Michael Long Brings Liverpool to Oldenburg With ‘Baby Brother’: “My City Has Never Been Shown the Way It Should”
Michael Long is a proud Scouser, meaning a native of Liverpool, and wants the world to know it. The actor-turned-director’s debut feature film is getting its world premiere on Friday at Oldenburg Film Festival.
It’s a big moment for Long, who admits to The Hollywood Reporter that it’s been a “rough” journey and he sometimes felt looked down on at drama school for being Liverpudlian.
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Oldenburg marks a turning point. His movie, Baby Brother, follows Adam (played by Paddy Rowan), who deeply cares for his younger sibling, Liam (Brian Comer). But in the city’s depths, interwoven into its culture is an unshakeable generational trauma for families like theirs. As Adam succumbs to the dysfunctional environment in which he grew up, he feels forced to cultivate violence within him, to the horror of Liam.
Below, Long talks to THR about being proud of his roots, bringing the charisma and magic of Liverpool to Oldenburg, and why it’s more vital than ever that these films are given a chance to shine on an international stage.
Congratulations on your first feature film. Can you tell me a bit about Baby Brother and what inspired the project?
It’s hard to pinpoint an exact thing that inspired it, but the theme of the film is based deeply on generational trauma. The question is: do we control the person we become?
I grew up with people around me in my life, friends who have grown up with people who I see day to day in Liverpool, and people who have done really bad things. They’ve committed by crimes. And I’ve always had empathy towards them for that. I’ve always felt sorry that their life has taken a root where violence is their only way of expression and they don’t understand how to express themselves in other ways. I have friends who I grew up with, people I’ve known from a distance who went to jail and stuff, or they’re like, addicted to drugs or something, and it always hit me. So me and my friend, Tom [Sidney], who helped me write the script, he works in a school in Manchester for a bunch of troubled children. We both just sat down and spoke about different stories of people that I knew, and then the children’s stories. And the film started to develop from there, really.
I don’t think people are born bad. Do you know what I mean? We don’t come out of the womb as an evil individual. And some people are born into circumstances where they don’t have any other choice, because it’s all they know.
And this is a very Scouse film (Scouse refers to the Liverpudlian accent, and people from the city are called Scousers)… What is the significance of that, the unique way in which Liverpudlians communicate, interact, and live?
It is very unique. I went to drama schools, and when I was auditioning for drama schools, people would look down on me. I don’t know what was my own perspective, but I felt like people felt sorry for me, like I was some troubled kid. And I wasn’t, I had a lovely childhood, but people would look down at me because we’re from Liverpool, and people see Liverpool as a specific place… Don’t get me wrong, the themes in our film are really tough. But it’s a magical place as well with incredible charisma and atmosphere and unique energy. The dream I have as a writer and director is I want to expose the magic of the city to the world Baby Brother shows a lot of its dark, but in the next few films, I want to show a lot of its light.
Like you say, the way we interact, the way we communicate, is different to everywhere in the world. We believe Liverpool is like the New York of the U.K. I’ve always been told that I need to leave Liverpool to make it in this industry and I’ve gone against it, because I’ve always felt that my city has never been shown in the way it should be shown. I want to build an industry within my city, and this is just hopefully the beginning of that. And I believe Liverpool can be basically an epicenter for film and TV in our country and around the world. You see talent from our city like Jodie Comer, Stephen Graham, the greatest actor in the world right now. Our city is going to become a huge part of the industry, and I don’t ever want to leave it and forget about it, because it’s an important part of who I am. I’m proud about where I’m from and proud about the people I grew up with.
And as you said, this film is about generational trauma and what’s passed down through your family. But there’s also a class element at play.
Absolutely, yeah, there’s actually a class element. And there’s a class element to myself and the people in it. I’m a working-class person from Liverpool. I’m 31 now. My mom was a receptionist at the local hospital, my dad was a stonemason. And everyone involved in it is from the areas in which we shot it. The lead, Paddy Rowan. You might have seen him in Blue by ITV, where he played the murderer of Rhys Jones. He’s an extremely talented lad. We need more opportunities for working-class people. And I guess what I’m trying to show is that use what you’ve got, and we’ll build it ourselves, and we’ll break the doors down ourselves and start building our own industry, and everyone else will come calling.
I want to ask about the film’s title, Baby Brother, and the familial aspect. Because we see Adam as deeply impacted by his upbringing, but also such a caring big brother. I was wondering about that theme, as he’s a caring person but is forced to cultivate this violent side.
That’s the main theme of the film. He’s a good person who is forced to do bad things. And there’s a lot of people in this world who, let’s say, deal drugs, and people who see drug dealers as these horrendous individuals who are destroying communities. And don’t get me wrong, there is elements of that to those people, but I’ve met them, I’ve spoken to them, and a lot of them are really good people deep down. People that this is just their only way out, or only way to make a good amount of money. Are you gonna deal drugs and make thousands or are you gonna get a job in a shop?
The character that Paddy plays as well, Adam, is very much the epicenter of that idea, His brother, Liam, is based on a lot of people. In many ways, he’s roughly based on myself. Because I was a kid who, when I was young, I was over in stuff like that. Obviously, I grew up with this. I’ve got a younger sister who is autistic and I always worry about what her life would have been in a more vulnerable situation.
How was it getting that confirmation that your film will premiere in Oldenburg?
It was a relief because I don’t have any connections to any festivals within the world, we were just blind submitting and we were getting quite a lot of rejection. I was talking to friends like, ‘Bloody hell, Jesus. What are we gonna do here? No one wants it.’ And then Oldenburg emailed us, and they watched it a week before, emailed us… I jumped straight onto Zoom and we just fucking screamed our heads off.
I’ll be honest, this journey for myself, trying to break into this industry, has been really, really tough. So to start to see a glimpse of making it my life is… It was a really nice moment. And being here now is quite unique. Being in the cinemas, watching a Turkish film last night and a Mexican film, and seeing all different cultures, it’s beautiful, man. To have Liverpool here represented in Germany and Oldenburg, it’s really exciting.
Oldenburg is a film festival that really champions indie filmmaking and gives those opportunities to people early on in their career. How important is it to put a spotlight on these independent films in this current climate?
The way the industry is working at the moment is no one seems to be taking risks. I could be wrong, but from my viewpoint of it, no one wants to take risks. No one wants to put someone else on. When you allow new artists an opportunity to share their talents and craft their talent in a way and expose it to an audience… In today’s day an age, would Martin Scorsese or Francis Ford Coppola get the opportunity? It’s amazing that a festival like this is giving people the opportunity. It’s vital.
Baby Brother gets its world premiere at Oldenburg Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 13.
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