Brotherhood premiere: Noel Clarke debuts last film in trilogy as he reveals Stormzy was ‘nervous’ about acting role

The Grime superstar makes his acting debut in the last of the London crime trilogy
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Jennifer Ruby23 August 2016
The Weekender

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Noel Clarke launched the last film in his London crime trilogy with a world premiere at Westfield.

The writer, director and actor admitted that he’d tried to assemble all of the old cast for Brotherhood, as well giving grime superstar Stormzy his first acting role.

“He didn't need to audition for the part. He did meet me and we did do a reading but it wasn't an audition,” Clarke told BBC Radio 1 Extra.

“It wasn't written with him in mind because basically this was written months before he exploded into the worldwide mega star.

“I was writing this character that he just suited so much. One day I thought ‘let's tweet this brother, send him a little DM’, so I followed him and few hours later followed back.”

The 40-year-old added: “He's very good but you can see that. When he's performing he's performing.

“When he's on stage and doing what he does you can see how good he is, even if he doesn’t know it.

“So for me I just had to rein it in. He agreed, said he'd love to do some acting so he came in and did the film. I think he was nervous at first but he was brilliant.”

Clarke was joined on the red carpet by the grime MC himself, alongside other members of the cast including Jason Maza, Arnold Oceng, Fady Elsayed and Rosa Coduri.

A decade after Kidulthood hit screens, Clarke decided to wrap up the Hood stories with one final film.

The new film sees ex-con Sam finally attempting to break away from his criminal life in the capital.

Following his release from prison in Adulthood, he tries to settle into a changed London and is forced to recruit old friends to help with new problems.

Brotherhood, is due for initial release in the UK on August 29, eight years after Kidulthood follow-up Adulthood was released.

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