Words of Colour Productions has profiled the talented playwright Bola Agbaje‘s career since she won a well deserved Laurence Olivier Award for her debut play Gone Too Far! at the Royal Court Theatre in 2007. Numerous plays (such as Off the Endz, BELONG, Women, Power and Politics) and many awards later, Agbaje has turned her attention to film by putting Gone Too Far! on the big screen as a comedy. The film centres on the relationship between two estranged brothers (Londoner Yemi and Nigerian Iku) who are reconnected by their mother in Peckham. Their exploits and cultural differences as they struggle to bond are explored over one hilarious day.
Directed by Destiny Ekaragha, the film is funded by the British Film Institute (BFI) and produced by Poisson Rouge Pictures. Featuring a talented cast, including Adelayo Adebayo (BBC3’s Some Girls), Malachi Kirby (EastEnders) and Shanika Warren-Markland (Adulthood), Agbaje is already writing a sequel. She talks to Joy Francis about why she transformed Gone Too Far! into a comedy, the battles fought to get it made and why there is enough room at the table for many more black filmmakers.
How does it feel to have your first film Gone Too Far! released as it has been in development for a while?
It’s such an amazing feeling. We were just at a roundtable discussion on diversity in film at the BFI with culture minister Ed Vaizey. At the event Ben Roberts [director of the BFI Film Fund] said we shouldn’t forget how far we have come with the film. The fact that we have a film out which has distribution and is in cinemas is an achievement in itself. He said I need to be celebrating now rather than waiting to see the results of the screenings. When I see the posters on the side of buses with those four beautiful black faces, it makes my heart smile.
What made you decide to adapt your Laurence Olivier Award winning play Gone Too Far! for the cinema?
I’ve always wanted to reach more people. Cinema and film reaches a wider audience than theatre and it lives on forever and has a lasting legacy. Although some of our stories are told on stage we have gone backwards in terms of film and how we are represented.
What is the biggest change and/or sacrifice you had to made as a playwright in the transition to film?
The biggest change is that despite all my achievements there is still a battle to fit in. You have to fight to have your voice heard. So the biggest change in the move from theatre to film is that I’ve got more rejection in film than I ever got in theatre. Despite being an accomplished playwright and having won awards, all of that means nothing in film. No-one cares how much plays you have had performed at the Royal Court or having an Oliver Award. It gets you through the door slightly quicker but it hasn’t got me any further as a result or as much as people expected. You are treated as a beginner.
The film is more of a laugh out loud comedy than the play was, which had much darker dramatic undertones. Was that a conscious decision?
It was a big and conscious decision for me. In film, people expect you to know who your target audience is and what category your film fits into. During the early stages we were grouped with other films that didn’t have the same themes and issues as Gone Too Far!. The only connection was that it had black characters or a black lead, so it was grouped with Kidadulthood, Adulthood and Attack the Block. They are totally different genres and completely different films, yet they are put under this new urban film category. Destiny (Ekaragha) and I wanted to make a film that would be called a comedy like Four Lions is a comedy. You wouldn’t call it an Asian comedy. We wanted to make a British comedy that could stand up among the other comedies that came along, rather than people saying, I’m not sure what this is.
The cast is great and hilarious. How did you go about the casting process?
We have a casting director Kate Plantin who was amazing. But as I’ve worked in the industry a while now and I know a lot of the black actors. We did a reading with some of the British actors such as Malachi Kirby and Shanika Warren- Markland prior to making the film to get the funding. After that reading the BFI decided that they wanted to make the film after seeing the reaction. With O.C. Ukeje, who lives in Nigeria, he did a Skype interview with Destiny on my recommendation. That is how he got the role of Iku. The film has been selected for the African International Film Festival in Nigeria this November.
Brothers in conflict: L-R Malachi Kirby and O.C. Ukeje
There is a sense with the film of a past time as some of the cultural reference cut across different generations. Would you agree?
It was another conscious decision. At the end of the day the fundamental thing was to tell our story and to tell our stories in the way we understand our stories. I’m not the first to do it, but I wanted to create black characters in a comedy that you are not laughing at but laughing with because they remind you of yourself and your upbringing. There are issues in black communities that we should explore. There is an African and Caribbean divide yet we all originate from Africa. What I am trying to do is make people think and leave the cinema to have discussions about how we can improve our communities.
Mother knows best: L-R Malachi Kirby and Golda John
What next for you?
I’m writing a sequel to Gone Too Far!. My producer has been on my back as I need to hand in a draft soon. I anticipate us going through the battles again to get that made too.
Any advice for playwrights looking to adapt their work for film?
The battle is worth it in the end. Don’t shy away from the challenge. Me and Destiny talked a lot about the challenge that we faced. We were not overnight successes. It took a lot of baby steps to get here. We now have a film in the cinemas. It is a very small film with a very small distribution, but one thing I will say is that for us to really make a change there needs to be more of us doing it. As much as I can get excited to be one of the few who got through the door, I’m thinking about how we, as a collective, need to get into that room and be heard. It is still a one in, one out situation. We are being more poorly represented on screen than 20 years ago. Destiny and I don’t want to be the only black people in the room or the only female creatives in the room. Also work hard and hone your skills so you can come into the room with confidence. There is enough space for you.
Gone Too Far!, rated 12A, is on limited release from Friday 10 October 2014.