Project Detail

The Criminal

Synopsis

Already the subject of much advance interest for providing the first 'serious' role for comedian Eddie Izzard. The Criminal is an accomplished debut feature, part London neo-noir and part conspiracy thriller. After a night spend trying to impress a beautiful woman in his local bar, Jasper is pleasantly surprised when she agrees to go back to his place. What he has not foreseen is that his apparent good fortune will plunge him into a nightmare world of murder, extortion and corruption. As an intricate web of deception and fear wraps ever more tightly around Jasper, the complexity of what he has stumbled into becames terrifyingly clear.

Details

Year: 2000
Type of project: Features
Running time: 98 mins
Format: 35mm Kodak
Director: Julian Simpson
Producer: Dan Jenneti, Michael Heuser, Suzette Newman
Executive Producer: Dan Jenneti, Michael Heuser, Suzette Newman
Editor: Mark Aarons
Screenwriter: Julian Simpson
Director of Photography: Nic Morris
Sound: John Rodda
Composer: Music Sculptors + Various Artists
Principal cast: Steven MacKintosh, Natasha Little, Eddie Izzard, Bernard Hill, Holly Aird

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Christopher Johnson Company

T 020 7263 6946

Sales Company

Storm Entertainment

T 310 656 2500

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Encouraged by the response to his short film Any Dream Will Do and by editor Mark Aarons, writer-director Julian Simpson began developing a first feature inspired by film noir and Hitchcockian chase thrillers in which a hapless innocent is caught in the vortex of events beyond their control. "I didn't want to make a film noir picture as such," Simpson explains. "I don't think you can emulate something which was so particular to a period, but I was fascinated by the premise of a relentless chase and how the directors of that time conveyed a story." In The Criminal, Steven MacKintosh plays a penniless musician whose close encounter with a beautiful woman (Natasha Little) leaves him the prime suspect in a brutal murder. The more he tries to prove his innocence, the more he is trapped in a far-reaching conspiracy. Response to the screenplay was immediate from industry figures and actors alike and the project gained early momentum when Simpson teamed up with producer Christopher Johnson. A round of meetings brought H Michael Heuser's Storm Entertainment on board as a sales agent and a slew of European pre-sales followed that provided approximately half of the budget. The remaining half of the financing was secured through partnership with Palm Pictures. The film was warmly received at the 1999 London Film Festival and was subsequently purchased by Paramount Pictures for UK, Australia and New Zealand. It opens in the UK this October.

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