Tom Beard missed out on much of his schooling after a sports injury robbed him of his hearing in one ear. He later dropped out of art college. But now the writer-director’s world has taken a “surreal” turn after being mentored by the actress-producer Sadie Frost. She has already produced one of his short films and has now backed his first feature film. Two for Joy – a coming-of-age drama starring Samantha Morton and Billie Piper – that is to receive its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 23 June.
“Tom is a huge talent … somebody that everybody’s going to be really watching,” Frost told the Observer.
Two for Joy concerns a mother whose depression, triggered by her husband’s death, has a devastating impact on her two children: a teenage daughter forced to grow up fast and help control her younger brother, involved in crime on their council estate. “It’s an uncomfortable film. The performances are gritty,” added Frost. “It explores mental health and grief.”
Frost’s co-productions with former husband Jude Law include Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. She and production partner Emma Comley made Two for Joy through their company, Blonde to Black Pictures.
Frost said of Beard’s script: “You would never think a man had written [it]… delicate and subtle characterisations of a woman, and women going through grief or depression.”
But, in a world where “raising finance for independent films right now is really terrifying,” producing a film by an unknown writer-director is even harder. While Morton’s two Oscar nominations include Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown, and Piper won an Olivier for Yerma, two female leads was another problem for some investors.
Belief in “Tom’s vision” and the “wonderful actresses” gave the producers the confidence to persevere, and they found their investment.
Beard, 31, from Twickenham, was 13 when he suffered a “massive head trauma” playing rugby: “I lost the hearing in one ear. I really struggled with school.” He became a photographer, working on record covers and videos for Florence + The Machine, among others. He then made films, including Generation of Vipers, about a lawless teenager: “I wanted to write about a voiceless youth. I’d read about how marginalised white British youth had become. I’d seen that in areas I grew up in… A lot of anger.”
