Bill Little
Bill Little is sitting in the café in the GFT, sipping his latte. He's a quiet, undramatic, ordinary sort of guy, casually dressed - not what most people expect of a film producer. It's only when he moves that the trained eye can spot that fluidity and poise that comes from years of fighting and stunt work, the field in which he started his movie career. Now he's developing his own scripts and preparing to bring them to the screen - but in the film business, nothing ever goes quite that smoothly.
Bill is here to talk about Revenge. It's the story of a young woman whose parents are killed by Glasgow gangsters and who, suspecting she's also on their list, becomes determined to fight back. The project draws on years of work Bill has done to encourage women to learn self-defence. It's clearly dear to his heart.
"Unfortunately, my big American backer has just pulled out," he says. I'm not allowed to reveal names, but suffice to say that we're talking about a multi-millionaire with a record of supporting independent film. "The thing is, he got hit be the credit crunch," Bill explains, "and he lost 38% of his fortune, leaving him with only $48M. I'd love to be in that position! But it's not so good for the film."
This doesn't mean Bill has given up. He's actually in a pretty strong position. An Oscar-winning Hollywood actor and screenwriter, also a big fan of all things Scottish, has fallen in love with the script and is keen to help make it happen, though unable to get involved directly due to existing commitments. "He's a great guy; really down to Earth," says Bill. This actor's associate is continuing to look around for funds, and Bill is also approaching possible backers directly. These include Gerard Butler and Mel Gibson.
"I worked with Mel on Braveheart," Bill explains. "I was doing stunt work there. I also had a small acting part, as a character called Ian Wallace. Mel and I got on really well. He's a really nice guy. It's a shame things aren't going so well for him at the moment." He is referring, of course, to the star's much-publicised divorce. "He brought his whole family over with him when he made Braveheart," Bill remembers. "He even hung two of his boys! There's a scene where you can see people hanging in the background and two of them are his sons. And of course he's really into Scotland because his grandmother's Scottish and he used to visit Ben Nevis when he was a kid."
The Scottish connection has already attracted other investors and Bill is pursuing more, including several famous footballers. "I was surprised to learn that some of them have already invested quite a bit in film," he says, referring in particular to a certain player-turned-manager who is a big film fan. In fact, Bill would be happy to hear from anyone who can come up with a minimum investment of £5,000. If they want, he's happy to let investors appear as extras in the film, and he'll supply them with tickets to the première; but most importantly, he thinks they stand a good chance of making money from the production. "It's not an expensive film," he explains. "The budget I need is in the low thousands."
What's getting Revenge so much attention is its strong script. Bill acknowledges that the idea of a wronged character pursuing revenge is not a new one, but he sees an important difference between this and similar works because the main character is a woman. He agrees with me that it's frustrating watching films in which female characters' suffering is just a plot device to give men a reason to take action, and he says that most women just don't realise how much they can do for themselves. His hope is that Revenge will change that and that it will draw in a female audience often neglected by the action genre.
With that in mind, Bill has now chosen Victoria Broom, pictured left, star of 2008's Bad Day. She'll star alongside Doctor Who actor Bruce Lawrence, Jack Marsden and the Alex Harvey Band's John Morrison, whilst Bill himself will appear as a boxing referee caught in the crossfire as gangsters scheme to eliminate one another. The boxing background is where the heroine gets her fighting skills, and in addition she's trained in assassination skills by a London hitman before returning to her home town to learn parkour, otherwise known as 'free-running' and notably used in the Pierre Morel film District 13. On had to help with this side of things are the Glasgow Parkour Group, who probably know the city's rooftops better than anybody else around.
"We've already got most of our locations mapped out," says Bill. "We've got a great car chase set up. People keep telling me that it's been a long time since anyone's tried to make big films in Scotland. A lot of the films you see at the cinema these days are not really that good. I like to see stunts done properly and I think it's important to have a strong script." But he admits that, ironically, they've ended up making different promotional trailers for the US and UK markets. "The Americans like lots of explosions," he explains, "whereas we tend to like a bit more dialogue."
Bill will soon be jetting off to the Cannes Film Festival to publicise Revenge, but when it comes to the première, he'd ideally like something local. "Obviously it will depend on what happens," he says, "but I'd love to have a Glasgow première. It would be great if we could get it shown at the GFF, if it's finished in time. I want to do something for Scottish film."
If you're interested in helping to bring Revenge to the screen, you can find out more at www.myspace.com/scotfilms or contact Bill directly at scotfilmsuk@hotmail.co.uk.
