Jack O’Connell and Paul Weller to join forces for new project
Back to Black star Jack O’Connell has found his next project. The British actor is set to make his directorial debut with a new music video for the legendary Paul Weller.
The upcoming single by Weller, titled ‘Nothing’, is set to appear on the former Jam frontman’s upcoming solo album, 66. Weller announced details of the LP earlier this year, and is set for release on May 24th through Polydor Records, the day before he will celebrate his 66th birthday.
In anticipation of the forthcoming record, Weller has already shared ‘Soul Wandering’, a single co-written by Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie. He also collaborated with Suggs from Madness and Noel Gallagher during the songwriting process of 66, with the pairing assisting on ‘Ship of Fools’ and ‘Jumble Queen’ respectively.
O’Connell, who previously starred in the video for ‘Blue Moon Rising’ by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, has directed the visuals for ‘Nothing’ from 66, marking the first time he has stepped behind the camera.
In a statement, he told Variety: “It was a good stroke of fortune. Paul’s been a mate for a while and he’s got a bunch of new music coming out. He asked me to be in [a video] and I said, ‘Can I direct it instead?’ He obliged. And now we’ve edited it and cut it together.”
The Nottingham-born actor is currently occupied on the campaign trail for Sam Taylor-Johnson’s upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black. In the highly-anticipated movie, he portrays Blake Fielder-Civil, Winehouse’s love interest.
While the film has been criticised by some, O’Connell told The Sunday Times that it is a “celebration” of Winehouse’s life and denied that it attempts “to portray her in any form of negative light”.
He also shared details of his meeting with Fielder-Civil, noting, “He was quite open. He spoke so highly of Amy. There was something so genuine in how he spoke, it was unquestionable to me that he loved her. That informed how I wanted to portray him.”
O’Connell continued: “He wasn’t overly keen, ‘cos obviously it’s going into a phase of his life that is very personal and he harbours a mixed bag of emotions.”
Meanwhile, similarly to O’Connell, Taylor-Johnson recently defended her new film, stating: “Noise will always be big about something like this, but nobody has really seen it yet and we’ve made it through Amy’s words, music, her perspective. Anything else would, yes, have been exploitative, but this retelling lacks tragic hindsight.”
Back to Black is set to arrive in cinemas on April 12th, watch the trailer below.