He's a leading actor in House Of The Dragon, The Serpent and recent HBO drama Task - and also now proving himself as a director, making two impressive music videos and recently signing to Partizan. Fabien explains how moving behind the camera is a family affair and reveals the legendary band he would love to work with. 

What’s your background? Where did you grow up?

FABIEN FRANKEL: I grew up in London. My mum is French Italian and my dad is Iraqi Russian, though his family emigrated to the UK in the 1940s and settled in the East End of London. So I grew up in London, but that’s my heritage.

When did you start getting into films as a director or in another role?

FF: I got into films as an actor. I trained as an actor and that’s how I got into films initially. I also grew up in a very cinephile family. My family really love cinema, so it was always around.

What was the first film you made where you felt this could be a career move?

FF: I was making a TV show as an actor in Bangkok and I bought a Super 8mm camera in New York. It was the first gift I ever bought myself from my first acting job. I brought it with me to Bangkok, where I was doing another acting job, and I shot a bunch of Super 8 footage out there. I then cut it together to Little Red Rooster by The Rolling Stones. I suppose it was my first kind of music video.

I love the process of bringing different people together when you’re making films.

Can you tell us about your first music video and how it turned out?

FF: My first music video was for some close friends of mine who started a band called Memory of Speke. I had heard demos from what would become their first release, including a song called Wife Once, and I pitched them an idea to make a 17th century Restoration style music video. They went for it.

Where do you draw inspiration for your own work?

FF: Cinema is the obvious answer. That’s been my biggest inspiration, stealing from great filmmakers and trying to find what that becomes in my own work.

There’s also definitely a love of masks in what I do. I’m not entirely sure where that comes from, but whenever I come up with an idea there often seems to be something involving people being masked in some way. Both of my music videos have had elements of that. There’s something about the sort of primal dance mask feeling that I seem drawn to.

Above: Fabien (right) with Mark Ruffalo in HBO drama 'Task'.

What has been the most creatively rewarding non-music project of the past year or so?

FF: I made a TV show called Task for HBO. I’m really proud of it and I had a great time making that show.

What aspect of the job do you enjoy the most?

FF: Working with my brother [Max Mark Frankel, producer of his videos for Memory of Speke and Peter Zummo] is definitely one of the things I enjoy most about my work. More generally, I love the process of bringing different people together when you’re making films. Finding people whose energy either matches yours or raises you up so that what you make in the end feels like a shared vision.

Can you tell us about your next project?

FF: I can’t say too much, but I'm making an independent movie for a really exciting studio and we’re about to start filming.

Which artist or band would you most like to make a music video for?

FF: From a nostalgic point of view, making something for The Rolling Stones would be incredible. Their music runs through so many of the films I love, especially that iconic Scorsese era. For the kid in me, that would be a massive deal.

Career-wise, where do you hope to be in five years’ time?

FF: My dream would be to direct a film. If in the next five years I could have directed my first feature film, I’d feel really proud of that.

• Fabien Frankel is signed to Partizan, represented for music videos by Mouthpiece.