Scrapper: On the red carpet with the cast and creatives at Sundance London 2023

Scrapper is the glorious, whimsical and heartfelt feature debut from Charlotte Regan (who began her career in the fashion and music video world), which received the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize during Sundance and premiered in the UK on the opening night of Sundance London 2023. The story follows 12-year-old Georgie (newcomer Lola Campbell) who, after the death of her mother, is getting by alone off the back of her own resourcefulness, with the support of her mate, Ali (Alin Uzun) – wingman to her bike-stealing escapades and ploys to throw social workers off the scent. A spanner is thrown in the works when her long-estranged father, Jason (a bleach-haired Harris Dickinson), bulldozes into her life, returning from his job abroad selling club tickets in Ibiza.

Subverting expectations of the social realist genre with its creative approach to storytelling, this is a British working-class comedy-drama that pops with colour and dazzles with its imagination. Its playful elements interspersed through the drama work to more closely capture the feeling of looking at life through the eyes of a kid, drawing the audience into Georgie’s world, from talking spiders to wondering aloud if her father could be a vampire. Further, the father-daughter relationship explored is almost one of roles reversed: Georgie old beyond her years and Jason a bona fide man-child, but somewhere in the middle they can find connection and realise how much they need each other. Regan’s genius pairing of new-to-cinema Campbell with Dickinson is one that more than pays off, with a charming chemistry bubbling between them throughout, not dissimilar to that found in the smash-hit indie Aftersun, with the duo even ad-libbing at the end of almost every scene. Despite what’s ostensibly a tough subject in a bleak setting, the film captures the beauty of community and joy of making memories with family in even the darkest of places.

The Upcoming hit the red carpet for the movie’s premiere and chatted to Dickinson about how Scrapper breaks the stereotypes of its genre, how he channeled his inner kid to play Jason (whose understanding of life is tested when he’s faced with his responsibilities), and the hopeful energy and spirit the film has.

We also spoke to the filmmaker and her young star, Lola Campbell, about the highlights of working together on-set with Dickinson – particularly as this is Campbell’s first film – and the uplifting message at the heart of Scrapper.

 

Cinematographer Molly Manning Walker (who also recently brought her directorial feature debut, How to Have Sex, to Cannes Film Festival) spoke about how they approached the less traditional aspects of the production to bring Georgie’s world to life.

Sarah Bradbury

Scrapper is released in select cinemas on 25^th August 2023.

For further information about Sundance London 2023 visit the festival’s website here.

Read more reviews from the festival here.

Watch the trailer for Scrapper here: