With the Editor mistakenly thinking that he’s a hard man based purely on the fact that when he’s had a big night out he prevents himself from sustaining any serious injury by landing on his head we have news about a real life Brit hard man film.
Hereford Films who were behind the highly enjoyable Ian Ogilvy film ‘We Still Kill the Old Way’ has announced its acquisition of the film rights to the autobiography of bare knuckle fighting legend ‘Pretty Boy’ Roy Shaw with rising star Mark Harris playing the lead role.
Unlike our Editor Roy Shaw was the ultimate hardman and commanded a respect that few, even in the violent world he moved in, could equal. To him, violence was simply an accepted part of his profession. His three epic fights against Lenny McLean have become the stuff of legend and his story includes brushes with London’s most notorious villains, including The Krays.
Hereford Films CEO Jonathan Sothcott said, “I was looking for a really hard hitting, brutal British gangland biopic for our slate. When Mark brought me the Roy Shaw story, it was a perfect fit: it is the part he was born to play. I met Roy back in the day and he was a fascinating character. This will be a highly commercial, incredibly violent British film in the tradition of ‘Bronson’ and ‘Rise of the Footsoldier’ which will deliver exactly what the huge audience for those films craves.”
PRETTY BOY will be directed by Neil Jones, whose Howard Winstone boxing biopic ‘Risen’ won a Welsh BAFTA for leading actor Stuart Brennan in 2011. Jones said, “I want to make this the hardest hitting British gangland biopic ever made. This is a fantastic star vehicle for Mark and one of the great British underworld stories. Mark has a boxing background – he was ABA Champion at the Fitzroy Lodge – and that will add a layer of authenticity.”
The script, written by Ray Bogdanovich and Dean Lines (the upcoming ‘The Hatton Garden Job’), is based on Roy Shaw’s autobiography ‘Pretty Boy’, which has sold over 1.7 million copies and was a Guardian number one bestseller for 10 weeks. Casting is underway for an early 2017 shoot.
