Viewties | #49 - Reda Elazouar

NOV. 2021

Viewties

Reda Elazouar Photographed by Ruth Crafer

About Viewties Magazine is an international digital publication founded by Vanesa Miraglia, self-published from Buenos Aires since July 2020.

Weekly we bring you the very best around Britain television, cinema and music through authentic features with some of the outstanding figures across the entertainment industry.

We want you to know the other side of the story with our in-depth interviews and inspiring words that only these artists could provide. This is a fast read magazine to appreciate the talent and the aesthetics from its design and the amazing job brought to us by our talented photographers that collaborate with us.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS VOL. 49 - NOV. 2021

FEATURES

ON THE COVER REDA ELAZOUAR PHOTOGRAPHED BY RUTH CRAFER FOR VIEWTIES

Reda Elazouar, p10 The actor chats about his role in Reggie Yates’ feature directorial debut ‘Pirates’.

Reda Elazouar

Editor's letter Welcome to the November issue! Last month we’ve been very busy working harder to bring you the best experience while you’re reading about your favourite artists through the pages of this magazine. This month, we are introducing you to our individual issues, booklet style, to have a more intimate insight on the talents featured. Remember this is a fast read digital publication to appreciate and celebrate art by knowing the other side of the story including the amazing photography by the outstanding photographers that kindly collaborate with us Stay tuned because this month Viewties goes on bringing you the latest on film and television introducing artists whose passion is to make you feel something with their dedication to the job of bringing a project / character to life. As I always say, If I can take something from my job, I strongly believe you will take something from it too. Enjoy the ride and prepare your heart for being touched by our content.

Happy month!

Founding editor-in-chief @vanmiraglia

Viewties

Reda Elazouar R

ising star Reda Elazouar is one of the talented leads from upcoming

Reggie Yates’ feature directorial debut ‘Pirates’. The film is a comedy focusing on three friends driving from North to South London on New Year’s Eve 1999 in search of tickets to the supposed hottest party in town.

Reda plays Kidda, a character who is absolutely fun and whose personality we don't know that we needed to see on our screens.

Viewties

spoke

to

the

lovely

actor

to

talk

about

Kidda’s

journey

throughout the film and the experience of bringing this refreching story to the big screen in the sensitive way he did.

Photography Ruth Crafer Words Vanesa Miraglia

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V: I’m very excited to watch the film Pirates, I’m sure it might be very funny and entertaining. The teaser anticipates a little bit the vibe of it and I’m really looking forward to experiencing it. Would you say this film has taken influences from other movies set in the 90s or would you say that we need to expect something very different from what we have watched before on screen?

I’ve always been attracted to comedies and saw an amazing opportunity to be able tobring my style of comedy to a character I felt it would be perfect for.

Reda - Thank you, I hope you enjoy it. It definitely is funny, entertaining and much more. Tonally, even though it’s quite different, it may remind people to La Haine because it’s a film about three working class, young adults but the similarities pretty much end there. Apart from that, Pirates is unique in many ways due to its focus on the garage scene, the diversity of the cast and it being set in 1999. We’ve never seen anything like it on screen yet so I can’t wait for people to enjoy it. It’s the first of its kind and will be a refreshing watch to many people both from and not from the era.

Cold Crew which are a pirate radio crew from North London on the rise. He LOVES food, likes to be on the mic and has a permanent spot in the backseat of Cappo’s Peugeot. Kidda may not be the most intelligent person in the room but he’s means well and someone that you’d want to party with. Not the person you’d ask for help on your homework though…

V: How did you connect with the time period 1999? Did you need to do any research into the year? How did you prepare to approach the role?

V: What was on the script and your character that attracted you to getting involved in this production?

Reda - This was the first thing I took a deep dive in for the role. I didn’t grow up on garage music at all, so I didn’t really know anything about it. I made a playlist with all the songs in the movie and listened to that on repeat to get the tunes in my head. What was really helpful was the staycation Reggie took us on for a couple of days. We were able to all build a bond and speak to some of the MCs and DJs of the time who gave us advice and details on what it would have been like to be 18 in 1999. From the slang to how you stayed looking fresh, they dropped a lot of gems which informed our decisions for our characters.

Reda - I loved how the script was written and it resonated with me because I know these characters in real life. They were my neighbours, my friends and myself. I’ve seen young, working-class Londoners on screen before, but I had never read anything that had spoken to me like this script did. It was detailed, nuanced and spoke to me as someone that grew up similarly to Cappo, Two Tonne and Kidda. In terms of character, I’ve always been attracted to comedies and saw an amazing opportunity to be able to bring my style of comedy to a character I felt it would be perfect for.

V: Did you find similarities between him and yourself?

Reda - 100%. Although there are as many similarities as there are differences. I would say that Kidda is a caricature of who I really am. I love cracking jokes and making people laugh but I hope I’m at least a bit more intelligent than Kidda. He probably is smarter than he looks but his downfall is that information goes in one ear and comes out the other.

V: Can you tell us more about your character Kidda?

Reda - Kidda is an MC and part of the Ice-

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V: What was challenging about playing Kidda?

Reda - Finding the depth between the comedy was tricky at times. There are points in the film that call for different tones which might not match what you’re used to seeing from a character that’s otherwise comedic. Understanding what Kidda may be going through subconsciously in moments where he isn’t his funny self was so important to humanising and making him a real person.

V: Was there any particular scene you couldn’t wait to do after reading it on the script?

Reda - The one that stands out to me is one of the scenes I had to do in my audition. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone reading so I’ll call it the ‘Plantain’ scene which I did with the amazing Shiloh Coke who plays Princess. It was the first scene I had read from Pirates and it sums up Kidda perfectly. You get to see familiar interactions in the scene that I’m sure Londoners will appreciate. It’s also a perfect reminder as to how different Kidda is to Cappo and Two Tonne.

V: Is there anything you take away from the experience on set and filming this movie?

Reda - Brotherhood. Elliot, Jordan and I became our characters and at the same time, we grew close in real life. They became like brothers and we went through this experience together and learnt together.

There’d be times on set where one of us would tell the other a funny line to say if it would fit their character better than our own. There was no sense of ego or anything. We all wanted each other to be the best we could be which was beautiful. Adding to that, I learnt from Reggie about emotional depth within comedy and from the professionalism of the crew who were all a joy to work with.

V: How would you describe Reggie Yates as the creative force of Pirates?

Reda - Reggie being the writer/director and being there at the time meant that he had all the knowledge of what it would have been like for our characters at the time. That was invaluable as a lot of little nuances came from his input on and off set.

We had a group chat where he would send loads of music, photos and more from the era and having someone that could give you the answers to very specific questions you couldn’t find online was priceless. The beautiful thing though is that he allowed us to play and improvise all the time which made me able to sink into my character even more as I was learning daily.

V: Last question, as my nationality is Argentinian, I’m curious to ask you if you have ever seen or experienced any type of art / culture from Argentina?

Reda - Unfortunately, I haven’t! I nearly went to Buenos Aires for work once but didn’t end up going so I have to tick it off my list and experience the culture over there. And of course, the provoleta…

PIRATES IS ARRIVING IN UK CINEMAS ON 26 NOVEMBER 2021

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