Acme and Lightbox have partnered on documentary feature The Trouble with Mr Doodle which will premiere at South By SouthWest this month.
From directors Jaimie D’Cruz (Exit Through the Gift Shop) and Ed Perkins (The Princess), and executive produced by double Academy Award winner Simon Chinn (Man on Wire, Searching for Sugar Man), and double Emmy Award winner Jonathan Chinn (LA 92, Whitney), the new documentary feature tells the story of how an extraordinary boy’s childhood obsession threatened to take over his life, his home and his mind
In 2019, Sam Cox, a 25-year-old British artist known as Mr Doodle, bought a six-bedroom mansion in the English countryside of Kent. After stripping it bare and painting it brilliant white, he spent more than two years covering every single inch of it in doodles.
In October 2022, Mr Doodle became the subject of global media attention when he unveiled his Doodle House to the world. The video Sam created to document his work in a three-minute-long stop-frame time lapse received over 70 million views in the first few days.
Sam Cox says: “I wanted to make a film about Mr Doodle’s quest to doodle the world, but it turns out Sam’s story was a little more interesting. Working with these incredible directors has allowed us to make a film showing how life hasn’t always been a doddle for Mr Doodle.”
With intimate access to Mr Doodle, his friends and family, and to years of unseen footage and personal archive documenting Sam’s evolution from a drawing-obsessed child, born into an ordinary family in an unremarkable English town, to an internationally renowned art phenomenon, this is the extraordinary story of what happens when obsession and talent meet opportunity and sheer, unstoppable willpower.
The Trouble with Mr Doodle is an independent documentary feature made by acme in association with Lightbox. The Directors are Jaimie D’Cruz (Exit Through the Gift Shop, Lawful Killing: Mark Duggan, The Last Pirates) and Ed Perkins (The Princess, Tell Me Who I Am, Black Sheep). The Editor is Andrew Hulme (The Imposter, Control, The American). Supervising Sound Editor is Andrew Stirk (The Imposter, The Princess, You Were Never Really Here and the forthcoming Love Lies Bleeding). Two-time Academy Award winner Simon Chinn (Man on Wire, Searching for Sugar Man, TINA) and Emmy Award winner Jonathan Chinn (American High, LA 92, Whitney) are the Executive Producers for Lightbox.
Sales agents for The Trouble with Mr Doodle are Benjamin Simoné and Ryan McNeily at WME.
The Trouble with Mr Doodle will be premiering at South by SouthWest, with a first screening on 11 March.
(image c. Alun Callender)
Pippa Considine
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