Three of us went to see a preview of 'Bullet Boy'
at the Cornerhouse. This was after a good few plates of All You Can Eat curry at the Grand Buffet and more than a few pints of the Cream of Manchester.

The director, Saul Dibb, and the star, Ashley Walters, were there to answer questions.

Walters has done time for a firearms offence, which gave a certain frisson to his performance as a newly-released jailbird.

The audience's questions were 'did you get to fire the gun yourself?' and 'did they let you drive that posh car?' and so on, which Dibbs and Walters lapped up.

Anxious to ask an intelligent-sounding question, I stuck my hand up and launched into 'Saul, I noticed that the theme of the film is a classically tragic one. I thought of ancient the Greek concept of harmartia, in that the hero's character is doomed the moment he intervenes in a friend's argument, and also of Shakespearian heroes who wrestle with an inevitable fate, brought about by a flaw in their own character. How conscious were you of these historically dramatic themes in the making of the film?'

Dibbs stared at me, stammered a bit and passed the mike to Walters, who said, 'Yeah, the guns and the car were great, we really had a lot of fun making the film!'

Puzzled, I turned to my companions, who were helplessly sliding off their seats onto the cinema floor with laughter.

I dunno who looked the stupidest really, but I have my suspicions.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Mon 10 Apr 2006, 13:00, Reply)