Derek Suffling meets Danny Cannon, the director of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, who is a first class

BEACONSFIELD to Hollywood is one small step for a man. A man called Danny Cannon, that is. The 31-year-old, who trained at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, is the director of a major new American movie which hits our screens this week.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is, you may be surprised to learn, the sequel to last year's hit slasher movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer. Rumours that the third film in the trilogy will be called I Know What You Did The Summer Before Last remain unconfirmed.

Up to now, Luton-born Danny is best known as the director of the $70 million comic book-cum-blockbuster movie Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone.

Though considered extremely young to be mixing it with Hollywood's finest, Danny's age belies his experience. He has been making films since the age of 16. By the time he was 19, Danny had produced, written and directed 21 films and videos and co-founded Cast of Thousands, a successful experimental theatre group.

In 1987 Danny was named BBC Young Filmmaker of the Year for his gritty 40-minute short entitled Sometimes. With support from competition judge, Alan Parker, Danny was awarded a place at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield.

Danny says: "Film school was great. Some of the students from there have done very well. They are the first people I get to see my films."

He also has fond memories of the area, adding: "We shot round High Wycombe a lot. I came in and out from London every day. A lot of good work came out of the 45-minute bus trip to and from the school. "

A film he made during his time at the NFTS -- Play Dead -- was famously snapped up by a Channel 4 agent after three minutes' viewing. Danny graduated from the school in 1990 and just two years later found himself working with screen legend Harvey Keitel, directing him in the tough, stylised London-based thriller, The Young Americans.

But it was Judge Dredd that first exposed the young movie-maker to a mass audience. For Danny, working with the megastar Stallone was not exactly a bed of roses. He admits: "Everything was such an argument it took its toll in Judge Dredd. There were a lot of differences of vision and no way was I going to win every battle on that film. But I heard a 13-year-old boy coming out of the film saying 'that was the best movie I have ever seen'. When you pull it off you've got to slap yourself on the back a little bit."

Danny's latest project sees him working with a much younger cast, including the soul singer Brandy, whose single The Boy Is Mine topped both the pop and R&B charts last year.

With a cast of beautiful young things and an idyllic Caribbean island for a location, you'd think the movie would be a breeze, but not a bit of it: "There was quite a lot of shooting. More set -ups even than Judge Dredd," Danny protests.

He adds: "It's difficult, but every actor you work with requires different things. The main difference for me was I needed a lot more energy , but that's the nature of the film. In this, creating a reality with the actors and a rapport between them is the challenge. This is like the Rocky Horror Picture Show, where you encourage the audience to have fun."

These days Danny lives in Tinsel-town, but that doesn't phase the Luton lad. He says he is kept sane by a mixture of British and American friends, adding: "Los Angeles has had a very bad press. It's one of the most modern cities in the world. It doesn't really make a difference where you are from. I've got a good bunch of friends and family are always visiting."

So does Danny Know What He'll Be Doing Next Summer? The young director refuses to be drawn. All he will say is that he wants to keep trying different things. "My agent says I should write a TV series," he joked, "that's where the money is, apparently."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.