IN CONVERSATION WITH THE CAST AND CREATORS OF “STEVE”

interview TIMOTEJ LETONJA

words NATALIE GAL

On a rainy afternoon in Amsterdam, we sat down to watch Steve, Netflix’s new drama exploring the complex relationship between teachers and students. We finished the film with many thoughts and questions, deeply moved by its message. Fortunately, in the days that followed, we had the chance to sit down with the creators of the show: director Tim Mielants, along with cast members Jay Lycurgo, Simbi Ajikawo, and Tracey Ullman.

The conversation was astonishingly eye-opening. We not only heard about the casting process and the challenges of tackling such difficult material, but also the personal relationships and individual stories that the cast brought to the film.

images courtesy of NETFLIX

This film places teachers at the center of a system in collapse. How do you view the role of educators today, when schools are so often under pressure to do “more with less” ?

TIM MIELANTS: There is incredible devotion in the teachers who see talent in kids where others see only failure. I believe we all have an imprint of a teacher who believed in us once in our lives. That's so important, that's something we carry with us throughout our lives. The teachers who understand who these kids are, are our future. We are actually building our future through these kids, through these teachers. There is an immense value here in these humans and their stories.

Tim and Jay, how important was trust between you, as actor and director, in tackling such raw, vulnerable material?

TIM MIELANTS: We did a bootcamp for two weeks where we talked about the characters. I talked to the kids for a long time. I felt as though the kids became the characters and the characters became the kids. It was about getting to know each other and trusting each other deeply that made this project work.

JAY LYCURGO: As an actor you never really know what sort of environment you're going to get yourself into but the first time that I met Tim I just saw how human he was. There's no fake energy with Tim at all. He’s like: “Put your ego to the side. Let's talk about you. Let's get deep in there where you don't want to go. Let's talk about your fragility and you know your traumas but know that it's going to be safe and it's going to be looked after”. Tim has the side of a director, he is an artist but also a true and good friend, I felt so safe with him within the process and even after. He's given me some great film recommendations as well.

images courtesy of NETFLIX

What conversations around mental health and care do you hope the film might spark?

TIM MIELANTS: I feel that it's not up to me to say that. I hope the film is not patronizing or giving a lecture. I think people just have to watch it. I put my heart and soul into this, it's now up to them to do something with it. And hopefully it sparks a discussion, it's a way for contemplation. But it's not up to me, I find it very hard to tell people what they have to think after watching the movie. But I hope it's more than a movie itself.

TRACEY ULLMAN: In my generation nobody spoke about your mental health as a child. “You're the kids, we're the teachers, get on with it.” There's been another incredible Netflix programme, “Adolescence” that just won at the Emmys. They've done an extraordinary job. I have two young grandsons and I'm already thinking – how do you keep them from this? It's an incredibly intense experience to grow up in today's world. You come out of enormous hormonal moments in your life and nothing stays the same, you just gotta hang in there sometimes, it's not easy.

Steve explores not only adolescence but also the fragility of adulthood through the mental health struggles of Steve himself. How did you balance those dual narratives of Shy and Steve?

TIM MIELANTS: By trusting the script. I think because Steve has struggled with his mental health he also opens a door towards these kids. He is not on a high horse or on a pedestal looking down on them. And I think the kids feel that. It's not like a one-way street, they're helping each other. They can be vulnerable to each other.

Coming from a background that spans multiple creative worlds such as music and acting, how did your own experience shape the way you approached your role?

SIMBI AJIKAWO: I think it's all storytelling. With the music I tell stories that come from a personal place, my own experience, my own stories. But I take the same approach to acting, I just want to be authentic and true and tell the part of my story the best way possible. There's so many pieces that make up this film, it's just everyone bringing their own truth to that. I just see it all as storytelling and wanting to be authentic to the story.

Shy is a character who feels incredibly vulnerable. How did you tap into that inner conflict, and do you think today’s teens, especially in the era of social media, face similar contradictions?

TIM MIELANTS: I think it's just more coming at you. I'm off social media right now, I don't want to put my head in the sand, but it's just too much. I can't navigate it, I don't want to be influenced anymore. I don't have Facebook, I don't have Instagram. I just read some newspapers. And I think we need to talk to one another again. And people should be in the streets, talking face to face to each other, not looking down all the time.

JAY LYCURGO: There were a few resources, my dad worked in reform units, so I spoke to him about his own personal challenges in the schools. I had a lot of conversations with the author, Max Porter and Tim, as the director. I remember one of our first conversations, he was just so personal with me, so I felt like I was really safe with him.

We are having numerous conversations about social media and how toxic it is. And that's the good thing about Steve, it's set in 1996, people were a lot more head-on with their problems when they could try and communicate. Now everything is different with social media. We can say “get of your phones” but that's not going to be possible. But I encourage kids, teenagers, even mentors and teachers to just go back to the time when we could be head-on and talk about the issues of the present.

images courtesy of NETFLIX

The film looks at the fragility of young people and the systems meant to guide them. What do you feel schooling or studying means for young people now, compared to the time when Steve is set in the mid-90s?

TIM MIELANTS: I think there's so many more challenges right now. It is a fast and changing world, just think about the growth of AI. I think history is becoming hugely important, to teach what happened during World War II and what fascism was like in that period and how it echoes now. Just to learn history and then make your own choices.

In Belgium, where I come from, we used to have two hours of history in a week and now we only have one hour. I think that's a mistake. What we try to do in this movie and what I try to do with my own kids is try to understand who's in front of you and try to understand why people... What's the reason that they act or talk the way they talk? What's behind it? And I think when we stop asking questions, we are in a dangerous territory. Keep asking questions and try to dig deep and try to understand instead of building fences.

SIMBI AJIKAWO: I've got young cousins who get so stressed about exams and performing well. It gets them almost depressed, because they think, “if I don't ace these tests, I'm finished”. However, all you can do is really to do your best, understand that you've got a long life to live. You haven't got to have it all figured out at 16.

The pressure of that gets put on young people – to know exactly what they want to do. I can't even decide what I want to have for breakfast sometimes, let alone a 16-year-old trying to say, “I definitely want to do this in the next 15 to 20 years”.

You’ve collaborated with Cillian Murphy before on Small Things Like These. How did that shared history influence your work together with Steve?

TIM MIELANTS: Yes, exactly. We try to challenge each other and we try to push each other. And we always try to taste something wild. And that's what we did in this project as well. You’ve portrayed such a wide range of characters over the years. What perspective or experience did you bring into Steve that felt different from your past work?

TRACEY ULLMAN: I've done everything really, sometimes people think I'm wacky and crazy. When I was a kid, my favourite thing was to interview myself in a mirror, pretending I was in a documentary. I've been incredibly fortunate, I was a very eclectic, busy child.

I had some amazing teachers who moved me towards what I do now, I had a couple of great teachers and I thank them now. I'm doing what I do because of Mr Ronald Harding, he saw me at 12 and helped me do what I'm doing today. I've had an extraordinary opportunity to try and do so many things and this is the latest one I'm very proud to be a part of.

The selection is really interesting, what was the casting process like?

TIM MIELANTS: We cast more than 3,000 boys around London, for example in boxing clubs. It was a huge casting process and I always like to keep it fresh and funny for them. I think we got half of them who are actors, half of them are non-actors.

I remember one boy, he came down from up North and he had a lovely time. He told me “I think this was one of the best days of my life, I don't have the part, but I just want to share it with you.” So you get these beautiful stories, just being with these boys. Selecting the boys, going on rehearsals for two weeks, away from home, just being with them. That was amazing. I think that changed the quality of the movie.