The Londoner has spent years slogging away in hardman movies, but his latest film is a darkly funny exploration of masculinity. He discusses branching out – and the film’s unsimulated sex
Craig Fairbrass has made a career from giving a certain type of person exactly what they want. His films have titles such as Deranged and Hijacked and St George’s Day. There are gangsters. There are guns. There are posters that look like a recently divorced dad’s experiments with Photoshop.
His characters have nicknames that come in inverted commas, like Freddy “Dead Cert” Frankham and Malcolm “Mental Fists” Wickes. The films are usually released to little fanfare and lapped up by a small but dedicated crowd, unnoticed by the rest of the world.
Fairbrass’s new film, Muscle, is different. It is extraordinary: a black-and-white exploration of toxic masculinity that is as darkly funny as it is outright horrifying.
Craig Fairbrass has made a career from giving a certain type of person exactly what they want. His films have titles such as Deranged and Hijacked and St George’s Day. There are gangsters. There are guns. There are posters that look like a recently divorced dad’s experiments with Photoshop.
His characters have nicknames that come in inverted commas, like Freddy “Dead Cert” Frankham and Malcolm “Mental Fists” Wickes. The films are usually released to little fanfare and lapped up by a small but dedicated crowd, unnoticed by the rest of the world.
Fairbrass’s new film, Muscle, is different. It is extraordinary: a black-and-white exploration of toxic masculinity that is as darkly funny as it is outright horrifying.
- 11/27/2020
- by Stuart Heritage
- The Guardian - Film News
This week sees the release of Breakdown on DVD, VOD and selected UK Cinema screens. This gripping debut feature by writer director Jonnie Malalchi tells the story of Alfie Jennings (Craig Fairbrass, Rise of the Footsoldier, St George's Day), a loving father, faithful husband and professional contract killer. Who spirals out of control when he's haunted by visions of his violent past. With his work compromised, he reaches breaking point as he is forced to shield his family from his merciless employers. Craig Fairbrass, now firmly positioned as a lead actor in genre films, shines bright as he heads the cast of other seasoned British talent, such as Mem Ferda, in this exhilarating, taught thriller...
- 1/18/2016
- Horror Asylum
St Patrick's Day gets a lot of love, what with all the pub going and the Guinness drinking. In comparison, England's St George's Day tends to be a much more low-key affair, but there is a benefit to this: an evening free to catch up on some great TV.
To celebrate dragon slaying and all the other things that make our country great, we've put together a list of the best films and television shows from the UK available to watch on Netflix right now:
Sherlock
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have redefined Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective for the 21st century.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have both been heaped with praise for their roles as the dynamic duo of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, in stories that bring a modern twist to the classic mysteries.
Doctor Who
Digital Spy readers hardly need us to list the virtues of Doctor Who.
To celebrate dragon slaying and all the other things that make our country great, we've put together a list of the best films and television shows from the UK available to watch on Netflix right now:
Sherlock
Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have redefined Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective for the 21st century.
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have both been heaped with praise for their roles as the dynamic duo of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, in stories that bring a modern twist to the classic mysteries.
Doctor Who
Digital Spy readers hardly need us to list the virtues of Doctor Who.
- 4/22/2015
- Digital Spy
Today might be St George's Day, but did you know it also marks the birth (and death) of William Shakespeare?
Hollywood has been revisiting Shakespeare classics for decades - many a time faithfully lifting his text, and on occasion figuring out new ways to tell an old classic. There are no two better examples of this than the recent Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes's directorial debut) and Gnomeo & Juliet (set to the music of Elton John!).
Prior to this the likes of Baz Luhrmann, Kenneth Branagh and Gus Van Sant have all tacked the Bard. Revisit them in our in-pictures look at Shakespeare movie adaptations...
Hollywood has been revisiting Shakespeare classics for decades - many a time faithfully lifting his text, and on occasion figuring out new ways to tell an old classic. There are no two better examples of this than the recent Coriolanus (Ralph Fiennes's directorial debut) and Gnomeo & Juliet (set to the music of Elton John!).
Prior to this the likes of Baz Luhrmann, Kenneth Branagh and Gus Van Sant have all tacked the Bard. Revisit them in our in-pictures look at Shakespeare movie adaptations...
- 4/23/2014
- Digital Spy
Former UK distribution firm Feature Film Company has been re-launched as an independent production, finance and consultancy company with an adaptation of football hooligan bestseller Running With the Firm.
Led by Mick Southworth and Martin McCabe, Feature Film Company has announced the start of pre-production for James Bannon’s memoir about his time as an undercover cop in the 1980s, which saw him infiltrate some of English football’s most brutal hooligan gangs.
A joint venture with its new UK funding partner Omeira - which is providing a minimum £10m of production investment in the first year – the Feature Film Company will initially produce up to four low to medium budget, commercially-oriented ‘genre’ movies a year for theatrical release in the UK and international sales worldwide.
Running With The Firm gets close to some of the more notorious figures from football’s most infamous gangs, revealing details of secret police operations that were meant to bring them down...
Led by Mick Southworth and Martin McCabe, Feature Film Company has announced the start of pre-production for James Bannon’s memoir about his time as an undercover cop in the 1980s, which saw him infiltrate some of English football’s most brutal hooligan gangs.
A joint venture with its new UK funding partner Omeira - which is providing a minimum £10m of production investment in the first year – the Feature Film Company will initially produce up to four low to medium budget, commercially-oriented ‘genre’ movies a year for theatrical release in the UK and international sales worldwide.
Running With The Firm gets close to some of the more notorious figures from football’s most infamous gangs, revealing details of secret police operations that were meant to bring them down...
- 3/6/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Blame the Olympics: there's a rash of movies in which London is being smashed to smithereens, in breathtaking detail
For the briefest of moments, you might have assumed that the new Thor: The Dark World trailer was a sweet little St George's Day gesture from Marvel. After all, the first shot – the very first snatch of footage that anyone has seen of this much-anticipated sequel – is a beautiful aerial shot of London. Not Asgard. Not that weird little desert town from the first movie. London. Thanks, Marvel.
Except, no. Nobody actually thought that, did they? Because this was a shot of London in a film from 2013, which could only ever really mean one thing: imminent destruction. And, sure enough, our payoff came just 23 seconds later – a shot of the Old Naval College in Greenwich being irreparably smashed up by a giant flying crystal or something. A load of oblivious Londoners even get blinded,...
For the briefest of moments, you might have assumed that the new Thor: The Dark World trailer was a sweet little St George's Day gesture from Marvel. After all, the first shot – the very first snatch of footage that anyone has seen of this much-anticipated sequel – is a beautiful aerial shot of London. Not Asgard. Not that weird little desert town from the first movie. London. Thanks, Marvel.
Except, no. Nobody actually thought that, did they? Because this was a shot of London in a film from 2013, which could only ever really mean one thing: imminent destruction. And, sure enough, our payoff came just 23 seconds later – a shot of the Old Naval College in Greenwich being irreparably smashed up by a giant flying crystal or something. A load of oblivious Londoners even get blinded,...
- 4/25/2013
- by Stuart Heritage
- The Guardian - Film News
Searching for Sugar Man; Total Recall; The Watch; St George's Day
As we all learned from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, there's a truth in legends that transcends mere facts. If you're still unfamiliar with the quasi-mythical story of Sixto Rodriguez (as most people outside South Africa and Australia apparently were until this award-winning documentary made headlines) then Searching for Sugar Man (2012, StudioCanal, 12) tells a story so seeped in intertwining fact and fiction that you may start to wonder whether the whole thing isn't a set-up. Which, to some extent, it is...
Having recorded a couple of inspiring but utterly overlooked albums (Cold Fact and Coming from Reality), Detroit-based Rodriguez bizarrely became a cult figure among disaffected Afrikaner youth in the mid-70s, enjoying a popularity on a par with Elvis Presley or Simon and Garfunkel. Having first made inroads into the middle-class party scene thanks to bootleg recordings,...
As we all learned from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, there's a truth in legends that transcends mere facts. If you're still unfamiliar with the quasi-mythical story of Sixto Rodriguez (as most people outside South Africa and Australia apparently were until this award-winning documentary made headlines) then Searching for Sugar Man (2012, StudioCanal, 12) tells a story so seeped in intertwining fact and fiction that you may start to wonder whether the whole thing isn't a set-up. Which, to some extent, it is...
Having recorded a couple of inspiring but utterly overlooked albums (Cold Fact and Coming from Reality), Detroit-based Rodriguez bizarrely became a cult figure among disaffected Afrikaner youth in the mid-70s, enjoying a popularity on a par with Elvis Presley or Simon and Garfunkel. Having first made inroads into the middle-class party scene thanks to bootleg recordings,...
- 12/16/2012
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Anna Karenina (12A)
(Joe Wright, 2012, UK/Fra) Keira Knightley, Kelly Macdonald, Jude Law, 130 mins
Bringing period drama up-to-date, Wright's radical reinterpretation of Tolstoy's tragedy stages the action almost entirely in a theatre – backstage areas, red curtains and all. It's a smart framing device for the Imperial Russia on display, even if the stylisation puts emotion at a slight remove, not helped by the love-or-loathe leads. But it's still a sight to behold, with rich colours, doll's-house sets and costumes to die for (spoiler alert!).
Dredd (18)
(Pete Travis, 2012, UK) Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Rakie Ayola. 95 mins
Aiming to please old 2000Ad fans rather than convert new ones, this post-apocalyptic sci-fi has all the violent justice and jutting-chin action you'd want, with some visual flourishes to make up for a straightahead plot.
Lawless (18)
(John Hillcoat, 2012, Us) Tom Hardy, Shia Labeouf, Guy Pearce. 116 mins
Cops, gangsters and a family of moonshine...
(Joe Wright, 2012, UK/Fra) Keira Knightley, Kelly Macdonald, Jude Law, 130 mins
Bringing period drama up-to-date, Wright's radical reinterpretation of Tolstoy's tragedy stages the action almost entirely in a theatre – backstage areas, red curtains and all. It's a smart framing device for the Imperial Russia on display, even if the stylisation puts emotion at a slight remove, not helped by the love-or-loathe leads. But it's still a sight to behold, with rich colours, doll's-house sets and costumes to die for (spoiler alert!).
Dredd (18)
(Pete Travis, 2012, UK) Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Rakie Ayola. 95 mins
Aiming to please old 2000Ad fans rather than convert new ones, this post-apocalyptic sci-fi has all the violent justice and jutting-chin action you'd want, with some visual flourishes to make up for a straightahead plot.
Lawless (18)
(John Hillcoat, 2012, Us) Tom Hardy, Shia Labeouf, Guy Pearce. 116 mins
Cops, gangsters and a family of moonshine...
- 9/7/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
★★☆☆☆ Frank Harper is most well known for appearing in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and The Football Factory (2004), and it's to cockney gangsters and football hooligans that he turns in his directorial debut, St George's Day (2012). The result is a fairly unremarkable crime caper that boasts production value and an impressive cast but is hampered by a sub-par script.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 9/7/2012
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
We have added a new set of pictures from the event "St George's Day World Premiere".Keeley Hazell during the "St George's Day" world premiere in London.Picture copyright by Landmark / PR Photos. Keeley Hazell during the "St George's Day" world premiere in London.Picture copyright by Landmark / PR Photos. Keeley Hazell during the "St George's Day" world premiere in London.Picture copyright by Landmark / PR Photos. Hetti Bywater during the "St George's Day" world premiere in London.Picture copyright by Landmark / PR Photos. Hetti Bywater during the "St George's Day" world premiere in London.Picture copyright by Landmark / PR Photos. Keeley Hazell - "St George's Day" World Premiere - Arrivals - Odeon Covent Garden Cinema, Shaftesbury Avenue - London, UK...
- 9/4/2012
- by James Wray
- Monsters and Critics
A Powerful cast - including Game of Thrones star Charles Dance and EastEnders' Derek Branning aka actor Jamie Foreman - shines a light on the murky world of London's gangland in St George's Day.
A full trailer for the British crime thriller has been issued in two different versions, one with some nudity and another with those scenes edited out.
Both trailers are included below, along with a synopsis and cast details.
Official description
St George's Day is a British crime thriller that follows the story of infamous gangster cousins Micky Mannock and Ray Collishaw.
Having long since graduated from the terraces they now run the top firm in London. But when they lose a drug shipment belonging to the Russian Mafia, a turf war threatens to tear their empire apart.
Their only hope is a potential heist in Berlin that'll clear their debts and set them up for life.
A full trailer for the British crime thriller has been issued in two different versions, one with some nudity and another with those scenes edited out.
Both trailers are included below, along with a synopsis and cast details.
Official description
St George's Day is a British crime thriller that follows the story of infamous gangster cousins Micky Mannock and Ray Collishaw.
Having long since graduated from the terraces they now run the top firm in London. But when they lose a drug shipment belonging to the Russian Mafia, a turf war threatens to tear their empire apart.
Their only hope is a potential heist in Berlin that'll clear their debts and set them up for life.
- 8/23/2012
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
Redditch-born stage and screen star Charles Dance, known to sci-fi fans for his role as Ripley's confidante Dr Clemens in Alien 3 and now on TV as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones, will next be seen on the big screen in the crime thriller St George's Day.
Metrodome Distribution today announced it is to release the film in the UK on September 7, 2012.
The film's Facebook page says of Dance's involvement: "A sterling cameo role in the film is held by him. We hardly ever think of C.D. as a gangster... this role though is of Trenchard, the daddy of them all.
"Knowing, strongly connected, and has stayed under the wire his entire illicit career. Dance exhibits his usual great command of a role, you are really going to enjoy this."
Official description
St. George's Day is Frank Harper's directorial debut. Starring Harper (Bend It Like Beckham, Lock,...
Metrodome Distribution today announced it is to release the film in the UK on September 7, 2012.
The film's Facebook page says of Dance's involvement: "A sterling cameo role in the film is held by him. We hardly ever think of C.D. as a gangster... this role though is of Trenchard, the daddy of them all.
"Knowing, strongly connected, and has stayed under the wire his entire illicit career. Dance exhibits his usual great command of a role, you are really going to enjoy this."
Official description
St. George's Day is Frank Harper's directorial debut. Starring Harper (Bend It Like Beckham, Lock,...
- 7/30/2012
- by David Bentley
- The Geek Files
Jamie Foreman has revealed that he hopes to keep making films while also appearing on TV. The Layer Cake actor, who plays Derek Branning in EastEnders, said that his soap role may increase his fanbase. "I'm contracted to EastEnders for a year, and I'll stick to doing the best I can with the time I've got there," he told MSN UK. "I've got a couple of movies coming out, including a psychological thriller called Hard Shoulder and a movie called St George's Day, in which I play a police officer, and I'm very excited about seeing that. "I don't want to lose sight of my film career - I've built a new audience with EastEnders, and I'll bring that audience to the films that I'm in, so I'm very happy about that." (more)...
- 4/9/2012
- by By Tom Eames
- Digital Spy
Seventeen year old Hetti Bywater, a client of Mark Jermin Management has landed the role of wild child Lucy Beale in BBC soap Eastenders.
Hetti has already started filming as the young iconic character.
Lucy returns to the square after spending some time in Devon after hearing some sad news. She is the daughter of Cindy and business man Ian Beale and will return to our screens as spoilt, arrogant and smarter than most teens but deep down insecure.
Hetty has been a student at The Theatre Workshop in Sussex for the last 8 years, and has previously secured roles in BBC Casualty, Doctors and this year a leading role in a feature film Counting Backwards directed by Sean De Sparango. She was also cast in the British film St George's Day acting alongside Charles Dance and Nick Moran, directed by Frank Harper.
Agent Mark Jermin said “We are over the...
Hetti has already started filming as the young iconic character.
Lucy returns to the square after spending some time in Devon after hearing some sad news. She is the daughter of Cindy and business man Ian Beale and will return to our screens as spoilt, arrogant and smarter than most teens but deep down insecure.
Hetty has been a student at The Theatre Workshop in Sussex for the last 8 years, and has previously secured roles in BBC Casualty, Doctors and this year a leading role in a feature film Counting Backwards directed by Sean De Sparango. She was also cast in the British film St George's Day acting alongside Charles Dance and Nick Moran, directed by Frank Harper.
Agent Mark Jermin said “We are over the...
- 11/14/2011
- by noreply@blogger.com (ScreenTerrier)
- ScreenTerrier
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