Making a film based on a high profile murder is a highly sensitive task - especially when you are showing empathy towards the killer while in contact with the victim's mother.
Award-nominated director Rebecca Johnson spoke to News Shopper about the challenges of boiling down a very complex tragedy into a 90-minute movie while fairly representing the community she serves.
Honeytrap, which has been selected for the BFI London Film Festival, was inspired by the horrific murder of Deptford teenager Shakilus Townsend in 2008.
The killing and subsequent trial was extensively covered by News Shopper and attracted huge attention from the national press which latched onto the dark role of "temptress" Samantha Joseph.
Trinidad-born Joseph, aged 15 at the time, lured 16-year-old Shakilus to a suburban street in Thornton Heath where he was set upon by a gang of five youths and brutally stabbed to death by her jealous boyfriend, Danny McLean.
All six, including Joseph, were jailed for murder the following year.
Rebecca, who works with troubled youths in the Brixton area, began by explaining her decision to change the characters' names.
She said: "I didn’t want to tell the story of a particular group of young people because that would have meant a responsibility to the individuals and a limitation creatively which I didn’t want to have.
"You have 90 minutes so you have to simplify things and change things.
"Even with a historical figure which lots of people know, film-makers take liberties, and I didn’t want to do that with people who are still alive and, in particular, someone who was murdered."
Shakilus Townsend
And so Honeytrap begins with 'Layla' (played by Jessica Sula of TV show Skins) replacing Samantha Joseph and Lucien Laviscount (Waterloo Road and Grange Hill) taking on the role of the terrifying 'Troy' instead of real-life jealous boyfriend McLean.
The fictionalised version of Danny McLean (left), Troy, is played by Lucien Laviscount (Picture by D4nnyw14)
Meanwhile, Shakilus Townsend's fictional character 'Shaun' is taken on by Ntonga Mwanza, formerly of Babylon.
However, this is a not just a story about jealousy, blood and revenge but of the bleak hopelessness felt among young people in some pockets of London, and what leads them to make some terrifyingly bad decisions.
Jailed Samantha Joseph (left) was the inspiration for Layla, played by Jessica Sula (Picture by Andrich7777)
What is striking about this film is the director's level of empathy for Layla who is portrayed with a quiet intensity by a superb Sula from the moment she first steps into a new classroom full of intimidating strangers to the scene in which she helps plan Shaun's downfall.
Despite her selfishness, her disregard for consequences and her calculating use of sexual appeal to get what she wants, Layla appears as the victim throughout most of the picture.
But where does this empathy come from?
Rebecca explains: "My work with young people got me thinking about the depiction and characterisations of young people and in this case the depiction of a girl who was characterised as a 'femme fatale' even though she was legally a child.
"I work with young people who have done dreadful things but they are not dreadful people - that's the tragedy.
"The challenge was to create a character where you go with her as an audience when she is making poor choices.
"In terms of people who have seen the film - young people and parents and even grandparents who are from the estate - saw the crew and were really touched by it.
"In some cases they were crying - so you cant really respond like that unless you are feeling for Layla in some way."
That's all well and good, but how does the victim's mother react to a piece of work which shows such empathy towards someone who robbed her beloved son of a promising and happy future?
"I did speak to her quite early on in the process", says Rebecca, "and at that point I was researching the case".
"Quite a lot of people have seen her in the news and she does a lot of work in young offenders institutes.
"I wouldn’t say she was keen or anti.
"I feel that what happened to her and her son was such an enormous thing and so I'm not sure how important my or anyone else’s film is.
"I have kept her abreast of what is going on."
Rebecca Johnson has been nominated for the festival's Best British Newcomer.
Twitter: @honeytrapfilm, facebook.com/honeytrapfilm
For more about the BFI London Film Festival, go to bfi.org.uk/lff
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel