Movies

Cornish: "I've been a frustrated filmmaker"

Published Thursday, Mar 3 2011, 14:20 GMT | By Simon Reynolds

Joe Cornish has revealed that he has long wanted to become a movie director.

Cornish's filmmaking debut Attack The Block, about "a gang of teenagers who protect their block from an alien invasion", has been in the works since he first started writing the script in 2001.

"I've been a frustrated filmmaker for a while," he told BBC's Film 2011. "I've watched my friends like Garth Jennings, Edgar Wright and Jonathan English, who made Ironclad, make films and be successful so I kind of wanted to throw my hat in the ring."

Discussing the tone of the movie, Cornish added: "It's a comedy-horror. For me the comedy and horror only works if the horror is frightening, then the laughter is a release. I think if you're laughing in a comedy-horror without fear then maybe it's just a comedy."

Of the reaction the film has been receiving following early press screenings, he said: "Any response that's not walking out and disliking it is good as far as I'm concerned."

Attack The Block opens in UK cinemas on May 11.

> Click here to watch the trailer for Attack The Block