'Johnny Was' completes principal photography

Johnny Was, a thriller feature film set in Brixton, has finished 31 days of principal photography in Belfast and London.
Despite its modest budget, the $4 million indie attracted an impressive cast: Vinnie Jones, Patrick Bergin, Eriq La Salle, Roger Daltrey and – in his first major role – former world heavyweight boxing champ Lennox Lewis. The cast also includes Samantha Mumba, Laurence Kinlan, Wilson Heredia, Charles Porter and Sam Sarpong.
Belfast Production company Borderline Productions teamed up with London-based writer-producer Brendan Foley, Affinity Films and Nordisk Film of Denmark to make the movie.
Funding for the feature came from a UK tax fund Equation, private American gap investment (Ben Katz Productions), the Northern Ireland Film and TV Commission (NIFTC), Irish Film Board and Nordisk, which is also handling worldwide sales through Nordisk Film International Sales. AV Pictures holds UK sales rights.
Northern Irish producer Patrick FitzSymons and his colleagues have been working at Maysfield, a disused community sports center which has been turned into a film studio for the main set of the Brixton house.
He said: “While a disused gym in Belfast may lack a certain amount of Hollywood glamour, Johnny Was provided a real opportunity for our emerging local film talent base in Northern Ireland to show that we can compete in the global film marketplace.”
Writer-producer Brendan Foley, a former journalist who normally works in Los Angeles and London, also author of recent WWII UK best-seller ‘Under The Wire’, returned to his native Belfast with Johnny Was and praised the caliber of the international cast and mainly local crew.
“The entire cast has been wonderful to work with, despite our very modest budget. They brought a real level of professionalism and heart to the production. We have had some really outstanding performances. The local crew has been great to work with as well.”
Vinnie Jones described the film as the best role and performance of his career so far. “The script just blew me away, and we all worked hard to make a great little movie. I think it’s my best work by a long way, and Patrick [Bergin] and Eriq La Salle both turned in incredible performances.”
Northern Ireland’s Arts Minister David Hanson, who visited the set recently, commented: “Film-making has huge potential to contribute to the local economy and it is great to help people like Brendan [Foley] and his colleagues bring films such as Johnny Was here, so we can develop new talent, both creatively and commercially. It’s also great to show off our very diverse range of locations”.
Foley described the support from UK and Irish government funds as pivotal in getting the movie off the ground: “Johnny Was would not have been brought to Belfast and certainly would not have managed to keep going without a really remarkable level of support from the Northern Ireland Film and TV Commission and the Irish Film Board. They stood by us through thick and thin and I hope they’ll be rewarded with a great little movie, and more productions coming to this part of the world in the future.”
The film now moves to post-production at Nordisk facilities in Copenhagen for release in 2006. It has presales in Scandinavia (Nordisk) and Italy (Revolver).
(GB)