New UK Distributor True Brit Sets First Movie: Football Hooligan Crime-Comedy ‘Marching Powder’ Starring Danny Dyer & Directed By Nick Love

EXCLUSIVE: Former Lionsgate UK & Europe chief Zygi Kamasa’s recently formed UK distributor True Brit Entertainment has found its first feature film with 18-rated Marching Powder, which reunites writer-director Nick Love with Danny Dyer, star of their previous collaborations such as The Football Factory, Outlaw and The Business.

Marching Powder, which isn’t a sequel to The Football Factory but is inspired by a similar subject, follows the story of Jack (Danny Dyer), a middle aged, drug-taking football hooligan, who is arrested and given six weeks to turn his life around, or else face a long spell in prison. Juggling his marriage, his hard nut bully of a father-in-law and his wayward 25-year-old stepbrother, Kenny Boy, Jack tries to get his life back on track, but slowly his world starts to spiral out of control.

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The movie, which starts principal photography in London in January 2024, will have elements of comedy, thriller, crime, action, drama and even a love story strand, we’re told by the producers. Additional casting is coming together now with the focus likely to be on new faces.

Financing comes from True Brit Entertainment and Rock Star Media — the division of Grand Theft Auto maker Rock Star Games, which also backed The Football Factory — with Altitude producing and handling global sales.

The film — whose title is a euphemism for cocaine — will be produced by Chris Clark (Legend) and Will Clarke (Filth), executive-produced by Andy Mayson and Zygi Kamasa, and shot entirely in the UK.

Former Lionsgate and Marv exec Kamasa commented on True Brit’s first movie: “Nick Love is exactly the kind of director I’m excited to be backing. He has been writing and directing some terrific TV in the last six-seven years and I can’t wait to see his return to the terraces in this hugely commercial and utterly original British feature film. The story is edgy, controversial, and ultimately very, very, funny.”

Danny Dyer took to instagram to confirm the news in a typically ‘cheeky’ video: “The secret’s out. I’m going back to work with The Football Factory director Nick Love. We’re gonna be bang on The Marching Powder — that’s the name of the film — which starts on January 15, and I cannot wait. There’s gonna be more crime, more drugs, some serious ultra violence, and you’re gonna love it. Merry f****** Christmas.”

Clark, Chief Creative Officer at Altitude, added: “Nick and I have been discussing making a film together for years so it’s a great feeling to get this outrageous, one-of-a-kind Love/Dyer collaboration up and running. Myself and the Altitude team couldn’t be more excited.”

Longtime Eastenders star Dyer has become a regular on UK TV screens but hasn’t had a starring role in a movie for almost a decade so this will mark a return to the big screen for him and director Nick Love.

Love, who most recently co-created Sky series Bulletproof and A Town Called Malice, said: “At this point in my career, it’s either Marching Powder or the dole so thank God Danny Dyer said yes to playing the lead. It’s gonna be a blast and we can’t wait to share the film with the world, if they can handle it.”

The Football Factory not only launched multiple careers, but was a big home entertainment hit for UK distributor Vertigo in 2004 — the low-budget film made millions in DVD sales — and has gone on to become a cult and often-quoted British movie: “What else are you gonna do on a Saturday?”, among memorable lines.

But True Brit is lining up a full theatrical release for Marching Powder (whose existence was first noted by The Sun last week), as former Lionsgate UK and Europe chief Zygi Kamasa explained to us in his first interview. You can read that here.

True Brit, which launched last month at the AFM, is backed by management and entertainment company Three Six Zero, and will focus entirely on UK film and TV.

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