Daniel Kaluuya: ‘I had to dig deep’ for futuristic directorial debut film The Kitchen
The world premiere of Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Taveres’ The Kitchen closed the 2023 BFI London Film Festival on Sunday night.
Set in 2044 London, The Kitchen envisions an extreme version of our current world where the wealth gap has stretched to its limit, social housing has been banned and a community – the kitchen – must fight to save their home.
The idea for the film was sparked by a conversation overheard by Kaluuya at a barbershop in 2011. The Black Panther actor brought the concept to Tavares and, along with producer Daniel Emmerson, began plans to bring the film to fruition.
(left to right) Dan Emmerson, Kano, Jedaiah Bannerman, Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares at the London Film Festival
“What we wanted was Reservoir Dogs and a barbershop – and we did it,” Kaluuya told Sky’s Backstage podcast at the world premiere.
Kaluuya is a triple threat in The Kitchen – co-director, producer and co-writer – and said it took a lot of “digging deep, meeting your limitations and owning that”.
The Netflix film is led by Top Boy’s Kane “Kano” Robinson who plays Izi, a resident of the kitchen who is desperately trying to find a way out.
Kano
He meets 12-year-old Benji, played by newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman, who has lost his mother and together they fight to survive in a system stacked against them.
It also stars fellow Top Boy actor Hope Ikopu Jr, rappers BlackRoad Gee and Cristale and theatre performer Demmy Ladipo – with a cameo appearance from former Arsenal star Ian Wright.
Ian Wright at the London Film Festival. He makes a cameo in The Kitchen
“For me, it was a father and son story from the very start,” explains co-writer Joe Murtagh.
“I think people are going to watch this and I think it’s going to remind them everything they love about London and everything they hate about the city too, in equal measure.
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“It’s about home and essentially about how people find their space and their identity within their community,” explains first-time feature co-director Kibwe Taveres.
Kibwe Tavares
“It’s been just one of those kind of life events where you have learned so much. Having grown as a guy over time. What we’ve done has been amazing.”
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While Kaluuya and Taveres attended their premiere on Sunday night, a group of demonstrators gathered at the closing gala for the London Film Festival protesting against poor working conditions for crew in the UK – worsened by the ongoing Hollywood actors’ strike.
Protestors at the last night of the London Film Festival
“It’s not about being against any films or anything,” explained stand-by art director Melanie Light.
Although Hollywood writers have ended their five-month strike, the SAG-AFTRA dispute continues.
Melanie Light
Talks broke down recently after studios, streaming services and production companies, under the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), said the gap between the two sides was too great to continue.
“Since there hasn’t been work we have really struggled,” Ms Light said.
“People are out of work, people are having to remortgage the houses, people selling their cars, people have had to go on universal credit.”
The Kitchen will be released on Netflix in late 2023.
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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