Noel Clarke
Noel Clarke
Noel Anthony Clarkeis an English actor, screenwriter, director, and comic book writer from London. He is known for playing Wyman Norris in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Mickey Smith in Doctor Who. Clarke appeared in and wrote the screenplay for Kidulthood and wrote, directed and starred in the sequel, Adulthood, which gained £1,209,319 from the opening weekend of its release. Clarke studied Media at the University of North London before going on to take acting classes at London's Actors Centre. Clarke...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth6 December 1975
I wouldn't say that I'm a jack-of-all-trades, master of none, but I wouldn't say that I'm brilliant at any.
I did 'Kidulthood' and 'Adulthood,' and that's what people wanted and expect me to always do. They want me to do 'hood films and be the guy swinging baseball bats and saying 'Yo Blood' and beating up others in the street.
My past films came out on home entertainment in the U.S., so the next question was, how do we get a theatrical in the U.S.? Well, you put a monster in it. That will do it, because people love monster movies.
Generally, an indie film in the U.K. is put together much like in the states. We got a tax credit. You sell the domestic rights, which can be quite low, but it's enough to push you over the line. And you get a tax credit on top of that, and then you cobble it together with private equity or gap financing and things like that.
'Pulp Fiction' blew my mind; beforehand, I'd watch films and there was a beginning, middle and an end, and that's it. There is in that film, too, but it's out of sequence.
After 'Kidulthood,' I was called in to a meeting and told that I didn't write women very well. I was very annoyed.
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 just who I am. I don't try to change myself for other people.
I'd always much rather be second choice on anything because it makes you work harder.
I was offered and accepted a part in 'A Few Best Men,' and then the Australian actor's union argued that there were too many British actors. And the director decided to lose me.
I can't always be making 'British films.' Why should we be making films about corsets and horses and girls learning to drive when Americans send over an event movie and make five or 10 million?
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.
Generally, an indie film in the U.K. is put together much like in the states. We got a tax credit. You sell the domestic rights, which can be quite low, but it's enough to push you over the line. And you get a tax credit on top of that, and then you cobble it together with private equity or gap financing and things like that.
I couldn't tell you the ratio, but probably for every job you see me do, there would be 20 rejections.