Scrapper director reveals EastEnders impression led to child star's casting
Lola Campbell makes her acting debut in the acclaimed independent film.
New independent film Scrapper arrives in UK cinemas this week having already won a major prize at the Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered in January.
The film features an exceptional performance from first-time actor Lola Campbell as recently bereaved 12-year-old Georgie, who must readjust when her estranged father Jason (Harris Dickinson) returns from Ibiza to look after her.
Writer/director Charlotte Regan – who is making her feature debut – has previously explained that Campbell was singled out for the role after she sent in a self-tape that included her talking about how much she loved Home Bargains.
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And speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, she revealed that Campbell's impression of an iconic EastEnders moment in which Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace) reveals she's actually Zoe's (Michelle Ryan) mother proved she was the perfect fit for the character.
"She does like this incredible... you know like the famous scene in EastEnders where Kat is like I'm not your mum or something? It's like a big Eastenders scene, but Lola recreates the entire scene, every single character," she explained.
"So she just does mad things like that all the time. I think she's very much like grown up imitating things that were on TV and has like such a sharp, witty sense of humour that felt so right for Georgie's character."
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For Campbell's part, the young actor revealed she was surprised to find out she'd got the part – especially since she'd originally sent in an audition tape just to mess about.
“I didn't expect to actually get the part," she said. "I thought I was just like messing about kind of thing. My mum's friend Clarisse, tagged my mum in the advert, and then it was like on the last day that you could put in an audition and then I put it in.
"And then I went to my first audition in person, and I didn't say anything, so I didn't expect anything back. But then I kept going to London every now and again.
"And then, when I got the part, I was quite surprised because I didn't think I would. But Charlotte and Theo [Barrowclough, producer] kept coming to my house to have cups of tea, so I got used to them after a while!”
Scrapper is released in UK cinemas on Friday 25th August 2023. Check out more of our Film and Drama coverage, or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
