Interview: Noel Clarke, actor

Published on Tuesday 5 July 2011 11:42

Noel Clarke is nothing if not versatile – two films just released in cinemas showcase him in polar opposite roles.

NOEL Clarke is nothing if not versatile - two films just released in cinemas showcase him in polar opposite roles. For Huge, the directorial dbut of Ben Miller - best known as half of Armstrong & Miller - about a pair of comics trying to launch a double act in the spirit of Morecambe and Wise, he's decked out in an Afro wig and brimming with wide-eyed innocence. For Screwed, which is set in a tough prison, he had to call up the dark forces to play a truly evil man.

Up close and in person, Clarke is friendly, but intensely professional, answering questions precisely, without a lot of gush. Bearing in mind that he wrote and starred in the gritty urban dramas Kidulthood and Adulthood, I ask him if Huge felt like a big departure.

"I think people have very short memories, and there's a big misconception about me. I was in Doctor Who, running away from creatures being the sweet boyfriend of Billie Piper, and I was in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, before that, being the cheeky charming chappie, so I don't understand why people are surprised when they see me go back and do stuff like Huge."

It's probably because his other films stormed the box office and made headlines. Kidulthood and Adulthood were hits - the latter raking in more than 1m during the first weekend of its release.

"I've said this loads of times," he reiterates, "but I try not to be the same thing all the time. Doing something like Huge, where my whole body language changes and I'm being a really sweet, nave character, was something slightly scary. I don't like doing things that are too easy."

One of the great things about Huge is that his role is race- and gender-free. "That's right," he agrees. "That's (down to] Ben's writing. When I came along the character was already called Clark - and do you want to play a character called Clark when that's your name? No. But part of the intelligence in Ben's writing is that it could have been two women. Race isn't part of the story. It's not hinted at; there are no jokes about it. Huge is just a story about two people connecting with each other. It's definitely a bromance. And someone like Ben Miller can understand that because he's been through a few of those with his stand-up partners throughout the years. It was a very important story for him, and I was glad to be a part of it."

Clarke, born in December 1975, was raised in north London by his mum, an immigrant from Trinidad. An only child, he says he was more well behaved than not."Mum was a nurse and worked a lot, trying to look after me and still have a full-time job. I watched a lot of films and TV, had a really good imagination with my toys, and from the age of five I wanted to be one of those people I saw on TV or on the cinema screen.

"I went through a patch when I was a teenager, but I never got caught doing things I shouldn't have been doing, consequently I don't have any police record. And I never did drugs. It just didn't interest me. Even now I don't really drink. I'll have one beer with friends or a glass of wine at dinner or a glass of champagne at Christmas, but I just don't generally drink."

Surely his mum worried when he announced that he was going to be an actor, since it's a profession fraught with instability and rejection.

"It wasn't discussed. You say it, and she goes, 'Oh, that's nice,' and you get patted on the head. At school and college I was still doing my proper subjects. I did GCSEs and A levels. The problem really occurred after the first year of university when I decided ,'Actually, f*** this, I'm going to go try to be an actor.'

"But I'd been working in a gym since I was 16, as well. It comes back to the sort of person I am. I started as a water slide attendant, then became a lifeguard, then a gym instructor and then a personal trainer."

He hadn't really seen the point of applying for the first in that series of jobs, until his friend explained that once you were "in" at the sports centre, they'd pay half the tuition fee for any courses you took to better yourself. Clarke saw a way to get ahead, and began saving.

"So my mum knew I always had a job. She was really disappointed when I left university, and even about four years into my acting career, still said, 'He'll probably go back to the gym.'"

Clarke persevered, but there have been plenty of rejections along the way.

"I couldn't tell you the ratio, but probably for every job you see me do, there would be 20 rejections. It got to the stage, just before I did Auf Widersehen, Pet and Where Do We Live at the Royal Court, for Richard Wilson, just before that, it was at the stage where I was borrowing money to get a travel card to go to auditions - and I was auditioning all the time."

Kismet plays a factor, he says, insisting that everyone has a lucky moment. "You get up that day and get out the left side of the bed and put your socks on a certain way, and you go and nail the audition. The exact same audition the day before or the day after, you might not nail. It's how you connect with people in a room."

Surely people make their own luck? He's a grafter, after all, and not only acts, but writes, directs, and produces, which surely maximises his opportunities to work?

"I agree, but it's a weird one, because you can make your own luck, but first, I do believe, you have to get a bit of luck first. I'll give you an example: when I was working in the gym I wanted to audition for Metrosexuality. The role was for a 16-year- old, and I was 22. Rikki Beadle-Blair said, 'If you can look young, I won't tell the Channel 4 people your age.' I went out of my way to look young and I got that job.

"There has to be something to grab on to. And what I do, once I've grabbed something, is I don't let it go.

"When the director of Kidulthood said he didn't want to direct Adulthood, and it was like the film's going to collapse, Path said, 'Would you ever consider doing it?' You think, 'OK, if I direct this film that I've written, and I'm playing the lead in, and it messes up, there's no-one to blame, so your career's over.' Then I thought, 'F*** it, I don't care. If I mess it up, I can always say, 'I made a film once!'"

In 2003, he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer, for that Royal Court production, and five years later, took home the Bafta's Orange Rising Star Award - the first black British man to do so in the history of the awards. Clarke raises his eyebrows, surprised that I've picked up on that. "People won't really realise what that means until I'm long dead and gone."

Did doors fly open after that? "The Olivier is prestigious, but you still have to jump the hurdle that it's for the theatre, and TV and film are very different. I don't think anyone expected me to get the Bafta. The bookies didn't have me down. It's definitely made a huge difference in my career, but I don't dwell on it. The next day, I changed my son's nappy, went to the supermarket, and I don't think any more about it. I just carried on working."

As Doctor Who's Mickey Smith, Clarke worked with both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. Was it tough making the transition from one Doctor to another?

"It wasn't weird for me, because I used watch the show when I was a kid, and knew all about regeneration. No actor is bigger than a show - all actors should remember that, all actors, at any given time. There have been so many companions and 11 doctors, and new actors came in every day, so there's always a different dynamic."

Clarke is very proud of staying off the red carpet, and his two closest friends are guys he went to school with, and has known since he was a kid.

"I'm too smart to believe it when people say, 'Oh, you're great, you're great.' I'm not interested in being famous. You won't find me in the tabloids, no matter how far you stretch back."

Instead of getting papped, Clarke is getting down to business. He's just shot a romantic comedy called The Knot, which he wrote. He plays the best man to Matthew McNulty's groom, while the female leads are played by Talulah Riley and Mena Suvari.

"We have a plan, me and my team, a definite plan of action about how many projects we do here, and when we decide to try out in Los Angeles. The idea is to try and do a few films a year. We have one happening, and one about to happen. I just like doing work. I like to write. I like to keep pushing."

• Huge is in cinemas from Friday. Screwed is in cinemas now.