Face to Face with... Thomas Napper

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Photograph courtesy of Marcus Boyle

Skid Row Stories

Thomas Napper, commercials director with HSI and second unit director for Joe Wright on Pride & Prejudice and Atonement decided, while shooting Wright’s 2009 film The Soloist in LA, that a sister film could be made about the residents of LA’s infamous Skid Row. 

Alongside shooting The Soloist Napper researched and shot his insightful, poignant and powerful documentary, Lost Angels. Here he talks to shots.net about the project and its affect on him.

How did the idea for Lost Angels come about? 

I've always been interested in mental health. In fact, I was sort of obsessed by neurology and brain science when I was at art school. Following the release of Atonement, Joe Wright started really looking at The Soloist as the next project, and immediately we started talking about a sister project that I could direct if we went to LA, but it wasn't clear what that documentary would be about, I didn't have an angle.

We started to work with a group from LAMP (a mental health facility on LA's Skid Row) and within two sessions of improv and discussion I knew that I had to drive the story through character, that by letting people tell their stories from those dark streets, we would find the wider themes.

Their experiences shared the themes of homelessness, schizophrenia and drug addiction but what really shocked me were the stories about the LAPD and their treatment of the homeless mentally ill. The characters led us to the film.

How did you initially meet the people in the film?  

The core group came from LAMP, around half of the cast were dealing with schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, chronic homelessness and addiction, sometimes all of them.

Once I started walking around Skid Row - and I did a lot of walking!! - I just kept meeting all these amazing people who really had something to say and were prepared to be brutally honest about their journeys to the ghetto; street cleaners, former Olympic athletes, a Harvard attorney and a former gang member had all found acceptance 'on the nickel'.

In many ways we are coached not to discuss our problems, especially if there are still stigmas attached, so meeting people who were so free of bullshit, and ready to bare all about mental illness and addiction, it soon became very hard to narrow it down. But my editor Tyler Hubby was very strict with the rushes and gradually we whittled it down to eight leads.

Did you need to convince them to appear in Lost Angels/were they sceptical about it at all? 

Most people were really enthusiastic once they felt that I wasn't going to exploit them. That process took time and the trust had to be built for months before I started filming.

I attended the Skid Row church every Sunday, went to events, and started to feel accepted. The fact that I was English was helpful, a lot of people just couldn't get over the way I pronounced things and would immediately start laughing when I said 'mobile' or 'pavement' or 'boot' instead of trunk.

I needed to have everything explained to me really clearly, I had no idea how things worked in LA so I used the innocent alien card every single moment of every single day.

How long did you film for and how much footage did you have to edit down in the end? 

I decided to film over a long period, so that I could edit and return to the streets with a better understanding of which character to follow and why. So over seven months we filmed once or twice a week and would jump on stuff if it happened.

We used the Red Camera because it was huge, and it made us very visible and slow moving. This allowed crack dealers time to clear off and stopped us getting into serious trouble. The fact that it was me, an operator, a loader and a sound guy made us a very visible film unit, and that security was very important. We also had guys from Skid Row as our point men; normally one guy just in front and one behind us on a street corner.

That group grew as we worked because people came forward and we just needed help carrying stuff and keeping us out of trouble. Apollo, Tito. KK and Danny the Olympian were all much more attuned to the problems coming down the block than me. 

Had you shot documentaries before this? 

No this is my first, but I really want to do another now. I found a producer, Agi Orsi, who had done street docs like Dogtown and The Z Boys and she surrounded me with really experienced documentary makers, a great writer - Christine Triano - and Tyler Hubby who cut The Devil & Daniel Johnstone which was a very brilliant portrayal of mental illness that never judged or worried about diagnosis.

Tyler  and Christine really guided me through the whole process, while I focused all my energy on the characters and their experiences, I fell totally in love with all of them, it was real hard to leave LA last year.  

How did the project as a whole affect you? 

Oops I keep answering the next question in the last answer, Ronnie Corbett move over... It has really changed my life in a very profound way, I don't think I can even put it into words.

I have found myself out, become much more aware of my strengths and weaknesses, and accepting of those qualities in others. We all have frailties, weaknesses, obsessions, baggage, sadness and loss, but the way we deal with those things makes us who we are and defines how we grow. I used to think that not showing weakness was the way to seem strong but now I think the opposite.

I think that that attitude is an illusion, a form of denial, and that dealing with things openly, facing problems and admitting that 'I just don't know' is a better way to live. I think ultimately it has taught me humility and a real sense of my own good fortune in life. 

How different was it working on this to working on commercials or as a second unit director?  

Doing a documentary is inside out filmmaking for me. Features and commercials are very beautifully constructed before any film is shot. The doc form requires that you shoot your way into the story, and through editing and understanding the footage, you start to write your story. It is revealed rather like a sculpture. You just chip away at everything that isn't the film.

What are your hopes for the film? 

Right now we are doing festivals, one offs, showing it to politicians and fundraisers. We are screening this week at The Human Rights Film Festival at The Ritzy and the again in New York with the same festival. This is a perfect fit for us and gives us a chance to engage with an audience in my hometown.

Have you kept in touch with any of the people in the film? 

All of them. Everyone is doing well. 

What are you working on next? 

Trying to set up a new project right now, I am meeting the writer for coffee this morning. Next up is a short written by Pete Griffiths, which is an incredible script, it makes your ankles hurt when you read it. Aiming to shoot that this summer.