Football Factory Production Notes - Starring: Danny Dyer, Frank Harper, Tamer Hassan, Roland Manookian, Neil Maskell, Dudley Sutton, Jamie Foreman

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	The Football Factory was filmed over six weeks during April and May 2003 on location in South East London. The film has been written and directed by Nick Love whose debut film Goodbye Charlie Bright was critically acclaimed upon release in 2001. From the best selling author John King comes the adaptation of his cult novel ‘The Football Factory’. The film was produced by award winning producer Allan Niblo (‘Human Traffic’, ‘South West 9’) and James Richardson (‘ Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’). The all British cast include Danny Dyer (Human Traffic), Frank Harper (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Twenty Four Seven, Bend it Like Beckham), Jamie Foreman (Nil By Mouth, Gangster No. 1), Roland Manookian (Goodbye Charlie Bright, GMT), Neil Maskell (Nil By Mouth) and veteran actor Dudley Sutton (Felini’s Casanova) Following closely in the footsteps of the book the film is a violent and humorous snap-shot of the infamous Chelsea Headhunters. Both hard hitting and hugely entertaining it speaks directly to its generation. The Football Factory is a study of loyalty, football violence and male culture. The story centres around Tommy Johnson a bored twenty-something who lives for the weekend, casual sex, watered down lager, heavily cut drugs…. and occasionally kicking the fck out of someone. Tommy’s life ambles along until a violent encounter with a rival firm starts a war and a series of nightmares force him to ask him the question about his life: is it worth it? Told through Tommy’s eyes and linked together by his relationships with three other generations of males, The Football Factory is a drug fuelled adrenaline rush of a story about friendship, revenge and violence. This is England’s worst nightmare. Enjoy it. Characters* The story unfolds through the eyes of Tommy Johnson, a bored twenty-something. Tommy has always been involved in fighting, whether it was for the attention of a girl or off the football pitch, he has always been addicted to the rush. After a night out with his best mate Rod, he unintentionally upsets Millwall’s head boy Fred. Soon a tit for tat revenge situation begins and Tommy starts to have recurring nightmares. Not having anyone to turn to he faces his fears head on and suffers the consequences. Billy Bright is part of the older generation of The Firm, he is full of bitterness in what he sees as the country and system that have failed him. Away from the crowds he commands an audience to impress the younger guys, but he’s a sad and isolated character whose life is fast spiralling out of control. Fred heads the rival Millwall firm, the arch enemy of Chelsea. Things come to a head when Tommy inadvertently crosses path with him. Zeberdee, a mouthy young guy coming through the ranks of The Firm has already run into a cul de sac of crime and drugs. Zeberdee aspires to be a future top boy, unfortunately his lack of intellectual guile gets him into hot water. Rod is Tommy’s oldest friend and confidante, ambling along the path lead by his mates. His life comes to a turning point when he meets the woman of his dreams only to find love has its strings attached and some strings are harder to break than others. Second World War veteran Bill Farrell is in his mid seventies who is living out the remainder of his days with his childhood friend Albert Moss. Together they replace each others passed away wives and enjoy every day to the limit, still trying to pull women and getting drunk together. But when Albert dies Bill's life starts to fall apart as he struggles to cope with life on his own and a new future in Australia beckons. When arch-rivals Chelsea draw Millwall in the FA cup, ardent Chelsea supporters Tommy, Billy and co start to plan the action off pitch. It’s a big day for younger members like Zeberdee who get the chance to prove themselves to the head boys. It’s also an opportunity for old hands like Billy Bright to prove they still have the fighting power. The date, time and place are set. A plan of action to avoid detection by the police is in motion. All Tommy has to do is hold his nerve and not let his paranoid nightmares get the better of him as he tries to stay out of the way of Fred who is vying for his blood. Just as the match on pitch stops the fight off pitch begins. Can the Chelsea Firm take on the Millwall Firm....? About The Production / Page To The Big Screen Published in 1996, The Football Factory by John King has attracted critical acclaim and commercial success. The novel addresses the epidemic of football hooliganism within British culture in a candid and balanced style, which has prompted a stream of debate and opposition amongst middle England. The Football Factory was also a successful stage production by The Brighton Theatre Company in 1998. The play was adapted and directed by Paul Hodson and Chris Stagg. Actor Steve North (also an Associate Producer in the film) was starring in the play when he introduced Allan Niblo to the novel. "After reading The Football Factory, I knew it was vital to turn it into a feature film both from a cultural and cinematic point of view’’, explains Producer Allan Niblo. "The book captures football culture’s underbelly better than any fiction I had come across. To portray this we needed to find a director who not only knew the background to the book but also understood how to translate the story to the big screen". "We both knew of Nick Love as a talented young director and after watching his first feature film ‘Goodbye Charlie Bright’, he became our top choice for directing The Football Factory. We felt his ability to translate relationships within modern day Britain was to be a key factor in making the film an authentic representation of the book" recalls James Richardson. Nick Love adds, "I tried to acquire the film rights to John King’s novel but found they had already been sold. So later when I was approached by Allan and James to direct the movie I immediately said yes". To the producers amazement Nick wrote and delivered the script within four days. "The script far exceeded what we had expected from a first draft, this contained all the elements of how we envisaged the film being brought to the big screen", adds James. The Characters Nick Love used his own experience of football traditions to show the different types of supporters and their motivation towards violence. To illustrate younger guys turning to violence, he created new character ‘Zeberdee’. "I wanted to show how the ‘Firms’ are made up at present with young guys joining up and how the existing hierarchy works. I wanted to create different portrayals of violence through the eyes of four generations, " recalls Nick. "The potential leader Tommy Johnson (Danny Dyer) who’s the central character is in his twenties, Billy Bright (Frank Harper) in his forties with a tendency to use his fists. Zeberdee (Roland Manookian) is in his late teens, representing a new breed of evil and finally there’s Bill Farrell (Dudley Sutton) in his seventies, who has fought for his country during WWII but doesn’t believe in violence." Casting Nick wrote the first draft of the script using names of the actors whom he envisaged playing those roles. Casting director Sam Chandley shared the director’s vision, she adds, "The trick was finding a balanced ensemble that was believable as a group of people who had spent huge parts of their lives together with shared a history. The off-screen friendships of our principal cast helped re-enact a strong rapport on-screen." As the principal cast were approached to appear in the film, the reaction was unanimous. Danny Dyer (Tommy Johnson) explains, "I’d worked with Nick on ‘Goodbye Charlie Bright’ so when he approached me to play the lead in The Football Factory I immediately said yes. I had been waiting to play a lead which challenged conventions." Veteran actor Dudley Sutton (Bill Farrell) adds, "I had not worked with Nick before but I admire his work so when he called to ask me if I wanted to be part of his new project I agreed without hearing what the film was about or reading a script, I have a lot of faith in him" Frank Harper (Billy Bright) " I always knew Nick was the right person to direct this film, so when Nick read out the cards (containing the dialogue for the film) I sat there open mouthed, it was an extraordinary piece of writing, Nick really understands the relationships between men, the camaraderie and bonds that exist are displayed without the use of clichés. That’s the beauty of Nick Love, he doesn’t write conventional stereotypes." Roland Manookian (Zeberdee) starred in ‘Goodbye Charlie Bright’ and jumped at the chance to work with him again. "I’d liken my experience with Nick to being a block of paint for Nick’s colour palette he has the foresight to create a great painting, little effort needed from me." Tamer Hassan (Fred) also wanted to work with Nick for a long time so when this opportunity came up he was thrilled, "I wanted to work with Nick Love. I have grown up my whole life in Millwall and around the Millwall football ground. The part I was offered was very close to home." Neil Maskell (Rod) met Nick at a party thrown my Frank Harper and they hit it off straight away, being offered the part of Rod was very important as he explains "I have never to worked with anyone as remarkable as him, he has such great energy and verve, he controlled the shoot like a captain of a ship everything scene was filmed with clarity. I have a lot admiration for him and cannot wait to work with him again." Allan adds, "Nick picked the actors who translated the story best on screen and we’re very pleased with everyone he cast as they all deliver a stellar performance especially under such constraints. The performances can be attributed to the patience and guidance of Nick who bought out the best in each cast member." The Real ‘Firms’ Allan, James and Nick were very cautious about the tension of real ‘Firm’ rivalry not spilling over onto the set. Allan explains, "The major issue faced by us as filmmakers was always keeping the film real and authentic. This involved using many real Firm members and football supporters as extras and shooting in the locations used in the book." "Essentially our biggest challenge was portraying the people in the truest light and depicting people involved in a genuine way. We had to quickly learn the politics of the subculture we were entering as this was sometimes very extreme, having to recognise images, identity and ego." Concludes James. Nick explains, "The Firms on screen were made up of a mixture of supporters from different clubs, this way we didn’t have all the Chelsea supporters playing Chelsea supporters, Tottenham supporters playing Tottenham supporters and so on. By mixing the groups we cut out the politics from the situation and everyone got on well. I’d put time aside in my mind to negotiate this so the situation didn’t become stressful or get out of hand." The biggest achievement during filming for Allan, James and especially Nick became the Chelsea Versus Millwall fight as all concerned were worried about possible gatecrashers on the day. Nick explains, "The lead up to shooting the big fight (Chelsea Vs Millwall) was tremendously nerve racking as we didn’t know if the fights would get out of hand, there were rumours that we’d get bombarded by real ‘Firms’, thankfully this didn’t happen. We had achieved a seemingly impossible task of capturing a realistic fight between rivals Millwall and Chelsea without incident. The last week was the biggest elation from the crew and cast." "Everything had the potential to go very wrong. There was also a press photographer lurking in the bushes taking sneaky photos. It was a mad day but everything worked out very well, after that day we all thought, Fck – we’ve done it, " explains Nick. The Music* The music plays a key role in intensifying the cinematic experience, which was at the forefront of Nick’s mind during the editing. Music Supervisor Lol Hammond explains, "We didn’t want to have a soundtrack which was heavy on any particular styles i.e. dance or punk. It was vital to find a synergy between sound and image, and Nick had very strong ideas about what did and didn’t work on screen." "We screened the film to various bands whose music we wanted to feature in the film and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone from Mike Skinner of The Streets to Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream felt The Football Factory was both important in a sociological point of view and as a piece of entertainment." "We have music ranging from new band ‘The Kennedy’s’ to ‘The Jam’ and exclusive tracks from Orbital and Alabama 3. I feel we have created a soundtrack, which I definitely would buy and a lot of people can identify with and gain immense pleasure from." The Final Product Nick concludes "The film will stand the test of time, I hope it will be very iconic, a post millennium film, it shows a bored race who are sick of the way the country is being run. The film says everything that people are scared to say. The film shows the nation’s dissatisfaction with Blair’s Britain". Production notes provided by Vertigo Films.