Leading British producer STEPHEN WOOLLEY has spent a lifetime steeped in movies, from tearing cinema tickets in 1970s London to producing a string of award-winning box-office hits including The Crying Game and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.
Film journalist Jan Gilbert catches up with Woolley to find out about Sounds Like Teen Spirit, an irresistible feel-good film which follows four young singer-songwriters from across Europe on their road to the Junior Eurovision finals.
Expecting pushy parents and temperamental teens? Think again, as Sounds Like Teen Spirit is a real heart-melter of a movie which celebrates the spirit of the underdog with all the humour of Oscar-winner Little Miss Sunshine.
Stephen Woolley with Klaus the dog from Perrier's Bounty
MMM: What was it about Sounds Like Teen Spirit that attracted you when its director Jamie Jay Johnson came to you and your co-producer Elizabeth Karlsen with the idea?
Woolley: Elizabeth and I were given a reel of Jamie’s early work – his shorts and mini-features – and his stuff was very funny. He had this almost obsession with losers and people who don’t make the cut in terms of being successful. So we met with him and talked about his idea of making a film on Junior Eurovision.
I think if you’re my age, the Eurovision was an event alongside Wimbledon and the FA Cup. It was a competition that, as a kid, you watched on TV. And when I was a youngster I loved collecting stamps. I’d sit for hours and stare at some stamp from Monaco, not even knowing where Monaco was but just imagining its culture and people.
I think stamp collecting and loving Eurovision as a kid were the same thing. I didn’t get on a plane until I was fourteen years old so the Eurovision, like stamp collecting, was like a journey around Europe.
So as soon as Jamie said he wanted to do something on Junior Eurovision… firstly I’d never heard of it, and secondly I thought it’d be really fun sending crews out to all these countries, and that’s what drew me in.
MMM: This is the first documentary feature you’ve made. Did you have any preconceptions about what the film would be like? And how did that compare to what you saw through Jamie’s camera?
Woolley: I thought it was going to be about pushy mums and kids being brattish. But the kids in the film are very talented and incredibly sussed.
And they all have problems – the break-up of their parents’ marriage, being bullied at school, living in absolute poverty in a war-torn country – but there are so many wise words from these children that the film gives you a real sense of optimism. You’re just bowled over by their spirit.
It turned into my stamp-collecting love of Eurovision, as you suddenly saw what Bulgaria, Georgia, and Belgium were like through the eyes of these children. So it became what I wouldn’t even dare to imagine it would be become, which is a little slice of other worlds and other cultures and that was a real surprise.
And I think it became that because Jamie researched it so well, and because he’s such a great interviewer. He got lovely interviews with these kids because they really trusted him. They talked about themselves in a way that was extraordinary.
Giorgos, Junior Eurovision contender for Cyprus, at school
When Giorgos [from Cyprus] talks about being accused of being gay by schoolmates… he’s 10 years old but he sounds like the wisest person you ever heard in your life. You want him to be your bank manager! Jamie just got these kids to open up and I think that’s really what makes the film special.
MMM: Jamie, the film’s director, is also its narrator. Did you have it in mind for him to be the voice of the film from the beginning?
Woolley: No, we had a few ideas. We showed it to Jarvis Cocker, because he has this big European commitment living in Paris. And he loved it, but thought we should use the director’s voice because that’s what we hear throughout the whole film.
We could have pursued it with him, but he was so on the nose in terms of it being Jamie’s movie. And if you’d heard the voice of a personality as big as Jarvis, you would have thought it was Jarvis, not Jamie, who was commenting about Europe.
So we could have gone with a non-personality voice, which is kind of which we did because we went with Jamie’s voice [laughs], or with the voice of the director. And I think it was important for you to feel that there’s a solid voice behind it and not just a simple BBC commentary.
Mariam from Georgia gives it her all on stage
MMM: The film features a track by ABBA, who are well-known for being very protective of their music. Was it tough to get permission to use their music in the film?
Woolley: We lucked out with ABBA because Jamie put it on the film, much to the chagrin and the warnings from the producers that we would absolutely never be able to clear this track. And in the wake of Mamma Mia! being such a smash hit I actually didn’t think we would.
But we showed it to some quite high-up people at Universal and they were so taken with it that they rang Björn and Benny and they gave us permission. The people who saw it at Universal just told ABBA that they would be crazy not to use it because it’s used in a way that’s so supportive of kids and so right for the atmosphere of the movie.
