D.A.R.Y.L.

How did you get into directing?
D.A.R.Y.L. is made up of Montgomery James and Edward Lovelace. We met at film school in England and moved to London to make no-budget music videos. We chose not to get real jobs and see if we could survive by taking 10 percent of 50 quid budgets. We continued with promos for a couple of years before embarking on shorts and commercials. We have just recently finished our first feature which is probably the first time we’ve been able to get our vibe across with no limitations.

What is your most recent project?
Werewolves Across America is our first feature film. It’s an experimental documentary shot across the United States last year. The film is a portrait of modern American youth culture and sheds light on a group of artists/musicians who are striving to survive outside of the constraints of modern society. We have also just completed the MySpace relaunch campaign for BBH in London. We shot films for nine different artists including Alicia Keys, 50 Cent, and Florence and the Machine, allowing fans to star in a film alongside their favorite artist.

What is the best part of being a director?
Apart from being skint and constantly frustrated, it’s good to be able to get our ideas out onto screen. We also got a chance to meet 50cent on one of our commercial shoots which was cool. He gave us all sorts of advice for getting the ladies including telling them we directed Titanic. So far, this method has been flawless.

Have you a mentor and if so, who is that person (or persons)
and what has been the lesson learned from that mentoring which resonates most with you?
We mentor each other, aimlessly guiding ourselves through the highs and lows of being independent filmmakers.

Who is your favorite director and why?
We are big fans of Gus Van Sant and John Cassavetes. Van Sant always presents a story in a unique and original way, and his themes of youth and tragedy seem to be relevant to what we want to do. Cassavetes had the attitude and drive to get out there and make what he wanted which is something we really admire and strive to emulate.

What is your favorite movie? Your favorite commercial?
Collectively our favorite movie at the moment is About A Son, the Kurt Cobain documentary directed by A J Schnack. Proper inspiring stuff.

Tell use about your background (i.e. Where did you grow up? Past jobs?)
Both originally from South East England we now live in central London. We are looking to move to a small Midwestern American town asap to fulfill our dreams of pretzels and root beer for breakfast.  As for past jobs, we both had amazingly shit jobs growing up, needless to say we were fired pretty quickly.

Contact

http://www.chelsea.com/