Slingshot Studios announces debut feature

Slingshot, the all-digital film production and distribution company, starts shooting its debut feature Sugarhouse Lane on August 21 2006.
Proving the company’s unique approach to film-making, slingshot took the project from first meeting to shooting in less than six months with its innovative profit share production model securing top tier creative, technical and co-production talent.
Sugarhouse Lane follows disillusioned middle class city boy Tom who’s looking for something in the back streets of London; he thinks D - a young desperate drug addict can give him what he needs. Holed up in a derelict warehouse, with the impending threat of local crimelord Hoodwink at their backs, both men play an intense game of cat and mouse; scrambling to cut a deal and make sense of the very lives they may be about to lose.
Ashley Walters plays crack addict D: bursting with an electric energy. His recent credits include STORMBREAKER, the lead in Richard Laxton’s eagerly anticipated LIFE N’ LYRICS, and Stellan Skarsgard’s lover in WAZ. Winning a BIFA in 2004 for his performance in BULLET BOY, Ashley first came to prominence as Asher D in UK Garage group So Solid Crew.
Steven Mackintosh (THE MOTHER, LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS) plays moody and volatile Tom and Andy Serkis plays Hoodwink, a man so criminally psychotic he has a whole estate living in fear. Andy is best known for his award-winning role as Gollum in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and most recently teamed up with Peter Jackson again to play two parts, including the ape, in King Kong.
The tightly wrought story and slingshot’s working method has also attracted an equally impressive crew including Cinematographer Dan Bronks (DP for Chris Cunningham and Rankin) and Producer Michael Riley (IN THE LAND OF PLENTY, BOSTON KICKOUT).
Actor turned Director Gary Love (WAKING THE DEAD, MURDER INVESTIGATION TEAM) makes his feature film debut with a script penned by Dominic Leyton based on his acclaimed stage play COLLISION. Slingshot is co-producing with Wolf Committee (Oliver Milburn and Ben Dixon) and Lunar Films (Matthew Justice).
Sugarhouse Lane, which will shoot on location in Bow, East London, is the first of a slate of 10 low budget features that slingshot has planned over the next three years. The film’s production blog www.sugarhouselane.com goes live on the first day of principal photography.
Announcing the project, Arvind Ethan David, CEO and Producer, slingshot commented:
“The energy and pace of this project make it a perfect fit with slingshot’s own ethos. In less than six months we have gone from our first meeting with the writer to the first day of principal photography – this is not something that happens very often in the British film industry. For SUGARHOUSE LANE to have managed it - and with a cast and crew as excellent and exciting as this - categorically proves that what matters is the strength of your belief, the integrity of your approach and the quality of the material; not the size of your budget. The talent and commitment of our collaborators on this project affirms our faith in the slingshot model, and fills us all with fire to make a really great film".
(GB/CD)