Project Detail

Honest

Synopsis

When it world-premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Honest was the centre of a frenzy of tabloid gossip and media spin. The reason? Its stars Nicole and Natalie Appleton and Melanie Blatt, are perhaps better known as three of the winsome quartet that make up the award-winning girl band All Saints. That the film also marked the directing debut of Eurythmics frontman Dave Stewart, here preferring to go under the moniker David A Stewart, further fuelled the hype.



Written by the duo responsible for a string of hits including Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, Porridge and The Commitments, Honest is an edgy black comedy set in late 1960s swinging London. The All Saints girls play streetwise sisters from the East End who have a lucrative sideline in armed robbery which they carry out dressed as men. Moving between the grime and gloom of their home turf, the neon lights of swinging Carnaby Street and the drug-fuelled sleaze of the decadent aristocracy, the sisters soon find themselves on the run when their latest heist brings them up against a local underworld boss (Corin Redgrave).



The cynical film world, hardnosed critics in particular, were ready to dismiss the film as a vanity project for all concerned, but its breezy energy and charismatic performances from its three lead newcomers laid such prejudices to rest. If there was one thing working against the film when it was released in the UK in May, it was its 18 certificate, which prevented the bulk of the singers' pre-teen fans from seeing it.

Details

Year
2000
Type of project
Features
Director
David A Stewart
Composer
Stewart.
Dir
David A Stewart. 2000. 35mm. 110mins. Exec prod: Keith Northrop. Prods: Eileen Gregory, Michael Peyser. Scr: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, David A Stewart, Karen Lee Street. DoP: David Johnson. Prod des: Michael Pickwoad. Ed: David Martin. Main cast: Nicole Appleton, Natalie Appleton, Melanie Blatt, Peter Facinelli, James Cosmo, Jonathan Cake, Corin Redgrave, Rick Warren, Annette Badland. Funding: Pathe Pictures, Pandora Cinema.

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

SEVEN DIALS

Sales Company

Pandora Cinema (33) 1 40 70 90 90

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Honest Honest

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