School pupils have found a new role in life in Bethnal Green—as movie stars.
Well, not exactly stars, but extras on screen for a film set in the East End.
Acclaimed director Sarah Gavron took a camera crew into Morpeth School to use its educational facilities as sets before lockdown for her production of Rocks, being released in cinemas this Friday, September 18.
She even used pupils and teachers as extras to give it an East End reality feel.
“Watching a film in production on our premises was really interesting,” Morpeth headteacher Jemima Reilly said.
“It offered opportunities for some of our students to be actively involved.”
Pupils got involved in supporting actors on camera while a few ex-students who had already left school returned and joined the production crew.
The youngsters, meanwhile, have been having fun watching the Rocks trailer trying to spot interior shots of their classrooms, like the Art department, or the crowded staircase during lesson change, the corridors and the playground.
The Channel 4 teen drama tells the story of a schoolgirl left alone to look after her young brother when their mother quits home.
Sarah Gavron was so pleased with the pupils’ performance in front of the cameras that she plans to return to Morpeth to talk to them about how films like Rocks come together.
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