I was picked on and our kids were bullied for having Sting as a dad.. it’s time we step up
TRUDIE STYLER SAYS NEW FILM IS SO PERSONAL
She’s a woman who appears to have it all – a long marriage to superstar Sting and a successful career as a film producer. But Trudie Styler reveals her role as director of her debut feature film Freak Show stirred up painful memories from her childhood and her children’s lives.
The plot revolves around a teenage boy navigating his way through a hostile and homophobic school where he is singled out for being different.
“As a story about bullying it resonated with me on a deeply personal level,” 64-year-old Trudie reveals.
“It’s an issue close to my heart because as a child I was bullied myself at school – my face was quite badly scarred after I was run down by a truck when I was only two years old, so I looked a bit damaged, and kids can be very cruel.
“I was picked on and called Scarface and then later, when I went to grammar school, I was diagnosed with dyslexia and that wasn’t acceptable either.
“It’s amazing what you can be picked on for in those early years of school life.”
Bullying has also affected her deeply as mother to her children Mickey, Jake, Eliot – known as Coco – and Giacomo.
Trudie and Sting, 66, married in 1992 and the singer also has daughter Kate and son Joe from his first marriage to actress Frances Tomelty.
“My own kids also suffered from being bullied – with a dad as famous as Sting was when they were growing up, their relationships were always going to be affected, at least at first.
“And most kids don’t like having a reason to be singled out, or different.
“My daughter Eliot [who has a song in the film] has recently talked about what a hard time she had at school.
“The fact is that bullying happens all the time – in families, at school, at work and on the internet and I think we’ve seen a growing acceptance and legitimisation of bullying culturally.
“During the Trump campaign we saw public name-calling, mockery and aggression perpetrated by someone who has become the ultimate figure of authority in the US.
“It’s so important we do whatever we can to negate that terrible message to our young people.”
The film, based on a novel by James St James, features The End Of The F***ing World’s British star Alex Lawther, 23, as Billy Bloom.
Billy is shocked by the intolerance he faces when he leaves his fabulous life with his mother, played by Bette Midler, to live with his dad in the US Bible Belt.
“Alex plays an American but he has that wit and wisdom that feels a little 19th century, like his hero would be Oscar Wilde,” Trudie says.
“When I cast him, we decided to play up his love of these extraordinary 18th and 19th-century characters who were persecuted perhaps but who transcended through not giving up.
“I think Billy sends a very clear and strong message to our teens who are in crisis with being bullied or being abused or have gender issues that they can be the people they want to be and we all have to step up and accommodate that.”
Casting Midler, a passionate activist for the LGBTQ community, was a “no-brainer”. “I think she’s a wonderful actor,” she says. “And I knew the themes of the movie would mean a lot to her.
“She has an amazing relationship with the LGBTQ world, she is so adored, and has immense respect for that audience.”
Trudie, whose producing hits include Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Moon and Still Alice, is conscious the film is arriving at a time when bullying in her industry is making head-
lines. “There is a whole movement that has been created from the abuse of power, from the male sector of our entertainment industry,” she says.
“I haven’t encountered it, my age may have something to do with it, but I don’t mean to be facetious at all. The Me Too movement is certainly right to redress where the power base is.
“What it boils down to is a paucity of women in every section of film-making or making television content. “The stories are being told by men, largely. We do have women script writers but the majority of narrative is being created by men so you normally see more male leading roles than female leading roles.
“There are 26% of producers that are women, there are only 6% of us who are directors.” She is optimistic the Time’s Up movement for gender equality will redress the imbalance.
“We are not a world that is made up of largely men, it is made up of men and women, and when we go watch a movie we want to see a story that reflects the human life that we all live in.”
Trudie founded her production company Maven Pictures in 2011 with Celine Rattray and has made a point of empowering female directors. Two thirds of the 20 films they have made have had women at the helm.
“When we set out our store, one of us asked, ‘What is missing in our entertainment industry?’
“The answer became very obvious, what is missing is us. Women are missing.
“It’s going to take some time. We just have to be consistent and look at all aspects of where we can redress the balance.”
■ Freak Show is in UK cinemas now and is available on demand.