Good Afternoon Lovelies, 

There are many recognisable British stars in the upcoming King of Crime feature, which is out today lovelies in cinemas across the country. From Claire King to Mark Wingett, the stars of the small screen are causing mayhem on the big screen in the new crime thriller from writer Linda Dunscombe and director Matt Gambell.

Speaking to the blog about the feature and what we can look forward to, the cast and crew revealed all about their characters, the scenes to look out for and what the future holds. Get ready for King of Crime now lovelies…

Hainsley Lloyd Bennett: The culmination of all of these amazingly talented peoples hard work was a joy to behold. I’m so proud of this film and everyone involved, it’s brilliant.


HLB: Very hard. What Linda our writer did is a masterstroke as far as I’m concerned. Each character has their own arc, themes, setups and payoffs and it’s all balanced and nuanced so wonderfully. A dream for any actor and even more fun to see.

HLB: [There are] so many amazing scenes in this movie for different reasons. The film is beautifully shot and scored and there are many powerful and poignant scenes amidst the violence and action. I really did enjoy watching two veterans Vas Blackwood and Mark Wingett square off against each other. Brimming with charisma and skill. There’s a scene at the end of the movie with Rachel Bright and I where we learn the full extent of the dual natures of the character and it looks and plays out beautifully.

MG: For me, one of the troubles we had in casting Jessica's part was the delivery of lines and rhythm. There's a particular scene in which she's talking to Tully about her past, and there's a lot going on in the context of this scene, with various different lines requiring different tonalities or duress. We always got close, but I think we all agreed during the audition process that there was always something missing with what we were seeing. Then Rachel came in and blew us away her with her delivery of the line "I'm not my mother" it was exactly how I imagined Jess would process the line and how she would respond in that scenario so, I'm really pleased with how that came out in the film, and I will always remember it as one of the audition scenes and why Rachel was perfect for the role.

Mark Wingett: I particularly like the scenes with Marcus’ girlfriend, Georgia. It’s not like something I’ve done before, so I would ask viewers to look out for that.


Claire King: People I’ve spoken to who have seen it think it’s well constructed, looks great and has a good story, albeit quite gory!

MG: Well, my point of reference was always Layer Cake, it was one of the first films that came to mind when I read the script. I'm a fan of Matthew Vaughn’s work. I like that he managed to make a really colourful and fun film in the genre and I'm not really a fan of the "gritty"/grungy green London gangster stuff visually. So, I always wanted this to feel a bit more "Hollywood", a bit slicker and a bit more colourful. I've taken inspiration from a lot of my influences, I suppose most notably Spielberg and Zemeckis. I like camera movement and scene motivation, I think that's what they're both really good at too. Moving actors and camera around in a scene with such synergy and visual comprehension.  So, within the scope of what we could do, I tried to achieve that by using deep staging, tracking and keeping the camera fluid and motivated wherever possible. I think it really gives the film a "Hollywood" energy.

Rachel Bright: When I first read the script I immediately thought that my character had some similarities to Marvel’s Jessica Jones. Badass woman vibes but mixed with an old school British flair.

MW: The nearest kind of film to this one is The Long Good Friday. If you haven’t seen it already, it’s one of the greatest gangster movies, starring the late, great Bob Hoskins. It’s similar in the fact that a terrorist organization attack a man’s criminal empire. For the character of Marcus King, we discussed how he’s a very cold man. We don’t want the audience to empathise with him, necessarily, so in discussions with Linda and Matt we decided to make him like a Tony Montana character in Scarface – totally unlikeable, but at some point, you empathise with him. So, they were the main sort of reference points. But, of course, there are many films in the gangster genre, so a lot of it was left to me to figure out what I wanted to do with Marcus. And I’m really glad for that, and I hope audiences like the result.

HLB: I’m currently filming Pennyworth for Warner Brothers. It’s a TV show about Alfred Pennyworth, the butler of Bruce Wayne. It’s an origin story navigating his early days growing up in London upon leaving the SAS and trying to find his way in the world. It’s set in the 60s and is a beautiful R rated period piece, unlike anything you’ve ever seen. I play his SAS buddy Deon Bashford aka BAZZA. I’ve been shooting for about a week so far and it will be out next year. Buckle up cos you’re in for one hell of a ride.

MG: There's nothing directly in the pipeline, unfortunately. I really enjoyed shooting some of the action scenes in King of Crime, so I've mentioned to a few people that I'd love to work on a heist movie or some kind of buddy comedy next. I've got a few ideas for that - something even bigger, slicker and a bit lighter in tone probably! So, I suppose it's a case of finding the time to write that or finding someone with a script already that fits the genre (and then funding it, of course) but I'm keeping my options open and I'd certainly be willing to take on another project should the right one come along.

CK: I’m off to slap my thigh in panto at The Plaza Theatre Stockport where I am in Sleeping Beauty (from 30th Nov), then it will be back to Emmerdale in January.

MW: I’ve got involved in a few comedy-horror films called Dark Ditties. I’m in number 3 called, Finders Keepers, and I’m certainly in number 4. We have a collection of actors, and we get to play a number of roles. It’s great! I’ve also, just this week, been ‘availability checked’ for a film set in the Mod world. I have other little projects on the go and, I’m working on other things myself, but you’ll next see me in an episode of Call The Midwife, and I just last week finished an episode of Vera.