Projects matching: David Baker

Synopsis

Mickey and Joe, two impoverished actors, live in Glasgow. They have serious debts and they can't get any acting work because of their attitude - they want David Mamet plays but they only get offered pantomime. On an impulse they decide to flee the city and get on a plane to Los Angeles - after all their best mate Steve assures them they will find fame, fortune and women.

Upon arriving in LA they instantly look out of place and Steve is not doing as well in Hollywood as he pretended: he works for a studio but as a cleaner. The 'luxury pad' in Hollywood Hills turns out to be a battered old roadie bus.

Undeterred, they begin to audition for no-hope films and so begin their desperate escapades through LA, which eventually lead them to Las Vegas in the hope of earning enough money to fulfil their dreams.

Synopsis

Writer-director David Baker takes the lead alongside Alan McCafferty in a comedy caper about two down-at-heel actors who flee Glasgow for Hollywood and the promise of fame and fortune only to find their mates working as cleaners and living in a roadie bus. Setting off for Las Vegas in a last ditch attempt to make some money, they become embroiled in a plan to rob a casino, partly because they can pull off a tough hoodlum act. Before too long they are taking method acting one step too far as fact and fiction start to overlap with disastrous and hilarious results.

Baker adopted an unusual approach to get his debut film financed. He shot a short promo reel on digital video in the real locations and with his chosen cast and in September last year took it to sales and production outfit Victor Film Co in London. "We took one look and realised immediately he knew what he was doing," says the company's Alasdair Waddell. "It was fast, fun, witty and had great performances, and David has brought all that to the full-length version."

Victor Film teamed up with Christopher Figg at Noel Gay Motion Picture Co and they worked on the screenplay with Baker. Financing came from Metrodome Pictures and a syndicate of investors led by Angad Paul, who was also involved in Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. By February the film was in production. The completed film is now being shown to US distributors and is due for UK release later this year.