The Brag

Attack The Block
Thugs And Critters
By Alasdair Duncan

Produced by Edgar Wright (Shaun Of the Dead) and directed by Joe Cornish (co-writer of the upcoming Adventures Of Tintin), Attack The Block is a rollicking alien invasion flick, the story of a South London youth gang forced to do battle against the toothy extraterrestrials that have invaded their council estate. It’s like Skins with an added dose of creepy critters and edge-of-your-seat action, and it’s a fun ride indeed.

The alien invasion movie is practically a genre unto itself at this point. “I would say that the film is particularly influenced by E.T.,” Cornish says, “although that’s not exactly an invasion movie, unless you count one alien as an invasion. I like Critters a lot and I like Gremlins a lot, so those are the big [influences]. There’s Close Encounters, but that’s not strictly an invasion movie either.”

Significantly, the films he mentions feature practical effects. “As a film-goer, I find CGI monsters a bit samey,” Cornish says. “The fact that we couldn’t afford CGI when making this film was actually a blessing, because it allowed us to create more old-school, practical creatures. The female alien is a performer in a suit, as are the males who come chasing after her, with a little bit of CGI post-production to remove rather than add detail.”

Aliens and SFX aside, Attack The Block is equally interesting for its depiction of South London teens. “Before I wrote the script, I spent months talking to youth groups in South London and asking them what they would do in certain far-out circumstances,” Cornish tells me. “A lot of the references and the dialogue in the film comes out of that research, things people said to me when I shared the story with them. Also, it’s interesting to me that wherever they are in the world, whatever problems are going on around them, kids like to play. Sometimes those games can get a bit mean. That’s what interested me.”

The teens in Attack The Block speak their own private language, with their own slang and vernacular, and see the world around them – and even the attacking aliens – through the prism of Pokémon and Harry Potter. “Science fiction has its own terminologies and private languages, and I saw that in the slang that young people use, too,” says Cornish.

Further than this, the director created the film’s creatures – fur-bearing aliens with sharp teeth and sinister snarls – as warped reflections of South London youth. “The media use words like ‘feral’, ‘immoral’ and ‘animals’ to describe people like Moses and his friends, so I wanted to create creatures who were the personification of all those things.”

The cast of Attack The Block is stacked with first-time actors, which adds to the vibrancy and unpredictability of the whole enterprise. For Cornish, working with such an inexperienced cast was a pleasure. “The majority are between 12 and 17, and with the exception of about two, none had ever been in front of the camera before,” he says. “As first-time director, you’re the least experienced person on the set – so that really gave me a bond with the young actors. We were able to work through the process together. They had so much energy, they were witty and funny and enthusiastic and dedicated, and I’m really proud of what we did.”

What: Attack The Block, Dir. Joe Cornish
When: Opens December 1