GABRIEL MacARTHUR was on set for a music video shoot with a difference – it didn’t have Taylor Swift in it
Local attraction: Friday’s music video shoot caused some excitement on the high street
There’s been a werewolf on the prowl on the high street and, in true Croydon fashion, most passers-by seemed more interested in taking a photograph with the beast than running from it.
The werewolf sightings were mostly on North End and on George Street on Friday, as the beast had come to town for the recording of a music video for local alt/funk band Slack Magic.
The Slack Magic werewolf was caught prowling in The Oval Tavern, at Riff RafFs on George Street and at the Never Say Die! tattoo studio.
“We really wanted to get as many local business and people involved as possible,” said Johnny Bishop, Slack Magic frontman, as the creature jumped into the tattoo studio.
“The song is called ‘Pleasuring’. It’s about a beast having fun, being free and having a positive time out in the street.
“Everyone has that beast in them.”
You can view one of Slack Magic’s previous music videos, the economically aware ‘Trickledown’, shot at the Bank of England, below.
Despite an array of local businesses and people embracing Slack Magic’s latest video recording, there was difficulty getting clearance from the Whitgift Centre to shoot there.
Whitgift red carpet: Taylor Swift was given permission to shoot her music video ‘Opalite’ in the Whitgift Centre. Locals Slack Magic, though, were refused
Rakesh Jaitly, the videographer for the shoot, explained how there is a discrepancy between accessibility for local artists and mainstream acts.
“It’s always a struggle finding places. I’ve been doing shoots for seven years and never been allowed to film in the Whitgift Centre or Centrale. But Taylor Swift can easily come here and is given a pass.
“I think a lot of it is a PR thing because we don’t have the money to dress up Whitgift Centre into a set and mask it from showing its run-down reality.”
The contrast is striking in a borough that is home to one of Britain’s most successful creative institutions.
The BRIT School in Selhurst has produced global music and movie superstars such as Tom Holland, Adele and Olivia Dean.
But the school’s success does not necessarily represent the opportunities available to every young creator in Croydon.
For Lawrence Coke, the answer is to build more opportunities locally. He is the driving force behind Croydon International Film Festival, a festival he says that “south London deserves”.
Hollywood: actor Adam Pearson
Coke said: “Croydon is a hot-bed of talent. The Croydon International Film Festival will focus on homegrown talent and we want to give creatives an opportunity and a platform to help boost people into the industry”
One Croydon local who did make it all the way to Hollywood is Adam Pearson, the actor and producer who has starred in Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin alongside Scarlett Johannson in 2013, Chained for Life (2018), directed by Aaron Schimberg, and Schimberg’s next film, A Different Man, alongside Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve in 2024.
“I think Croydon should be more caring for locals than it should be for Hollywood,” Pearson said. “It would be a much better place.”
And his advice for younger film-makers: “Start making stuff, write a script and put it online. The barriers are much lower now. Youtube and independent streaming platforms allow your stuff out there. Just make it, and make it good.”
Unwelcome at the Whitgift Centre or Centrale, the Slack Magic video-makers turned instead to the people and small businesses which make Croydon Croydon. And called in a passing werewolf, of course.
Slack Magic’s EP “Future Zombies” is due for release in October.
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