Director Luis Cross on getting big stories out of small moments
As Luis Cross builds up a portfolio of character-driven projects, he is also establishing his own character as a director. He reflects on his career so far as part of our New Talent showcase for 2024
It seems obvious to say that characters should be the beating heart of stories, but it’s no easy task. For Luis Cross, this seems to come naturally. In 2024, he has revealed two back-to-back projects that are tonally quite different, but both show his affinity for strong personalities with layered backgrounds, whether he’s writing them or teasing them out of real people.
“Maybe there’s a throughline where you have an insight to a character that you probably haven’t seen before,” he says of his work. “I think that’s what I’m picking up on – these stories that are almost fringe topics or something that people maybe haven’t seen.”
Look no further than his debut short documentary, If I Can Dream, which follows Andreas Waldem, a regular attendee of the annual Porthcawl Elvis Festival in South Wales. When he was mulling over his angle for the project, the festival organiser suggested Cross reach out to this particular Elvis Presley impersonator.
They spoke over FaceTime, where Waldem opened up to Cross about life as a Korean child growing up with his adoptive family in Sweden, where he struggled to bond with others. “He told me his philosophy, and we just connected on that level. I just love the way he thinks about the world. I can see there’s a little bit of hurt in him, but he’s [also] hopeful,” says Cross.
Waldem might not pick up prizes at his beloved Elvis festival, but he is undoubtedly the hero of the documentary. It could be easy to veer into comedy but instead Cross treats his story with respect and tenderness. “In the film you’ll notice I don’t really focus on the festival. It’s not about Elvis, it’s not really about the festival at all. It’s about him and his journey and finding himself. So it became more like a philosophy of: how do you get to a point where you’re happy living your life? That’s [what] I fell in love with, really.”
It’s a surprisingly moving story, one that might seem very different in tone to another recent project. Grandmas Grillz is a comedy short that follows a man hurtling through city streets on a mysterious mission, the dramatic edge tempered slightly by the fact that his mode of transport is rollerblades. The chaotic energy of the story and of DP Toby Leary’s framing is emblematic of the production process. “We had no permits or anything like that. We just went very run and gun, and we only had three of us in the team. My girlfriend was driving the car with all the kit in and stuff.”
I just think there’s probably more space for people to enjoy more organic, interesting stories that aren’t heavily product-based
The shoot was reactive, but the film itself was proactive. “It was strategic in its thinking,” he says. The project was like a self-initiated brief to create an ad that could demonstrate the kind of story he could deliver in a few minutes. “If I was to make an ad, what would I do? And then Grandmas Grillz kind of became that.”
It was partly driven by a desire to shake advertising out of its predictable patterns. “I just think there’s probably more space for people to enjoy more organic, interesting stories that aren’t heavily product-based.” Cross might have skipped university, but he’s done his fair share of studying the history of advertising and filmmaking. He thinks back to old Nike spots and compares them with the safe ads that a lot of brands go for today. “There’s a big shift that seems to have happened probably over the past 15 or 20 years.”
The project was also about showing his abilities and landing more directing jobs, something he’s found difficult, despite cutting his teeth early in the industry. He spent the latter part of his teens doing videography and music videos around his home city of Manchester and getting gigs as a runner in the film industry. He learned the ropes in different parts of a production – producing, shooting, editing – which allowed him to set up a production company called 03am, essentially acting as a creative “fixer” for companies wanting to shoot projects in the Manchester area. “It’s quite nice to be the driver of my own ship, even though it is difficult because you’re constantly looking for someone to give you an opportunity.”
Yet even though there is a glut of assisting roles out there, he’s found it difficult to get directing work for many years. “It’s weird. I’ve been in the industry for a long time, doing a lot of different things, but I’ve never found my own path yet. I’d been assisting or editing in fashion for a bit, always working under people. I’ve just not worked at that high level of directing yet.”
His strategy with Grandmas Grillz has proven fruitful. He showed the work to director Will Dohrn, who introduced him to Daniel Wolfe, director and co-founder of production company Love Song, which has taken Cross under its wing. He has worked on a number of projects with Love Song and recently got his first advertising credit as a director for an EE campaign with Saatchi & Saatchi. It’s part of what he hopes will be the beginning of a journey to establish his own voice within the industry and craft the next chapter in an unfolding story.
