A while back I did a shoot with the brilliant actor Timothy Spall on the roof of a car park. A very different setting from this shoot with his son, Rafe Spall, in the slightly more slick Big Sky studios. The rumour was that Rafe didn’t like having his photograph taken much, something I am used to, and is often the case amongst actors. I had prepared for someone who wasn’t too keen on being there, posing in front of the camera. I prepared by relying on colours to brighten up the shoot and creating settings that didn’t demand the talent to be hugely active. However, who I met was a jovial, fun and relaxed Rafe - Jokey and stylish. Fun guy with the most perfect South East London accent. (The kind of accent, that as a foreigner, I find cool and quintessential London. The kind of accent you only have if you’ve got a pearly king suit to match.)
Rafe is acting in the series ‘Trying” - a light, fun series dealing with the difficult subject of trying for a child, but not succeeding. In fact - it looks like the filming of a third series is in the pipeline, which is always a sign of a good series with great appeal.
Shot for Observer Magazine
