Freefall

[tammyy2j]

Bafta award-winning writer and director Dominic Savage returns to the BBC with Freefall – a powerful drama which explores the human side of the global financial crisis, broadcast on BBC Two and simulcast on BBC HD.

Freefall, on Tuesday 14 July 2009 from 9.00 to 10.30pm, tackles head on the extraordinary times we are living through, focusing on the events that caused so many lives to spiral into financial turmoil giving a unique insight into the meltdown of the past year.

An all-star cast is headed by Aidan Gillen (The Wire, Queer As Folk), Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia!, Sense And Sensibility), Joseph Mawle (The Passion, Foyle's War), Rosamund Pike (Love In A Cold Climate, Pride And Prejudice) and Anna Maxwell Martin (White Girl, Bleak House). Riz Ahmed (Road To Guantanamo, Dead Set), Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding and Alfie Allen (Atonement, Casualty 1907) also star.

Tautly and delicately interwoven, the film follows the lives of three men with everything on the line.

Gus (Aidan Gillen) is the high-flying city executive who packages and sells bundles of mortgages for extortionate profit. Dave (Dominic Cooper) is the mortgage broker who can make anything happen. And when he bumps into hard-working family man Jim (Joseph Mawle), his old school friend, he offers him a way out of the council flat he has been stuck in for years. It's an offer that is too good to refuse; a way of fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a homeowner.

But when the market collapses, each character is confronted by a shocking, revelatory truth that shines a burning light on the new realities we face.

[moonstorm]

That sounds really good, there is enough talent in it, just hope the script stands up.

[Katy]

sounds really good and a good cast aswell.

[lizann]

Is this a series or one off drama?

[Perdita]

With a list of famous friends and family including sister Lily, dad Keith and girlfriend Jaime Winstone, Alfie Allen is no stranger to the spotlight. Although he's probably most famous for flashing his manhood to the entire West End - thanks to his takeover of Daniel Radcliffe's role in Equus - the youngest Allen sibling is covering up (for now) and striving to be taken seriously as an actor. His latest offering is a role in Freefall, a recession-themed drama from acclaimed writer/director Dominic Savage and co-starring Dominic Cooper and Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding, among others. Eager for more info, we caught up with the cheeky chappie for a quick chat.

What can we expect from Freefall?
"I know it's not in the cinema, but it's a brilliant piece of film. It's incredible - I can't wait to see what people's reactions to it are like. I'm pretty sure all of it's going to be positive! I think it's brilliant and the performances from Joseph Mawle and Anna Maxwell-Martin are just amazing. Everyone is fantastic. You can definitely expect a good cast in Freefall."

What's your character Ian like?
"He's the nice one of the lot! I'm kind of in a group of cut-throat business people but my character's not really like that. He tries to fit in with these sorts of people at first, but he just gives up because it's not where he wants to be, really. At first he looks up to Dominic Cooper's character and by the end he starts despising him. He realises that he doesn't wanna be like him anymore."

What was it that attracted you to the part?
"The fact that they offered it to me! When I got the call from my agent saying that Dominic Savage wanted to meet me, I was interested straight away because I think he's a genius. He's pretty bloody special. Also I've played horrible people before, so in terms of the part itself, I liked playing the nice guy."

What was it like working alongside all these big names?
"It was good - my scenes were mostly with Dominic Cooper and I had a couple with Joseph Mawle. But I'm a big fan of The Wire so I would have loved to have had some scenes with Aidan Gillen, but unfortunately we didn't meet. Dominic Savage is a big name for me too and I feel proud to have been part of the project. It's definitely the most mature part I've played."

Did you get to see Sarah Harding in action? Do you think she's made a good transition from popstar to actress?
"I did get to see her in action! I wasn't in her scenes but when we were shooting, we had the same location so I saw her and she's brilliant in it. Like I said, everyone in it is fantastic. I'm not one to say whether she has or she hasn't [done well], but to me it looks like she's done a great job. She trained as an actress anyway, so she's not completely new to it. She knows what she's doing, in a way. She definitely got it, from what I could see."

What's next in the world of Alfie Allen?
"There are a couple of films - Souled Out is about the Northern Soul scene in the '70s - it's a really uplifting piece of cinema, and Freestyle is a British independent film about the basketball scene. It's a love story, essentially, but there's a lot of basketball in there. My character in that is pretty nasty."

Can we expect to see you return to the West End any time soon?
"Yeah - there's a couple of things in the pipeline. There's a remake of Little Voice and I know I'm being seriously considered for that. And there's also a thing called Ladykillers and I'm up for Peter Sellers's part. I like theatre better than film because you work chronologically and as an actor I find that much easier and invigorating. But I don't think I'll be doing a UK tour any time soon."

Freefall airs tomorrow at 9pm on BBC Two.

[sindydoll]

my daughter is watching it because sarah harding is in it