Adam Deacon reflects on returning to directing with Sumotherhood

After more than ten years, Adam Deacon is back where he wants to be – in the director’s chair. But the decade between his 2011 first feature, Anuvahood, and Sumotherhood has taken him through well-publicised highs and lows. Sumotherhood is in cinemas this Friday, 13 October.

Video transcript

FREDA COOPER: It's been quite a while.

ADAM DEACON: It has.

FREDA COOPER: What made you want to go back to directing?

ADAM DEACON: I love directing. I always wanted to direct again. I didn't want it to be such a long wait until I got to do it again. But to be here now at the end of the process, it feels amazing. Yeah. I just love the whole-- I love every aspect of directing, from working with actors, to making the score, to the grade. I loved it.

FREDA COOPER: I noticed in the film that your own mental health issues are actually, sort of, woven into the fabric of the film in terms of the story and in terms of your character. So when you were putting the story together, how much thought did you give to, actually, whether you should include that or not? Or was it just a given from day one?

ADAM DEACON: Yeah. I feel like for me, when I was going through my own mental health struggles, I think there was so much written about me at the time that I was a bit taken back by that. I'd read it, and I'd be like, wow, this is quite scary for people to read. And I felt like one day, I've got to take ownership of that, and I guess, talk about it, but talk about it in a creative way, rather than just doing interviews.

Because mental health means a lot to me, and especially breaking the stigma and getting young men to talk about mental health. So even though Rico and myself, we're completely different as people. But yeah, we both have bipolar. And I feel like it was just, I wanted to normalize the conversation, if that makes sense.

FREDA COOPER: You've taken some time away from your film career to be a mental health advocate. I wondered how you balance that with your acting and your directing.

ADAM DEACON: I think this is why I wanted to make this film because I feel like maybe the industry at some point, they were scared of me, and they read certain things about me. And I can understand why things you've read might be quite scary, but it's like, I have come a long way. And I've learned a lot. I've grown up a lot. I know how to deal with my own mental health a lot better. So yeah, it was kind of-- I feel like I just had to talk about it in that way, really. Yeah.