When talking about British Film there are certain, unavoidable, assumptions one automatically makes.  Those crisply enunciated words have long conjured pictures of rolling hills, heaving bosoms, mad Kings and foppish fools.  An entire industry has been built upon the ever changing hair of Mr Hugh Grant and Jane Austen’s back catalogue has been taken advantage of in the parlour time and time again.

It is a world apart from those reliable old exports that we may find the Britain of gangster flicks.  They populate a straight-to-DVD nether world which has scant regard for global recognition.  These are not slick Ritchie flicks, attracting Hollywood stars to a middle-class vision of roughing it.  These are honest to goodness, behind the scenes at the terraces, unflinching looks at a crude life of crime.  A fist-full make it to limited big screen release bolstered by underworld faces, true-crime notoriety and boxing names.  Few seek to venture outside the paint-by-numbers plot lines.  None seemed to wander far beyond our shores.  Until now!

Dead Cert is a creature apart from its plodding predecessors.  Granted a premiere at FrightFest 2010, Black & Blue Films and Raw Film Productions’ bold new project is treading new ground in its shiny old loafers.  The film takes the staples of the genre: busty birds, brawny boys, turf wars and violence and throws in a bloody new twist – vampires!  The only heaving bosoms here run ruby red with the claret of punters past.  It sounds compelling stuff and late last year HeyUGuys were lucky enough to be granted front row seats as the carnage commenced.

A gang of tough London gangsters get more than they bargained for when a group of businessmen make an offer to buy their club, the Inferno. They turn out to be nothing less than Vampires wanting their land back and turn viciously on the gangsters when they fail to have demands met…

To bring the ambitious project in shy of a million pounds without damaging its slick appeal the producers sagely cropped production costs and, aside from location days in the country lanes and strip clubs of Essex, the bulk of Dead Cert’s shoot took place in an echoing Dagenham Warehouse.  It was here we joined the cast and crew during their (frosty) penultimate week of filming.

The eclectic cast features genre veterans Billy Murray and Craig Fairbrass, Lock Stock alumni Dexter Fletcher and Jason Flemyng and character greats Perry Benson and Steven Berkoff.  Sugar and spice are provided by scream queens Janet Montgomery and Lisa McAllister while Big Joe Egan offers all the muscle anyone could ask.  Murray also acted as one of the film’s producers and his camper van, parked up in a far corner of the warehouse, offered the closest thing to a VIP area we found on the back-to-basics shoot!  The atmosphere on location was one of tremendous camaraderie, despite the freezing temperatures.  There was a real sense of mucking in and even the syrup-drenched, bloodied extras were psyched to take a turn in the killing room.

In fact every cast member we spoke to echoed the instant sense of inclusion they felt when joining the project.  Black & Blue have sought to assemble something akin to a rep company and the benefits of that solidarity were plain to see.  Jobbing British actor Danny Midwinter (Rise of the Footsoldier, Freight) had the role of Dennis Christian written especially for him.  When we sat down together he became quite choked about his time on the film.  Billy Murray had been something of a mentor to him over the years and brought him through a dark time in his life – offering a shoulder, not to cry on, but on which to lean until he was ready to stand alone and an invite join the Black & Blue family.  It was a story I heard repeatedly during my two days on set.  Many of these good ol’ boys have had careers that ebb and flow with the slow mud drag of an estuary tide.  They are old timers, pros in the very truest sense of the word and the combined weight of their experience lent an authenticity to the production which left me intrigued to see the finished product.

Conventional career success has come more smoothly to Andy Tiernan (300, Mr Nice) perhaps, yet nevertheless he was relishing his role as the monstrous Chekha.  Snarling with savage charisma as cameras rolled he slinked across a bloodied banquette to mesmerise his prey.  Off-set he grinned with ill-disguised glee as he told me how much he loves to be a bad guy.  Andy met director Steve Lawson at a convention and had been on board with the project in its various incarnations from day one.  He, Steve and producer Jonathan Sothcott, shared a desire to see vampire pictures return to a Lost Boys sensibility.  To show the smile beneath the teeth!  Andy also pushed to bring Perry Benson and Ricky Grover into the fold “these two great home-grown comedy talents”.  A versatile actor who delights in a challenge, he had chosen to play the part of Chekha entirely in Romanian simply “to give it something different”.  That something different required that he translate his dialogue line by line – quite a demand for a non-Romanian speaker!

The man behind the Dead Cert story, Ben Shillito, also acted as our guide.  The behatted Sickipedia fan told us outrageous lies about the cast and crew, jokes we cannot repeat here and above all made us very welcome.  Ben and Steve Lawson were originally sent a vampire vs. demons script to develop for Dead Cert but chose ultimately to go their own way.  Dead Cert as it now exists was born during a brainstorming weekend with co-writer Nick Onsloe.  Ben’s obsession with gothic horror, mainstream and obscure, was well matched by Jonathan Sothcotts’s passion for Hammer and when the two met everything fell into place.

Ben and Jonathan had Billy Murray in mind for demonic lead Dante Livenko from the outset.  Billy had other ideas.  Having signed on as the project’s producer he had no idea he would end up its star.  When we chatted over a bucket of severed limbs he acknowledged he had somehow been sweet-talked into complying!  Ben described Billy’s performance as “calm, menacing and brilliant.  Billy is Christopher Lee in this role”.  Billy himself was more modest as he admitted how much fun his walk on the dark side had been.   Indeed his transformation to Dante was a million miles from the crinkle eyed charmer of our interview.  As I went over my notes he reappeared, threw me off my feet and swooped down to take a cheeky bite and readers…

I believed in vampires!

Meanwhile on set it was all kicking off.  The gleaming Inferno club of our first visit with its writhing glamour girls and immaculate bars was a gore spattered, intestine strewn abattoir.  Luckily This is England’s Perry Benson and young gangster favourite Roland Manookian soon arrived – tooled up and ticked off – to set things straight.  And lest you think Dead Cert is all about jobs for the boys, let me assure you that the girls were equally well-represented.  Lusty beauties, feisty girls next door and vampish vixens abounded.

The Dead Cert set was a vibrant, violent delight and the footage we saw promised nothing less from the final cut.  Selected tickets are still available for the debut screening this Thursday night at Frightfest and, if you’re planning to lounge around London town, we urge you to give it a go.  As the East End boys would have it:

This one’s got a lot of heart!

Just for the Record gets its DVD release today.  The latest offering from British hard man movie veterans Raw Productions and Black and Blue Films represents quite a departure from the usual blokes, birds and bust ups you might expect from a glance at the impressive ensemble cast.  Uniting honest-to-goodness Brit luvvies Rik Mayall and Steven Berkoff with genre regulars Danny Dyer, Craig Fairbrass, Billy Murray and Sean Pertwee, the mockumentary details, in flashback and anecdote, a doomed film shoot.  A year after the collapse of low-budget flick Just for the Record, documentarian Andy Wiseman (Rik Mayall) sets out to uncover and capture the cause of the films demise.  Along the way he encounters a cast of real-life characters so far-fetched it soon becomes horribly clear why the movie failed…

The film-within-a-film premise of Just for the Record is an interesting one and on paper the cast are strong.  Though the main characters are little more than archetypes, some of the more experienced players have obvious fun with their limited roles.  The bone dry, straight-to-camera, delivery of Billy Murray as boozing thesp Wilson Barnes being a particular highlight.  Just for the Record’s ‘visionary’ director Harlan Noble is another treat –Black and Blue collaborator Roland Manookian is a born entertainer and has a light comic touch which lends interest to his one-dimensional character.  There is pathos in his enthusiasm for his past work (in the Ninja Shark arena) that provides one of the films few really genuine funny moments before tedium and distaste kick in.  Though he is, as yet, a face rather than a name, he has already accumulated a serious body of work and has a bright and promising future ahead if he gambles and breaks cover from the gangster stable.

By way of contrast Just for the Record features a star appearance from DVD-shifting powerhouse Danny Dyer, in a surprising turn as sleazy producer Derek La Farge.  His schmoozing, smooth talking patter intended to offer hilarious contrast to his usual brand of “awright treacle” Ray Winstone charm.  The problem:  Ray Winstone can parody his caricature and play against type because he is a talented actor who understands nuance.  Danny Dyer ought to play to his strengths – or play to the terraces – until he has mastered his art.  His performance seems almost to be an in-joke with someone just off camera and, after an initial chuckle at the terrible accent, the joke wears wafer thin fast.   Interestingly the DVD cover bears little resemblance to the original poster and is pitched directly at his target audience – the words ‘action‘ and ‘cut‘ writ large in no nonsense caps.  Man font!

Glimpses of the dry wit of writers Ben Shillito and Phillip Barron occasionally break the surface and a handful of lines raised a laugh from the sympathetic audience.  Sadly their intelligence is lost in a surfeit of stereotype, poor production values and, curiously old-fashioned, one-note humour.  Rik Mayall’s phoned in performance has such bad sound quality that, at times, it appears he has literally called in his lines from his Blackberry while Steven Berkoff is given little to do beside rant and swear in an armchair.  Badly costumed and preposterously moustached, the disparity between the performances and occasional flares of good writing only serve to highlight the am-dram feel.  One has the impression that first time director Steve Lawson had all the best intentions for this movie but lost them beneath a shoot which turned into a jolly for his mates.

Just for the Record didn’t do it for me but there is no denying that these companies shift films.  One for the lads over a post-pub kebab, the film is available on DVD now from all good stockists.

The main thing that separates HeyUGuys from other film sites is one of the things I value most about us – we aren’t obsessed with the Hollywood Blockbuster.  While we enjoy the privilege of bringing you coverage of the popcorntastic openings of films such as Iron Man 2 and The Prince of Persia we also embrace the opportunity to support newer voices in British cinema.  To that end we spent last night in Mayfair.  We were not there shopping for fine designer goods, nor were we fine-dining from a quadruple starred plate.  We were there to celebrate film – gritty British film.  That film was Just for the Record and the night was about as gritty and Britty as you can get without a bulldog, a Union Jack, or George and his Dragon putting in personal appearances!

This joint production from Black and Blue Films and Raw Film Productions documents the downfall of a low budget British Rom Com.  Drawing on the personal experiences of its seasoned cast of players it offers a sneak peek at a world that exists beyond the camera’s reach.  With an aesthetic as quirky and off-beat as its script Just for the Record dares reach beyond the gangster pigeonholing of its cast.

The girls were glam, with tans as deep as their cleavage and heels as vertiginously high as hopes for the film’s success.  Cast members Steven Berkoff, Sean Pertwee, Triana Terry, Craig Fairbrass and Roland Manookian all turned out in support of the film at the Mayfair Curzon alongside Raw regular Ricky Grover and actress Pooja Shah.  Touchingly newcomer Triana – Just for the Record’s posh ‘star’ Lucy Smithfield – was preoccupied with worry that people would mistake her for Steven Berkoff’s “dolly bird”.  In fact she was the most elegantly dressed woman of the evening by far and glowed with quiet pride at her starring role.  The rep company of players that Raw and Black and Blue have assembled during their association has fostered a warm, familial, atmosphere and that warmth was tangible on the red carpet and in the foyer as cast and crew reunited to celebrate the gala night together.

When we caught up with Steven Berkoff before the screening he was keen to emphasise the fun he had had on the film.  Acting independently of the rest of the production he had felt freed by the idea he could make the part of DP Mike Rosberry his own.  He had had a wonderful experience with first time director Steve Lawson and was thoroughly looking forward to working with him again.  As Just for the Record is a mockumentary about the worst possible experience an actor can have on a film set we had to ask Steven what his worst experience on a film had been.  He was a jolly good sport and confided a fantastic story.  In 1995 he was a principle player in Cindy Crawford’s acting debut Fair Game alongside William Baldwin.  In preparation for the demands of playing a Russian Colonel he carefully researched dialect and military history…only to be asked to re-record the entire performance in post-production with a stiff-upper-lip English accent!  We dare not reproduce the sound file here but needless to say his opinion of producer Joel Silver necessitated some very strong language.  Fortunately for Just for the Record producers Jonathan Sothcott and Steve Lawson, he was far happier about his latest role!

Supporting actor Craig Fairbrass was swift to sing the films praises speaking from the perspective of his vast experience of lower budget filmmaking.  He felt the film portrayed a truly entertaining glimpse behind the scenes.  Keen to emphasise how proud he was to once more star alongside Steven Berkoff and Danny Dyer his modesty was a credit to his impressive reputation.  He’d had so many experiences of on-set nightmares that he literally did not know where to begin.  From tears to flouncing directors, competitive cast and street fighting crews. His approach these days is to manage the drama by justifying it as six weeks of “agg” out of his life that “might, just might, be brilliant”.  Next for Craig is another Black and Blue production, Devil’s Playground also with lad’s favourite Danny Dyer and co-starring Dexter’s Jaime Murray.  Despite multiple upcoming projects Craig’s heart lies with his self-penned drama, Gunned Down, his “baby”.  Reuniting with Steven Berkoff he intends Marbella set Gunned Down to be a gritty, honest film that takes him straight back to his gangster roots.  As he acknowledges: “people love that stuff”.

In the aftermath of the storm in a Twittering teacup Danny Dyer was camera and conversation shy, but it is a testament to the sense of family that Steve Lawson has created that he came out to support the film in spite of this.  Just for the Record may not be everyone’s cup of tea but there is no denying it has the front to be exactly what it is…

A pretty pukka picture!

Dead Cert is a film we’ve had our eye on for a while now.

Director Steve Lawson’s take on vampires running amok in London’s gangster-strewn underworld has attracted a pretty impressive UK cast including Craig Fairbrass, Billy Murray, Kick-Ass’s Dexter Fletcher and Steven Berkoff and now there’s a trailer for you all to see what the fuss is about.

Embedded below is an unofficial production trailer and sets out the story effectively, with plenty of fangs and fists rolling between gangsters and vampires and there’s something of the From Dusk Till Dalston about this one.

We spoke to the director Steve Lawson before the film rolled into production (you can read our interview here) and we’re hoping to sit down with him again

Check out the trailer below.

Here’s our Dead Cert coverage so far, and there’s plenty more to come from this one. Expect big things from this one.

Shooting has nearly wrapped on indie horror flick Dead Cert, and we’ve been lucky enouh to be sent a set of stills from the film.

Quite apart from the fact that it seems to be filled with some disturbingly attractive vampires (the goth girls were never that hot when I was at school), the film also seems to be taking on a really nice look. Let’s hope we see a trailer at some point in the near future.

Oh, and for a bit of Friday fun, feel free to post captions for the photos on the board.

]]> http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2009/11/06/more-dead-cert-stills-released/feed/ 4 http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2009/10/26/dead-cert-update-and-production-stills/ http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2009/10/26/dead-cert-update-and-production-stills/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:52:25 +0000 Ben Mortimer http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/?p=2449

Recently HeyUGuys published the new poster for Black & Blue productions’ forthcoming film, Dead Cert. A few days before the poster went online, we managed to sit down with the film’s producer, Jonathan Sothcott, and director, Steve Lawson to find out how things were going.

When we last spoke to Lawson, the script was still in development, and the cast was just beginning to come together. Barely weeks later, things had moved on significantly. As Steve explained, “Actors have had a lot of input on the dialogue, which has made it a lot clearer”¦ A lot of the cast that we wrote the characters around are back here again”.

As well as an expanding cast, which now features Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels veterans Dexter Fletcher and Jason Flemyng, the production designers have been busy building sets for the film. Rather than spending much of their budget on hiring studio space, Sothcott opted to rent three warehouses in Essex. He explains, “We’ve turned [the warehouses] into a mini-Leavesden. There’s three different studio builds. Billy [Murray] and I went down to have a look yesterday”¦ It’s literally like walking on to one of the stages at Pinewood.”

Dead Cert promises to be a huge step forward for Lawson, whose previous work was, ultra-low-budget mockumentary Just For the Record. This new film is far more action orientated, and requires a host of effects shots, both practical and digital. The first day on the film is a location shoot, at night. As Sothcott explains, “The first thing we’re doing in Docklands is a body going through a car windscreen.”

In addition to Dexter Fletcher and Jason Flemyng, Dead Cert features some of the more prolific actors working in the UK today. Craig Fairbrass (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) plays the lead, but also cast are Stephen Berkoff and Billy Murray. As it turns out, Murray was cast long before even he realised, “I ram-rodded him into playing Dracula for this.” Sothcott explains, “I told everyone else he was doing it long before I’d even mentioned it to him”.

During our interview Lawson provided us with some interesting information, “I’m going to shoot some scenes on 35mm”. When asked for more information Lawson explained, “It’s something I decided to do about a week ago”¦ to get a test for it and see the difference between it and the RED, and also to get the experience of using it”.

When asked whether the footage was simply an experiment, or if it would feature in the finished film, Lawson told us that it would “We’ve got a good post house, who tell me it can be done. It will look different, but the way I’ll shoot it, I’ll be clever with it. There’s dream sequences throughout this, so I’m going to shoot the dream sequences on 35[mm]“.

In a few days time we’ll have some more details about the film up, including interviews with some of the cast. We’re also hoping to feature a production diary, written by one of the members of the film’s crew. If that’s not enough for you, Sothcott has promised us a trailer by Christmas.

Production on this film is moving at breakneck speed. At the time of writing the film crew are finishing the location shoots, and will be moving into the “˜studio’ within days. Lawson puts this efficiency down to the enthusiasm of those he’s working with, “Everyone believes in the project, and everyone’s got behind it, so the last thing I’ve got to do now is tie it all up and deliver what we’ve got”.

Dead Cert is in production at the moment, and should be hitting cinemas at some point next year.