Having watched Zebra Crossing, I realise I’ve led a very sheltered life. I went to a secondary school which whilst being rough (some kids once got bored and decided to petrol bomb one of the porta cabins) didn’t see me threatened with knives on a daily basis, nor see me forced into a drug culture by my peers. I’m comfortably middle class and so, it seemed, were Sam and Lee. What did they draw on to write and star in a film about the meaner side of estate life in South London? Is it a case of artistic licence, or were these charming gents once ruthless teenage thugs?

Sam:

Kind of both really; I think we’ve all been there at 18 years of age when we’ve come into manhood. I’ve lived in London all my life, and a lot of the characters are based on my friends, or some pretty crazy characters I’ve known in my time. I wouldn’t say that it’s stuff that’s happened to me or mirrored from my life, but rather that I understand what’s it’s like being a young man trying to make something of yourself, when you’re not necessarily sure of what you want in your life. I definitely found that difficult for a few years.

Lee:

When I got the part of Justin I could relate to him a lot. When I grew up I had my fair share of… (Sam cuts in: You were a naughty boy!) Yeah! I was 18 and I grew up in London with guys who weren’t ‘actors’ – obviously not the extremes that Justin and those guys go through but… there’s always something you can take form your life’s experiences; I went to a rough school and, I remember certain things, those little moments, be it only little things like a person I knew… you take it from their perspective.

This is Sam’s first feature film, having studied at Newport Film School (in Wales, not the Orange County). He’s a man who knows how to sell a shot, having worked in advertising for three years, and this is a feature film which feels like it’s been brewing for a while.

Sam:

A long time *dry chuckle* I think with your first film, you’re not going to have the resources you’d have if you’ve had a long time in the industry and all you’ve been making shorts, or adverts and stuff. I always wanted to tell this story and knew how hard it was going to be for anyone to make this film. We ended up getting the together ourselves and to do that you need to be passionate about the story from day one. We changed the odd line here and there, but the story’s been there for the last seven years, and it’s been a bit of a labour of love. It takes a long time, and it takes everything you’ve got, but you come out the other side and you smile, and you know it’s been worth it.

Going to press, Zebra Crossing is yet to be certified, but I’m willing to bet that its adult subject matter will have it cast as an 18. But is this a film for youth who can directly relate to Justin’s character, or the people who ignore the culture that he’s from?

Sam:

I did try and make it universal. It’s very much a film from a young guy’s perspective, but it’s not necessarily a perspective many people are used to seeing. You hear from the paper how terrible youths are, but you never really know why, or they never really go under the surface. I would like the older generations to watch the film and to see why the next generation are as they are. Obviously, the younger generation, 18 onwards, I would hope that they want to watch it .

Lee:

I think we tried to avoid being one of those youth films that have been coming out in the last 5 years, aimed to that market of ‘young guys’. They swear for no reason and I personally don’t really have a lot of time for them; I don’t really care for their characters.

Sam:

We never really talked of an aim for who would watch it, it never really came up thinking about it. We never really thought “Lets aim it at this market”. It’s an interesting question now you’ve asked it…

So what lies ahead for Sam and Lee? Are their next projects set in the urban jungle as well, or are they hoping to try something a bit green and clean?

Sam:

I’ve got a new script that’s just finished with the working title of ‘Seven Days of Insanity’. It’s about four psychiatric patients that escape from a ward and come down to the ‘big city’. It’s set over the seven days between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day when there’s that weird dead period in the world. They go on this crazy journey, finding out what the world’s all about and find out more about themselves. It’s got that theme which is common to Zebra Crossing which is freedom, freedom to be themselves – it’s very different though. We’re looking for funding at the moment.

Lee:

For the last year I’ve been working on the theatre production of Peter Pan at Kensington Gardens, which got transferred to the O2. We’ve now been moved for over to San Francisco (Sam cuts in, Hence the tan.) I’m flying back on the Monday. I’m playing a Lost Boy. I finish that in March, and don’t really know what I’ll be doing after that.

In one of the more darkly humorous scenes of the film, the lads test out a gun that Justin’s managed to get his hands on, shooting a pigeon. A question I felt that had to be asked, is how do you find a dead pigeon, or for that matter, catch and kill one? There’s an awkward silence before the guys answer. Are they trying to remember their cover story? Have I been interviewing pigeon murderers?!

Sam:

No, but it’s a real pigeon!

Lee:

Yeah! Do you know how hard it is to find a dead pigeon?! We were looking everywhere for one…

Sam:

We ended up going to this really fine quality butchers out of London and getting a pigeon from them that was cut up for us.

Lee:

The bit where it hits Billy (Kyle Treslove) in the face, those are real guts.

Sam:

And he was shaking! He’s scared of birds, and we got to throw one in his face. We loaded it up with bits of guts and liver, and didn’t tell him, so when it hits him and goes all over his shirt he was like, “Oh shit!”

Sam Holland and Lee Turnbull are definitely two talents to watch out for in the future. You can catch Zebra Crossing at cinemas across the country from the 28th January 2011. Be sure to check out our review.