Greetings from 'London's trendy' Camden, where I'm in 'London's trendy' Koko Club for the filming of a new movie.
The Koko Club was where Charlie Chaplin first performed, fact fans, so it seems apt that Britain's latest comedy exports are filming here. Yep, Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant have momentarily put global TV/podcast/Barclay's-ad domination to one side to make 'Cemetery Junction', their debut feature as writer/directors. There are 5 more weeks of filming and the pic's out next April.
Here's what I've learnt today:
1. Today's scene is a big Saturday night club moment. It's set in the 70s so all the...ahem...extras are resplendent in great retro gear. There's a great Northern Soul track playing. There are huge afros everywhere and one guy, Ricky reckons, 'looks just like Russ Abbott'.
2. There's a beautiful single take steadicam shot as the 4 leads run into the club. It's all very Scorsese.
3. The three leads are lovely. Christian Cooke (who looks a bit like Gael Garcia Bernal) plays nice guy Freddie; Tom Hughes (who looks a bit like Nicholas Hoult) plays cool guy Bruce; and Jack Doolan (who looks a bit like Jack Black) plays dopey guy Snork. Ralph Fiennes is also in it, as Freddie's boss AND the father of his crush, Julie (played by Felicity Jones, who doesn't look like anyone particularly but is just astoundingly good looking).
4. It's all very filmic (see point 2), both in terms of script and look, which is something Ricky and Steve are very keen to make a point of. It's an intimate story of 4 friends starting out in life but it's more than aware that it's gotta fill the big screen.
5. There's some very entertaining stuff about the shoot on www.rickygervais.com
6. 'Cemetery Junction' is going to be AMAZING.
