Feedback Photos

The first pictures of Norman appearing in new indie movie Feedback.

20 December, 2002

With shooting now wrapped on Norman Lovett's feature film debut, reddwarf.co.uk grabbed these exclusive first-look images of Norm in action. We also caught up with Feedback's director, Chris Atkins, who let us in on the current status of the movie:

"The film is being cut as we speak. Phil Barnard - who is extremely talented and has cut some great things for us before - is holed up in the basement and isn't allowed out until he's finished!"

Feedback is a black comedy unlike any other. Four unconnected stories are locked together in a ridiculous and unpredictable series of accidents, culminating in every single mobile phone network in London crashing. This one simple event throws four random people together in a dentist's surgery to sort out their problems. "The film uses uncompromisingly British deadpan humour, and has fantastic performances from all the cast - save my cameo, but we'll probably cut that!" Chris told us. "It's superbly shot by John Rhodes, the heaviest drinking cameraman since George Best made a home video, and filmed on the new HiDefinition format, so it has the same look as 35mm film."

"[The shoot went] very very well. The crew were brilliant. They're the backbone of low budget feature and they were all amazing. The cast really got stuck in - even though we were very low budget there was no 'where's my Winnebago' nonsense. Everyone had a really good time - there's no point in doing low budget otherwise."

The next step is to get the movie seen by distributors. "[We need to] get the film into festivals - which shouldn't be hard judging from the performances. Probably a premiere at Cannes and take it round the markets and get a distributor."

Norman plays Mr Smith - a driving examiner who ultimately bucks the system and fights the tyranny of the oppressive driving test authority. But what made Chris pick him for the role?

"I was a big Red Dwarf fan when I was younger, and obviously Norman was the better Holly - sorry Hattie! I had written the part of Mr Smith as a sort of tragically sad middle aged driving test examiner who rebels against the system and becomes the coolest dude in the film. I really wanted the audience to have total sympathy for the man, which is a great challenge as he's basically an anorak. A sort of John Major meets John Wayne.

"Anyway, the casting director, Harry Jones, had the idea of Norman, and I think I ruined my carpet by dropping whatever I was holding and yelling 'Book him, Danno!'... or something like that. Norman read the script and straight away knew that he was perfect for the part.

"When Norman hit the set, he utterly lived up to our expectations. His deadpan is arguably the best in the world, and when he stands up to a tyrannous and evil system, he totally draws you in to this crazy world we created. He screws the system and gets the girl - while wearing a brown suit and a paisley tie. What a hero!"

"We had a real problem keeping a straight face on set, I can tell you," Chris reports - surprising no-one. "Norman and I used to try and out-deadpan each other, which used to drive the other actors nuts!"

Keep your browser pointed to reddwarf.co.uk for more on the film as it happens.

A Feedback website is up and currently being expanded - you can link to it via Links.