Port Alfred has its very own famous international movie director and producer. Nick Laws, who is currently working on the Netflix series, Narcos, has been involved in blockbusters such as Superman 3, Black Diamond, and Jackie Chan’s The Medallion.
The film industry powerhouse, who chose Port Alfred as his home after working in 32 countries around the world, gave a riveting talk to a packed first PROBUS meeting of the year in the R72 saloon on Tuesday, February 14.
Laws’s 45-year long journey in film has included working on the production of award winning feature film, Fish Tank and award-winning documentary, Touching The Void. The R72 Saloon audience also enjoyed snippets of some of the sequences in the James Bond 007 film SPECTRE.
Coming to Port Alfred in 2004 was supposed to be a year-long adventure with family in which his wife would complete her commercial pilot’s licence at 43 Air School. That one-year adventure turned into 19 years on the Sunshine Coast. “We decided to go for a ‘one year adventure’ to South Africa for my wife to take her Commercial Pilots Licence. Our one year adventure has now become nineteen years!,” he said.
Tragically, Jennifer died of cancer two years ago.
Laws said he looks back on his time spent in the film industry with no regrets.
Schooling & introduction to film
In his schooling days, he said working in film was never considered as a career option and so he took the opportunities when they came. “I had no family connections in the industry. My life and career has fortunately been governed by Providence, God above!,” said Laws.
Laws said his main interest at school was cricket and credits his inspirational English teacher for introducing him to great literature, the poets and discussions about life. “However, despite gaining a love of cricket and reading, I left school failing to pass my exams and I failed to be accepted for any University,” he revealed.
“In those days, it was made quite clear that your life would be ruined if you failed your exams. Looking back I am amazed how calm my parents were about my situation, which I will always be grateful to them for. I had no idea about what I could do as a career…but after being regarded as a failure at school, I was determined that somehow I would do something that nobody else I knew was doing, and I would try and make something of myself. Knowing my career options without exams looked to be zero, I had one piece of inspiration,” said Laws.
In his last year of school, Laws had been taken up to London to watch a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the National Theatre which he said was his one piece of inspiration for going into the film industry. “For the first time that evening, my eyes were opened to another world and I remember wondering how one would get into that world…behind the scenes, and not as an actor!,” he said.
Getting into the film industry
At age 19, he tried to get into the music industry and headed off to America. “This also led me to thinking I might be able to work in the Music industry in recording studios. I was completely naive…I could not play more that 3 chords badly on a guitar, but aged 19, I headed off to America on my own to try and get work in recording studios ‘behind the scenes’. I knew no one in the industry, but I went to New York and then to Los Angeles, going to every recording studio, even making contact with the Beach Boys Studio in Malibu. However, without a visa I was totally unemployable so I went back to London having exhausted my money. I now thought that having failed to get in the music industry that I would now try to get in the film industry,” said Laws.
After his failed attempt in the music industry, he moved back to London, knocked on doors to get employment in the film industry and that is when his career began, serving as the ‘Mail Boy’ at 20th Century Fox in London. “While working as the mail boy, I came into contact briefly with some of the Star Wars Production team, who were using the London offices before setting up the new film at Elstree studios. 6 months later, the ‘Star Wars’ Production team contacted the Managing Director of 20th Century Fox Production to say there was an opportunity for me to work on their new film as their office PA. Could they hire me?! It was a big decision to know if I should leave the security of working at 20th Century Fox, as there were now possibilities I may get a job in the Film publicity department. My father recommended that I should take the ’safe’ option of working on the business side, but I ignored his advice and decided to take my chances in the freelance world ‘with the production weirdos’!,” said Laws.
“Filming the Star Wars film, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ at Elstree Studios outside London, was a new and overwhelming world for me, but I managed to be promoted to the position of 3rd Assistant Director by the end of the film. I was also used as Luke Skywalker’s new hand,” he said.
Laws told PROBUS members how he learnt the importance of having good mentors through his freelancing work in the film industry. “This was a part of my life where I understood how important and valuable it was to have good mentors to teach you. I am grateful for the huge influence they had on me, in understanding how to work with so many diverse people. These were the Assistant Directors who would establish the working environment on the film set. They set the standard of whether the film would be made in a calm, efficient and respectful atmosphere, as opposed to a loud and chaotic atmosphere where there was always the fear of being ‘blamed’,” said Laws.
Progress in the film industry
He made his way up through the industry working as a 3rd Assistant Director on other films such as David Lean’s A Passage to India before moving up to 2nd Assistant Director working on projects such as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and Superman 3, Mountains of the Moon and Three men and A little lady.
Laws continued climbing up the ranks when he was moved up to 1st Assistant Director, to work on many films such as Jackie Chan’s The Medallion, and the award winning mountaineering drama documentary Touching the void.
He also worked as a Production Manager in the UK on films such as Bridget Jones – Edge of reason, The Duchess and the Steven Spielberg film War Horse. Then many films overseas including: The Constant Gardener in Kenya, and Blood Diamond with Leonardo Dicaprio in Mozambique.
As a Production Manager, he worked on the Marvel film: Avengers – Age of Ultron in Korea, which required shutting down large parts of the City of Seoul for filming, and then the James Bond 007 film SPECTRE, where he spent six months in Mexico City to help set up the ‘Day of the Dead’ sequence for the opening of the film. Laws has also worked for the Netflix series Sense8 in Mexico and Korea, an ambitious project from the Directors of The Matrix.
In the United Kingdom, he worked as the producer for a British Feature film called Fish Tank which won awards. “My first credit on a feature film as the producer of the film won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and then was nominated for best ‘European Film’ at the European Film Awards. The following year the Film won the BAFTA for ‘Outstanding British Film’,” he revealed.
In the past four years, Laws has been working as the Co-Executive Producer in charge of production on the Netflix Series Narcos – Mexico, a drama based on the true story of the rise of the drug cartels. “The series has been successful and popular, but filming has been challenging to make on location in Mexico, particularly due to the security situation,” he said.
Lessons learnt while in film
Laws also share lessons he has learned in the past 45 years working in the film industry.
“I have had the good fortune to work in 32 countries around the world and experienced many cultures. I have had the privilege to work and take my family to some incredible locations which we would never have been able to visit or experience as Tourists,” said Laws.
“From a work perspective, I have been in some difficult situations where it was clear I was not welcome. Facing Arab hostility preparing to film in Tunisia during the start of the Gulf war… facing hostility from the Palestinian community in Cuba….. filming in Belfast during the troubles with the IRA… numerous hostile environments where the situation almost got dangerously out of control, such as in Nigeria, Kenya and in Kashmir and Ladakh, India,” he said.
Laws said he was fortunate to meet some extraordinary people during his career. “But importantly these were not the Actors or ’Stars’! These were ordinary people, living simple but extraordinary lives. Some of my best experiences came when I was a 2nd Assistant Director, and I would end up in remote villages by myself to recruit background extras to be in a film. Remote Villages in Kenya… In Mozambique, trying to recruit extras during the civil war when Maputo was under curfew at night (This was a film about the attempted assassination of Albie Sachs) Going to some remote villages in Nigeria, where I have some of my best working memories…. India…. even Liverpool in England! I remember one old man we used as an extra on a film in Liverpool, set during the Second World War. I like to think we treated him with respect… and at the end of filming the old man said ‘he had never been so happy in his life!’. It was probably the first time I realised how you could impact the lives of local people in a good way. It was not just about the money. I later saw another example in action with the Producer of The Constant Gardener in Kenya. He used the film’s financial resources to help the impoverished Turkana and El Molo tribes, helping with community projects. We tried to do that on Blood Diamond in Mozambique also,” he said.
All those good experiences don’t go without bad ones as Laws shared some horrendous times on films dealing with some very unpleasant people. “There are times when I wish I had not spent so much of my life working long hours on a film set, or in a Production Office…time spent away from home. That obviously hit home when my wife died at a young age. We thought we would have ‘time’ and a long life together,” he said.
In the past four years, Laws has been working as the Co-Executive Producer on the Netflix Series Narcos – Mexico, a drama based on the true story of the rise of the drug cartels. “The series has been successful and popular, but filming has been challenging to make on location in Mexico, particularly due to the security situation,” he said.
The meeting at R72 Saloon saw the induction of three new members, which brings the growing membership of the PROBUS club to 65.
