Selected in competition as the only UK narrative feature film at the forthcoming Manchester International Film Festival, TWO DOWN, a dark and quirky British comedy thriller starring Alex Hassell, Tori Hart, Graham Butler, Emma King, Nick Rhys, Amy Manson, Matthew Cottle with Felicity Montague and Conleth Hill, is written and directed by Matthew Butler; written and produced by Tori Hart. Executive Producers include Stephen Fry and Derek Jacobi, with support from Ian McKellen.
When Sophie Watson (Tori Hart) answers the doorbell and a mortally wounded hitman falls into her flat, her world is turned upside down. Desperate John Thomas (Alex Hassell) barges in to her home and holds her hostage, along with unsuspecting local delivery boy Luke Harper (Graham Butler).
Over the course of a couple of hours, a Chinese take-away and a bottle of whisky - while waiting for John’s brother Sam (Nick Rhys) to come and pick him up - the truth begins to emerge as to what really happened to John earlier that day. It eventually becomes clear that his notorious boss, Harry Montague (Conleth Hill) has instructed Sam and his associate Rhona (Emma King) to kill John, and they are on their way to Sophie’s apartment to finish the job. When the brothers come face to face and the true extent of the deceit is revealed, Sam is close to killing John when a shot rings out behind him.....
TWO DOWN is indie Film Company Fizz and Ginger Films’ second feature and has already garnered two major festival awards: in Los Angeles and a grand jury prize in Amsterdam. The film has now been chosen as the only British narrative feature in competition at ManIFF next month.
“After finishing our first film ‘Miss In Her Teens’, which was an adaptation of an 18th century play, we wanted to do something completely different,” explains writer/director Matthew Butler. “We wanted to keep the budget as small as we could so we could keep as much control over the production as possible. So we started with the idea of just three actors in one location, with an injured hit man breaking into a young couple’s house. The idea evolved from there and having an eccentric, wounded hitman staying in your flat gave us nice, high, stakes to play with.”
Stephen Fry and Sir Derek Jacobi became involved when Matthew and Tori were introduced to them by their friend Ian McKellen. “We had known Ian for years and he's always been a big supporter of what we do; now, happily Stephen has also become a big fan. Ian has been involved in a couple of our short films and narrated our first feature which has just been released in the U.S. He also kindly loaned us his pub in Limehouse for the scenes we shot with Conleth Hill,” adds Tori Hart.
Executive Producer Stephen Fry said: "I think you should be unbelievably proud - I really, really enjoyed it. It is superbly shot and performed and has a fabulous rhythm that kept one watching. And unlike so many films it is exactly the right length. I’m sure you massacred lots of your favourite scenes to bring it in so tightly, but the final cut shows that it was worth it. Congratulations!” Fry’s fellow Executive Producers include Wendy Muir-Hart, Anthony Pye-Jeary, Alistair Riley, David Reast, Chris Hart, Derek Jacobi and K.C. Thiruchelvam.
For further information and to buy tickets visit: www.maniff.com
