Ken Loach, director<\/p>\n
In 2016, we were \u2013 as we continue to be \u2013 in a time of mean-spiritedness. If you were vulnerable or needed support, you were met with punishment, and there was a constant vilifying of people who needed help. I, Daniel Blake<\/a> was based on that. It\u2019s very much a film about the cruelty of the system that says: \u201cPoverty is the fault of the poor. You\u2019re not striving enough. You\u2019re not doing enough job interviews.\u201d Dave Johns\u2019 character, Daniel Blake, shows us this. He needs to work, he wants to work, but the system makes it hard for people not to be tripped up.<\/p>\n Paul Laverty, our screenwriter, did detailed research for the script. We visited one lad in a flat: there was nothing in the room apart from a fridge and a mattress. We chatted for a bit, then Paul said: \u201cDo you mind sharing what\u2019s in your fridge?\u201d There was nothing in there. Paul asked: \u201cWhen did you eat last?\u201d He said: \u201cTwo or three days ago.\u201d It took our breath away.<\/p>\n Before shooting, I begin every project thinking: \u201cI don\u2019t know how to do this.\u201d Which I think is important, because you\u2019ve got to go back to basic principles every time. We cast Hayley Squires<\/a> as Katie because of her authenticity, truth, belief and warmth. You can tick all those boxes, but you\u2019ve also got to feel that the audience will care about this person. That\u2019s an intangible quality.<\/p>\n \u2018All the stories are true\u2019 \u2026 Ken Loach on set. Photograph: Album\/Alamy<\/p>\n The food bank scene [when desperately hungry Katie pours baked beans into her hand from a tin and eats them cold] came from a real story Paul heard at a Glasgow food bank. I had a sense this had to be an emotional high point of the film. But the moment you say, \u201cIt\u2019s got to be this, this and this\u201d to anyone, you kill it. I had to minimise it. So Hayley was the only one who knew what was going to happen. We shot the scene twice \u2013 the feelings are so intense, it\u2019s very difficult to do more than once. We used the first take. At the time, we tried to make a film asking whether food banks are tolerable. Now they\u2019re an institution in society. It\u2019s extraordinary that we accept that people will starve unless they get food from a charity. That was simply unimaginable a year or two before we made the film.<\/p>\n