Teenage kicks
JUST JIM | Craig Roberts revisits his youth for his big directorial debut…
Craig Roberts might be a Hollywood player with the likes of Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Channing Tatum on speed dial, but today he’s in his hometown of Maesycwmmer, South Wales, cowering in the pissing rain next to a churning stream.
At the cry of “action!” he runs along the bank in jeans and T-shirt, chased by a pack of lads in white gym kits, and then, desperate, plunges into the icy water. Roberts repeats his dunk on three occasions, each time smothered in a heat blanket the moment he clambers back up the bank. Still, he only has himself to blame – making his writer-director debut at the tender age of 23 (he’s since turned 24), he’s the one barking the orders.
“I wrote the first draft in five days and it didn’t make any sense!” he says of Just Jim, which was made through the Cinematic scheme, designed to foster emerging Welsh talent. “That’s the draft I sent in. In the end I had 14 drafts, and I’m redrafting as we shoot!”
Semi-autobiographical, Just Jim sees Roberts’ eponymous schmoe befriended by his new American neighbour, Dean (Emile Hirsch), who shows him how to stand up to bullies and get the dream girl (Charlotte Randall). But then things turn dark…
“Events get pretty bizarre, so it’s not that autobiographical!” he kids. “It’s based on my experience I had with a best friend. Also, my experience of trying to get with girls, which was pretty unsuccessful!”
Citing Ghost World, Billy Liar and John Hughes movies as his influences, and David Lynch to signpost the crazed territory that Just Jim ventures into, it’s clear that Roberts has been bitten by the directing bug: “I definitely want to do more of it,” he muses. “You are the creator of the story. It’s the coolest job!” JG
ETA | 25 September Just Jim is out this month.