Back To Black’s Jack O’Connell to direct Paul Weller music video
Back To Black‘s Jack O’Connell has made his directorial debut working on a music video for Paul Weller.
The actor has got behind the camera for the video for a song called ‘Nothing’, which will be part of Weller’s forthcoming album ’66’. The LP will be released on May 24.
“It was a good stroke of fortune,” O’Connell told Variety. “Paul’s been a mate for a while and he’s got a bunch of new music coming out. He asked me to be in [a video] and I said, ‘Can I direct it instead?’ He obliged. And now we’ve edited it and cut it together.”
‘Nothing’ isn’t the only music video O’Connell has been in either, having previously appeared in the visuals for ‘Blue Moon Rising’ by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
Meanwhile, O’Connell is currently starring in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic of Amy Winehouse, Back To Black, which will arrive in cinemas on Friday (April 12). O’Connell plays Blake Fielder-Civil, Winehouse’s ex-husband.
In a four-star review of Back To Black, NME wrote: “Fielder-Civil, meanwhile, is more flawed chancer than evil schemer here. If Back To Black has a villain, it’s the unrelenting glare of the media spotlight, which made life even more intense and unbearable for a woman already struggling with addiction, bulimia, grief and fame.
“This film was always going to face accusations of being exploitative – given the way Winehouse was scrutinised when she was alive – but the naysayers needn’t have worried. Taylor-Johnson’s film (particularly the ending) is impressively deft and delicate.
“Obviously, it was going to be tough for Back To Black to surpass Winehouse’s 2006 album of the same name – what could? – but Taylor-Johnson’s film is more than deserving of your time. It offers a welcome reminder of Winehouse’s plucky spirit – something that often gets lost when her life is reduced to a hackneyed tale of talent and tragedy.
We concluded: “There’s also a cracking score by Bad Seeds Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – complete with an original tune by Cave, ‘Song For Amy’, which unfurls beautifully over the opening credits. “You say that it’s time for us to call it a day,” he sings huskily over twinkly wind chimes and elegant strings, “but I will love you anyway.” It serves as a moving bookend to a worthy biopic – and you’ll come away wanting to take a deeper dive into the remarkable artist that inspired it.”
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Emma Wilkes
NME
