ELISE ROCKS IN PUNK FILM ROLE
Movie showing in London festival
A Cambuslang teenager has a starring role in a movie that’s about to be shown at a top film festival.
Elise Atkins, 14, appears in Sound for the Future, which will premiere at the London Film Festival next month.
The movie, from writer and director Matt Hulse, tells the story of a young punk band, and is based around Hulse’s own experiences growing up.
It is produced by award-winning Rutherglen-based company Aconite Productions, and some of the filming locations are in the Royal Burgh too.
Elise, who has been with the Scottish Youth Theatre for five years, got her part after attending a workshop by arts group the Bold Collective.
She told the Reformer: “Matt Hulse was there, and at the end of it he said he was looking for people to take part in a film.
“It sounded like fun, so I went along and auditioned, but didn’t get the part.
“Then they phoned back and said they’d like me for another role.”
Sound for the Future is a docudrama about The Hippies, the band formed by a young Matt and his siblings in 1979.
Inspired by The Clash and The Sex Pistols and billed as Britain’s youngest punk band, they released a cassette album called A Sound for the Future and performed ticketed live shows for their mother’s kindly and chaotic group of friends.
The film uses archive footage, music of the period and re-imaginings of key moments to tell the story of the band, with Elise cast as the drummer in a rival young group called Generation Riot.
And she admitted the filming experience was different to what she had been expecting.
“There was a lot more improvisation. Matt was really keen on that, and letting us do what we wanted with our characters” Elise explained.
“It wasn’t like we were handed a script and told to follow it exactly.
“He let our imaginations run wild with what we did, and me and the rest of the band could come up with ideas.
“That was really good, I’d like to do more improv in the future.”
Elise, who plays the drums off screen as well as on, lists Scots stars Ewan McGregor and James McAvoy among her favourite actors, and hopes to continue performing.
Her mum Amanda added: “We’re all really proud of Elise.
“We received really nice feedback from everyone on the production about it.
“They had hoped to première the film earlier in the year, but coronavirus meant it was delayed a bit.”
Sound for the Future will be shown on October 10 at the London Film Festival and will then be available to view on the BFI Player online until October 13.
It wasn’t like we were handed a script and told to follow it exactly