‘To succeed meant to leave’: inside the jolting film about Brummie estate kids knocked flying by demolition
The novel had no hero, no dialogue and little action. So how was I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning turned into such a funny, rousing and acclaimed film? Director Clio Barnard reveals all As a kid in 90s Birmingham, Keiran Goddard would gather with his friends to watch the tower blocks coming down. That’s what passed for entertainment back then. Controlled explosions, collapsing buildings. The demolition of Shard…
Key points
- Keiran Goddard's novel I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning has been adapted into a film directed by Clio Barnard, with a script by Enda Walsh.
- The film, set in Birmingham's Shard End estate, follows five childhood friends whose lives are reshaped by the demolition of a tower block.
- Barnard filmed on location in Shard End, using The Crown social club as a base and casting up to 800 local people.
Keiran Goddard's second novel, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, has been turned into a film directed by Clio Barnard and written by Enda Walsh. The story is set in and around the Shard End council estate in east Birmingham, where Goddard grew up in the 1990s and watched tower blocks being demolished.
The film is an ensemble drama about five childhood friends whose lives are thrown into upheaval by the demolition of a tower block. It premiered at the Cannes film festival and received a five-star review from The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw.
From novel to screen
Goddard wrote the book as a series of interior monologues with no dialogue and little action. His agent and editor told him it had the least cinematic potential of anything they had seen. Barnard said the adaptation was a challenge, partly because the antagonist is the system, which is hard to represent.
The film shows a new apartment complex rising on the site of the old estate. Rian, played by Joe Cole, is the chief investor behind the development. Goddard identified with both Patrick, an idealistic delivery driver, and Rian, who bought a sterile London flat.
To succeed meant to leave
— Keiran Goddard
Hope as resistance
Barnard said she wanted the audience to leave feeling they could act. She described the film as having hard-won optimism and said that hope and joy can be forms of active resistance. Goddard said he has hope and believes there is a growing middle-class appetite for stories about economic precarity.
The film was shot on the streets of Shard End. Goddard's brother Tom helped the crew connect with the community, and an open casting call at The Crown social club drew as many as 800 local people. Goddard called returning to the estate 'beyond special' and said it felt like a rare chance to close the circle and go home.
