Sidling up to Andrew Shim at the British Embassy party was no mean feat. Relaxed and unassuming, he greeted my “excuse me can I just ask you a few questions with a broad smile, even putting down his plate for the sumptuous buffet the embassy had laid out for its homegrown stars.
Despite having played a major role in one of the most striking British films of the last few years, Shim certainly seems to be taking fame in his stride.
“This is England, directed by Shim’s good friend and mentor, Shane Meadows, captures with gritty finesse the troubled and tragic relationship between nationalism, Thatcherism, racism and a nation’s post-war trauma. Shim plays Milky, a second generation Afro-Caribbean teenager, who belongs to a skinhead posse in a grim seaside town plagued by unemployment and typical miserable English weather.
However, when Combo (Stephen Graham), a hardcore nationalist, racist and veritable psychopath, comes back to town after a prison sentence, the posse’s carefree dynamics take a turn for the worst, and life is made hell for Milky.
So how did it feel getting violently assaulted by Combo? Daily News Egypt asked Shim. “Yeah it was pretty tough, he joked, “well of course we were acting but we had to make it look as realistic as possible. And it’s emotionally and physically tiring, especially after so many takes. It was awesome working with Stephen Graham though, especially because he was the only professional actor among us.
Shim, along with most of the young actors in “This is England, had little or no experience in professional acting before they were cast by Shane Meadows.
“I got into acting through the Carlton Theater Group, an amateur acting group from Nottingham, my home city. Then I got to know Shane through getting a part in ‘A Room for Romeo Brass.’ Me and Shane became really good friends, despite the fact he’s about 10 or so years older than me.
In fact, Meadows was so impressed by Shim he gave him a small part in his feature film “Dead Man’s Shoes, a tragically depressing film about a returning soldier taking revenge on the killers of his mentally challenged brother. Since it was first released in 2004 “Dead Man’s Shoes has gone on to become a cult film.
“And do you know how he discovered Thomas Turgoose [Shaun] in the film? Shim continued, “He found him in Grimsby, playing on a fruit machine. Grimbsy, the eponymous coastal town, is notoriously the most “grim in England.
After the huge success of “This is England, the futures of the young actors handpicked by Meadows have been set in gold, especially since it seems that Madonna, the queen of pop and an aspiring filmmaker, has taken a shine to this raw talent.
“She’s planning to make a film in the next year or so, and she’s chosen Vicky MacClure, who played Lol to star in the main role. You know Vicky is actually my girlfriend. We’ve been together for four years.
There’s no doubt that Shim is a lucky man, but he seems to be taking everything in his stride so much so that he’s not quite sure if acting is for him. “I’ve started racing motorbikes, and it’s actually something I’d like to do professionally. It’s a real rush; I guess I love the speed. So you might see me on television in a bit, although with a helmet on rather than playing a role.
