A decade after I, Daniel Blake won the Palme d’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, its welfare-state story still cuts close. Ken Loach’s 2016 British drama, written by Paul Laverty, stars Dave Johns as Daniel Blake, a middle-aged man who is denied Employment and Support Allowance despite being declared unfit to work by his doctor, and Hayley Squires as Katie, a struggling single mother whom Daniel befriends. The film came together through scrappy funding, unusual marketing and a story audiences refused to forget.
Channel 4 said no because of Benefits Street
Producer Rebecca O’Brien initially approached Channel 4’s film division for funding. After a delay, she said she was told that funding was not available as “we’re already covering the area because we’re doing Benefits Street”, a programme many saw as demonising people on state welfare.
Principal photography began in Newcastle
Principal photography began in October 2015 in Newcastle upon Tyne and the surrounding area. The film was produced by Rebecca O’Brien for Sixteen Films, Why Not Productions and Wild Bunch with the support of the British Film Institute and BBC Films.
The story started with a doctor’s note
In the story, Daniel Blake is a widowed 59-year-old joiner from Newcastle who has had a heart attack. Though his doctor has not allowed him to return to work, he is deemed fit to do so after a Work Capability Assessment and is denied Employment and Support Allowance. Daniel is frustrated to learn that his doctor was not contacted about this decision and applies for an appeal, a process he finds difficult because he must complete forms online and is not computer literate.
Newspapers changed their ‘I’ to the film’s font
Ken Loach worked with the Trinity Mirror through the editorial column of The Mirror, and each newspaper had the “I” changed to reflect the main font of the film. The Trinity Mirror also used Daniel Blake as the masthead for its papers.
A campaign of free tickets and street displays
I, Daniel Blake used a variety of marketing strategies to make sure Ken Loach’s points got across and the film reached a wider audience, including disruptive marketing, street displays and newspaper inclusions. The Trinity Mirror provided 10,000 free tickets to see the movie, as announced in one of their newspapers.
End speech projected on the House of Commons
The House of Commons and other major buildings in London had projections of Daniel Blake’s end speech placed onto the outside walls as part of its “Guerrilla Marketing Campaign”. Ken Loach retweeted various tweets promoting the film and started the hashtag WeAreAllDanielBlake, which was mostly found on the official I, Daniel Blake Twitter page.
A box office and critical hit
I, Daniel Blake is Loach’s biggest success at the UK box office. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92%, based on 184 reviews, with an average rating of 8.01/10. On Metacritic it has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 31 critics, and Mark Kermode gave the film five stars in the Observer.
The story kept going on stage
In 2017, Dave Johns took a solo show to the Edinburgh Fringe: I, Filum Star chronicled how Johns’s life had changed since the success of the film. In 2019, he toured a new show, From Byker to the BAFTAs, with 24 dates from August until November. A stand-up comedy show titled I, Tom Mayhew was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2019; Tom Mayhew had previously been on benefits for over three years in “austerity Britain” and was inspired to write the show after watching the film. Dave Johns wrote a stage version updated to the 2021/2022 cost of living crisis, which was set to be premiered at the Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne in May 2023; following this sold-out run, it is touring throughout the rest of the year.
Which of these details from I, Daniel Blake‘s journey surprised you most?
Facts from Wikipedia: I, Daniel Blake, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
