, of where they came from, how they approach the business, and I agreed to meet with them,” Harewood told Deadline.
“They’re all kids!” he marveled. “I was blown away by their passion for filmmaking. They all come from various backgrounds, and I just loved the way they were inspired by storytelling and filmmaking,” said the actor who’s known for his work in TV shows Homeland, The Night Manager and Supergirl and films including Blood Diamond, during a conversation with Deadline in London.
Harewood’s a creature of the stage, too. A recent appearance saw him daringly cast to portray William F. Buckley Jr. opposite Charles Edwards (Downton Abbey) as Gore Vidal in a scorching clash-of-the-political-titans drama called Best of Enemies, by James Graham (Sherwood) at London’s Young Vic Theatre. The play transfers to the West End in November. The play won the best theater prize at the Sky Arts South Bank Show Awards this month. (Full disclosure: This reporter is a member of the South Bank Show Awards panel.)
He’s a busy man, but Harewood told the group