Shane Meadows

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shane Meadows
Born	26 December 1972 (1972-12-26) (age 36) Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England
Occupation	Director, screenwriter, actor
Years active	1995–present
Official website

Shane Meadows (born 26 December 1972) is an English film director, screenwriter and occasional actor, from Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. He is regarded as one of the rising stars of British cinema.

Meadows left school shortly before reaching his GCSEs, and soon turned to petty crime. He started off in Uttoxeter making short films with his friends and family but couldn't show these films to anyone because there were no film festivals in his area. His friends started one in the local cinema which became popular with the town. His fame started when a film scout found him and took him on as an amateur film director. The vast majority of his films have been set in the Midlands area. They recall the kitchen sink realism of filmmakers such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, with a post-modern twist. He has a relaxed directing style, encouraging the actors to ad lib in order to create a better sense of reality.

Much of the content of his films are semi-autobiographical and based on his experiences in Uttoxeter. Twenty Four Seven was inspired by his youth, both at a boxing club, and also playing in a local football club. Despite some huge losses, the club's coach never lost faith in them. A Room for Romeo Brass was also inspired by his youth. After Paul Fraser — his best friend, neighbour and future writing partner^[1] — had a very bad accident and was bound to his bed for two years, Meadows instead hung around with some of the town's more undesirable characters. Dead Man's Shoes is based on the more unpleasant side of his youth in Uttoxeter. It was inspired by a close friend who had been bullied, developed a drug problem and then committed suicide. He said "I couldn't believe that, going back ten years later, he had been totally forgotten in the town — it was as if he had never existed. I was filled with anger against the people who had bullied and pushed the drugs on him, and with despair at what drugs had done to that small community".

Five of Meadows' films were shown at the 2007 Flourish Festival, held annually in Uttoxeter, to mark the release of This is England.

Contents 1 Background 2 Films 3 Filmography 3.1 Feature films 3.2 Short films 4 References and notes 5 External links

[edit] Background

Meadows grew up in the Westlands Road area of Uttoxeter, East Staffordshire. Westlands Road is a single road of what were originally council houses. It is a pleasant suburban street on the edge of town, which backs onto fields. His father was a long distance lorry driver and his mother worked in a fish and chip shop. He attended Picknalls First School, Oldfields Hall Middle School, and Thomas Alleyne's High School. At weekends he sold fruit and veg on a market stall in Uttoxeter market. His love of cinema was fostered by regular trips to the Elite cinema.

Meadows moved to Nottingham when he was 20. He is widely regarded as a big fan of Notts County Football Club, with several references included in his films by way of imagery and background shots.

Meadows enrolled on a Performing Arts course at Burton College, where he first met friend and future collaborator Paddy Considine. Amongst other things, they formed the band She Talks To Angels (inspired by a Black Crowes song of the same name), with Meadows as vocalist and Considine as drummer. Lead guitarist in She Talks To Angels was Nick Hemming, who was also a member of The Telescopes and now fronts The Leisure Society. The band also included the talents of Marc Cieslak, who went on to become a TV presenter on .tv, Gamer.tv and the BBC's technology show Click.

[edit] Films

While living in the Sneinton area of Nottingham, he made roughly 30 short films with the friends he met there.

His debut feature-length film, Twenty Four Seven, won several awards at film festivals, including the Douglas Hickox award at the British Independent Film Awards and Best Screenplay at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. Dead Man's Shoes, his sixth film, and third starring Paddy Considine,^[2] was nominated for a BAFTA for Best British Film. His seventh film This is England, won the British Independent Film Awards 2006 for best British independent film. Shane was presented with the award by Sylvester Stallone and used the occasion to announce that he was to be a father.

His shortest film, The Stairwell, was shot on a mobile phone and is just 39 seconds long. It consists solely of a man and woman, played by Meadows regulars Andrew Shim and Vicky McClure, violently bumping into each other on a stairwell.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Feature films

• Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009)^[3][4][5]
• Somers Town (2008)^[6]
• This Is England (2006)^{[7][8][9][10]}
• Dead Man's Shoes (2004)^[2][11][12]
• Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)^[1]
• A Room for Romeo Brass (1999)^[13]
• Twenty Four Seven (1997)
• Small Time (1996)

[edit] Short films

2007 "Valentine" — promotional music video[14] "Serious" — promotional music video[14] "The Living Room" — documentary about musician Gavin Clark 2005 "The Stairwell" (2005) [15 seconds][15] 2004 "Northern Soul" (2004) [30mins] 2000 Shane's World (2000) [70 mins] — "Macca's Men" — "The Man With No Name" — "The Poppa Squeeze Affair" — "Three Tears for Jimmy Prophet" — "Tank's Top Tips" 1999 "Le Donk Episodic One Slap" (1999) [19 mins] "Le Donk Episodic Two Slap" (1999) [15 mins] "Billy Gumbo" (1999) [10 mins] "Willy Gumbo" (1999) [20 mins] "Le Donk Rat Attack" (1999) [15 mins] "Simon Stanway 3" (1999) [5 mins] "Gary Golfer" (1999) [8 mins] "Eric D'ya Get the Jisto" (1999) [5 mins] "Stars of Track and Field" (1999) [30 mins] 1998 "Paul, Simon, Dominic and Snowy Cabrerra" (1998) [14 mins] "Daihatsu Domino" (1998) [9 mins] "Size Sixteen Feet" (1998) [6 mins] "There was a Wolf in the Room Mum, and it was Dying" (1998) [2 mins] "It was just a little Chimp, about six inches tall and he wore a little red sweater" (1998) [5 mins] "Autumn in the Heart" (1998) [7 mins] "Hospital Stanway" (1998) [9 mins] "A Room for Romeo Brass rehearsals" (1998) [11 mins] "All the Way Through" (1998) [5 mins]

1997 "Come Back Dominic Dillon" (1997) [12 mins] "Waiting For the Winter" (1997) [16 mins] "In the Meantime Afternoon" (1997) [20 mins] — documentary "A Room For Romeo Brass" (1997) [13 mins] 1996 "The Rise and Fall of a Protection Agency" (1996) [20 mins] "Where's the Money, Ronnie?" (1996) [12 mins] — final version[1] "Simon Stanway is Not Dead" (1996) [18 mins] "Torino Torino" (1996) [15 mins] — documentary "The Church of Alan Darcy" (1996) [8 mins] 1995 "The Pasta Twist" (1995) [11 mins] "The Stretch" (1995) [16 mins] "The Allotment Show" (1995) [2 mins] "Sneinton Junction" (1995) [6 mins] "Jock and John are Neighbours" (1995) [7 mins] "Black Wiggow" (1995) [10 mins] "King of the Gypsies" (1995) [6 mins] — documentary "King of the Gypsies" (1995) [10 mins] — documentary "Kill Me Now, Mummy" (1995) [7 mins] "Karate Youth" (1995) [3 mins] "The Zombie Squad" (1995) [11 mins] "Where's The Money, Ronnie?" (1995) [14 mins] — third version "A Glyde in the Park" (1995) [5 mins] 1994 "Where's the Money, Ronnie?" (1994) [10 mins] — second version "Where's the Money, Ronnie?" (1994) [10 mins] — first version "The Datsun Connection" (1994) [13 mins] "The Murderer " (1994) [5 mins] "Little Man" (1994) [10 mins] "The Cleaner" (1994) [2 mins]

[edit] References and notes

[edit] External links

• Shane Meadows at the Internet Movie Database
• Biographie et Filmographie du réalisateur Shane Meadows — French Shane Meadows website ShaneMeadows.fr
• Directors: Shane Meadows — profile, biography and filmography Alt-Flix.co.uk

---

v • d • e Films directed by Shane Meadows 1990s Twenty Four Seven (1997) · A Room for Romeo Brass (1999) 2000s Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002) · Dead Man's Shoes (2004) · This Is England (2006) · Somers Town (2008) Short Films Small Time (1996) · Where's the Money, Ronnie? (1996) · Northern Soul (2004) · The Stairwell (2005)

Persondata
NAME	Meadows, Shane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Meadows, Shane
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Film director
DATE OF BIRTH	1972-12-26
PLACE OF BIRTH	Uttoxeter,East Staffordshire, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH